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You have selected: ELIZABETH'S GREETING (words by Walter Farquharson) from the Ron Klusmeier Anthology. Subscribers may download arrangements using the links in the right hand column. Log in at left (first link beneath "The Catalogue") to activate the columns on the right.
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Lyrics and Author/Composer Comments are below.
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Lyrics:
Mary, my cousin, my friend and my joy,
you will be blessed in the birth of your boy.
Life stirs in me by the strength of God’s word
but what is the message that you, love, have heard?
The baby in me dances greetings for you
and the one that you carry with promise so new.
We’ve both been blessed, do you think they’ll be friends?
Will they share life together until that life ends?
What mystery is working in you and in me?
What power is striving to set this world free?
The chains that have held earth in sin and in death
seem destined to break when your child draws first breath.
O Mary, my sister, what secrets we share,
what joys must a wait us, what sorrows we’ll bear.
Our God has addressed us and blessed us with peace,
may God’s arms embrace us; may our strength increase!
Mary, my cousin, my friend and my joy,
you will be blessed in the birth of your boy.
Author / Composer Comments
The story of the relationship between the very young Mary (mother of Jesus) and her elderly cousin Elizabeth (mother of the one we know as John the Baptizer) is very rich. Walter’s text explores what conversation might have been like for two expectant mothers-to-be — two women who, for very different reasons, probably could not have imagined being pregnant at this point in each of their respective lives.
While there are many ways this selection might be presented, I especially appreciate it as a solo with hummed choral backing parts.
“Elizabeth’s Greeting” is part of the “Hold the Child Gently” Christmas Season cantata.