A few weeks ago, we sang an anthem by Harold Friedell called Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether. Today’s offertory anthem is another well-known piece by the same composer. What strikes me about this anthem is its simple, yet haunting harmonic structure. Those of you with some musical background will understand the difference between major and minor scales, so if I delve in too deeply, please forgive me. Although this anthem, at first hearing, might sound like it’s in the minor, it’s actually not. It’s centered around f minor, but there’s a slight glitch – Friedell added another flat to the key signature. So, for music theory aficionados, this piece is technically in the Phrygian mode. That’s what gives it added deliciousness for the ear.  

The Phrygian mode has the best of both the major and minor scales. It has the brightness of the major scale, and the dark, more somber color of the minor. Listen carefully how Friedell uses various ways of creating musical tension within this seemingly simple piece. But through the musical dissonance as called forth by the text, Friedell changes the harmony to reflect a more joyous character when the text boldly concludes, “teach me how glorious death is to be.”

The final chord of this anthem is a much-welcomed, brightly penetrating and robust major chord. I’m sure that death in this context may be more relevant to living than it is to actually dying. This is true of Jesus’ message of death and heaven, which is often misinterpreted as the afterlife. One would think that life is just one big waiting period to death, but it’s not. As was stated, the kingdom of heaven is within, and as Jesus stated, the fullness of life is now, not later.

The gloriousness of death, in this context, is a kind of spiritual death. We always need to recognize when something in our lives is over. People get stuck in relationships, situations, and jobs that are essentially over, yet they dig in, failing to recognize a kind of death has occurred. If you’re unable to let go, life gets grey, dull, and difficult. The sustenance, the vine of fulfillment is all dried up and withered, yet many don’t even see it.

Things will “die” in your life – beliefs, preferences, situations, relationships, and on and on. Hold onto things loosely, be willing to let them go when they expire. Everything in your life comes with an expiration date. Spiritual revelation is a death of sorts, but also a time to recognize something new. It happened to Saul on his way to Damascus. His old self died when he realized the life that God intended for him. Once he became aware, he was born into something amazing, and became the wisest and most prolific contributor of the New Testament.

We have to be willing to let things go. Expiration is inevitable, but ultimately for our own good. The glorious part of death is that we’re never tied down, stuck, or limited. Life is constantly in flux. The physical world is constantly dissolving. We must recognize the seasonal nature of all things. Death is glorious because it teaches us of the ephemeral nature of the physical world, and that we are constantly being born into new perceptions and evolving into greater potentialities throughout our entire lives. Open yourself to that, and death will never be something to fear, but something that frees you into seeing new possibilities for yourself. Soli Deo Gloria.