Liturgical Uses: Responsorial psalm, offertory or communion song, All Souls, end of liturgical year
Refrain:
"In every age, you have been our refuge. You have been our God."
Verses:
1) Your word can turn us to dust, saying: "Return, O children, to earth."
You take them as they sleep,
Then by morning they rise like the grass,
But by evening they wither and fade.
2) Teach us to number Your days, that we may learn Your wisdom.
For a thousand years to You, O Lord, are like the passing of a single day,
Or the passing of one night.
3) Fill us with Your kindness at daybreak,
And we will rejoice all our days.
May your gracious care be ours.
Arrangement:
Vocal:
Refrain: SAT choir
Verses: Cantor
Instruments:
Acoustic guitar, piano, bass with synth
Acoustic guitar, piano, bass with synth
Availability:
Sheet Music:
Lead sheets for each of the 3 refrains.
Order from Wood Harbor Music
Recorded Versions:
Video: New Dawn Concert, May 20, 2011 [link to be added]
CD: Praise for the New Dawn, Vol. 1
Order from Wood Harbor Music.
Digital download available at CD Baby.
Listen on YouTube at Spotify!
Back to Wood Harbor Music
Sheet Music:
Lead sheets for each of the 3 refrains.
Order from Wood Harbor Music
Recorded Versions:
Video: New Dawn Concert, May 20, 2011 [link to be added]
CD: Praise for the New Dawn, Vol. 1
Order from Wood Harbor Music.Digital download available at CD Baby.
Listen on YouTube at Spotify!
Composer's Notes:
Psalm 90 is a personal favorite, particularly in the fall, around All Saints/All Souls days. In the fall, the changing foliage is a brilliant reminder of dying, while in the Liturgy, the readings start to speak of the end times. I often take a walk through nearby Mt. Auburn Cemetery to spend time with the beauty of the season and remembering the transitory existence that is our life here on earth.
The psalm speaks to our transience: “teach us to number our days that we may learn your wisdom.” Yes, our days are numbered but we must embrace this transitory existence and not be afraid of or obsessed with our eventual death.
The Psalm continues “for a thousand years to you……is like the passing of a single day,” contrasting the eternal nature of God to our brief existence, with an understanding that time can be experienced differently, something that would be embraced in Einstein’s special relativity centauries later. Our lives pass in snippets of time, maybe a century at most, yet God spans the centuries (“por los siglos de los siglos,” como se dice in Español).
The intentionally spacey arrangement, begins with a piano improvisation, and employs some odd meters in the verses, particularly a stretch of 5/4 measures in the second verse. The stretch of time is like our attempts to make the most of the time we have, trying to stretch things out just a bit.
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| All Souls Day at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA |
The psalm speaks to our transience: “teach us to number our days that we may learn your wisdom.” Yes, our days are numbered but we must embrace this transitory existence and not be afraid of or obsessed with our eventual death.
The Psalm continues “for a thousand years to you……is like the passing of a single day,” contrasting the eternal nature of God to our brief existence, with an understanding that time can be experienced differently, something that would be embraced in Einstein’s special relativity centauries later. Our lives pass in snippets of time, maybe a century at most, yet God spans the centuries (“por los siglos de los siglos,” como se dice in Español).
The intentionally spacey arrangement, begins with a piano improvisation, and employs some odd meters in the verses, particularly a stretch of 5/4 measures in the second verse. The stretch of time is like our attempts to make the most of the time we have, trying to stretch things out just a bit.
Back to Wood Harbor Music
