Today’s offertory anthem comes from a cantata, which is a multi-movement piece for choir, soloists, and chamber orchestra. Cantatas, of which Bach wrote many, were performed in Lutheran services each Sunday. This one is entitled, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life), in 1723, during his first year as the director of church music in Leipzig. Somehow, this movement has become a wedding favorite. If you’ve never heard it, you’ll love it.  

I first learned this piece whilst in middle school. One afternoon, Pastor Tom from our local Methodist Church, called and explained that they were in need of an organist for a wedding that had to be performed, posthaste! My 13-year-old spirit gladly accepted the task of rescuing this poor couple. In those days, my friend Debbie coined a term for me, “organ boy.” If I had a superhero outfit, it would have displayed the insignia OB on a sparkling cape flanked by my newly-acquired organ shoes. Since I hadn’t any wedding music, mom whisked me away in our silver, 1985 Dodge mini-caravan to Thibodaux’s only music retailer, Hoffman Music. They had it all!

We loaded up, including the Diane Bish Wedding Book, which had Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring in it. That would open the “grand prelude.” We also found other “classy” selections like, the theme from the movie Ice Castles, and the Carpenter’s, “We’ve only Just Begun.” As soon as we got home, I typed out my list on our IBM Selectric II Correcting, Electric Typewriter, and for the next three days, I practiced like a fiend. It was summertime, and mom brought me to the church, where I stayed all day, with a mission and a ham sandwich. The couple was in dire need, and organ boy was not about to disappoint. It was my very first wedding.

The time had arrived, and I planned a 30-minute prelude. No one was there, but I wasn’t dissuaded, and I played for an empty church. Just before the start of the wedding, two people sat in the back, the pastor and wedding party slipped in, and I fired up “Here Comes the Bride.” She wobbled down the aisle, great with child! Afterwards, the groom, who smelled of cigarettes and was dressed in blue jeans, sheepishly handed me a $5 bill, with his humble thanks. I hadn’t expected to be paid but was thrilled! As mom drove me home, I remember thinking that this would be my future. As God as my witness, I have never had an hourly-waged job in my life, and it was because I vowed to commit myself to music, at that moment. That $5 bill unfolded into a rewarding career. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I managed to put myself through college, playing the organ too!

Jesu, the joy of our desire, lovingly allows us to follow our heart’s desires. But many blindly follow the crowd, or fearfully follow the thought of what they “should be” doing, instead of what they love doing. When I play this piece, still from that same, now-tattered wedding book,it reminds me of how my path seemed to unfold on its own, and I never had to make “a living.” That’s not to say I didn’t work hard! But if I could reverse-engineer organ boy’s tremendous success and sell the formula to the world, I’d be mind-blowingly rich. But it’s simple. I loved it, I devoted myself to it, and it loved me back. If you follow your heart’s desire, diligently develop a skill or a product that serves others, and send it into the world with love, it comes back with dividends that overfill your soul. That’s the secret joy of our desire – success. But why should love be such a secret? Soli deo Gloria!