Friday’s sorrow
anticipates Sunday’s joy
Resurrection
Letters: Prologue
Artist: Andrew
Peterson
Publisher: Andrew
Peterson under exclusive license to Centricity Music
Length: 5 songs, 20
minutes
Resurrection
Letters: Prologue by Andrew Peterson tarries on Friday on the way
to Sunday. As important as the latter in relation to Easter, Friday
makes it all meaningful. Without the suffering, there is no
resurrection. That’s not to say this recording is dour. God forbid!
Joy is deeper than sorrow, and listeners catch glimpses here.
In the Winter 2107
issue of Image, author Joy Kogawa concludes an interview with
this thought: “These days the words that mean the most to me and
that seem most helpful are Jesus’s words on Good Friday: ‘Father
forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ I think the call to
forgive and be merciful is Christianity’s best contribution to the
conversation among the faiths.”
“Last Words
(Tenebrae)” opens with those words of Jesus, Peterson singing a
cappella. Banish the thought of the music conveying heaviness. This
saunters along with a combination of programming and conventional
instrumentation. All the words, sung in rounds, are the last ones
spoken by Christ from the cross. They are introduced gradually until
you have layer upon layer. Repeated listens make it easier to
distinguish phrases that are more in the background or chanted. It’s
a tapestry of sound conducive to meditation.
“Well Done Good
and Faithful” is set in a minor key. It’s a lament drawn from
Psalm 22. The poetic verses, which are hymn-like expressions, are
punctuated by two repeated piano notes. It’s as if they are driving
home the severity of the situation. It’s sparse, stark and as
unyielding as the grave.
It reminds me of the
portrait of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. How fitting that the
chorus commends Christ as the good and faithful servant. The
suffering servant is the good and faithful one. Contemplating the
connection adds richness.
“The Ninth Hour”
is a brief keyboard and string-laden interlude bridging these first
two tracks to the final ones.
Songs like “Always
Good” make me glad that I am still listening to music. It
personifies being vulnerable, and the music is beautifully tender. It
opens with gentle finger picking, and later when the delicate sounds
of a hammer dulcimer are added, the sound is sublime.
Has Peterson ever
done a more gorgeous song? It may be his daughter that adds the
perfect harmony on the chorus.
When he sings,
“Arise, O Lord, and save me/There’s nowhere else to go,” it
strips me of my defenses. No pride left. He gives voice to
desperation.
Delightful turns of
phrase abound.
Can theology be
thrilling? I find it so on “God Rested.” Here God’s work and
subsequent rest in Creation is linked to Christ’s death and
resurrection. What solidifies the link are the words, “It is
finished,” which Christ spoke from the cross. Just as God rested
from his works on the seventh day, Christ, in a manner of speaking,
did the same after that last utterance.
The brief flourish
at the end is exhilarating. Rather than spell it out, Peterson closes
with an upward flourish that anticipates the climax of history. It’s
a wordless rush.
Don’t overlook
Prologue on the way to the companion recording, Resurrection
Letters, Vol. 1. The former puts the latter in context.
