Downloads:
- worthy_i...core_ pdf (view, print, download)
- worthy_i...rgan_ pdf (view, print, download)
- worthy_i...TTBB_ pdf (view, print, download)
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mp3
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If you sing/use this song, please contact the composer and say thank you to Loren Erickson!
Voicing/Instrumentation: SSAATTBB, Organ/Organ Accompaniment
See more from Loren Erickson.
Atonement/Mercy/Grace/Redemption
Christ
Eternal Life/Exaltation
Heaven/Celestial Kingdom
Heavenly Father
Repentance
Sacrifice
Savior/Jesus Christ
Worthiness
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More about Loren Erickson:
My first introduction to music was playing the trumpet in an elementary school band. How many of those do you see anymore? In Junior High I took up singing and performed in various choirs and musicals through high school and college. When I was called as ward music chairman and took on the additional responsibilities of ward choir director, I wanted to see of I could arrange music for the choir. Many of those early attempts were...well...awful. But I had a very forgiving Bishop and patient accompanists and choir and I continued to learn. I am now stake music chairman and have inflicted slightly less atrocious arrangements on otherwise unsuspecting congregations. I also currently sing with Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, a multi-denominational choral movement spanning five western states in the USA. My experience in MCO has had a profound influence on how I look at music, what it means, and why it is important to understand meaning behind notes and lyrics when performing it. I hope that what I leave here is not as awful as I have suggested that it might be with this introduction, but either way, know that there is a little piece of my soul in everything you will find from me here. Please provide feedback on my work. That is the only way I will learn.
I am not sure what to think of this composition. My own mother called it "laborious" and having spent 15 hours in hard labor giving birth to me, she would know. But I still like it. The lyrics are taken loosely from the words of Isaiah and from John 3:16. I feel that it represents a progression in our understanding of and appreciation for the gift the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father. I don't think any of us understand how hard that was for our Father in Heaven. Yes, even though He loves each one of us, the whole world in fact, that He was willing to "give" His Son. That doesn't mean it was easy.
The choir begins with a little fugue, going through the motions, chanting "worthy, worthy", referring to the Lamb. Not until page three of the score do we get to hear what the Lamb was worthy of. The choir acknowledges the Lamb being slain for the sins of the world. But what does that mean? "For God so loved the world..." When the enormity of our Father's gift is revealed the choir sings in quiet awe: "His Son, His Son, His Only Begotten Son", and now we recognize the depth of our Father's (and His Son's) sacrifice. Christ was like nothing else under creation. Unqiue in every way, born to die, that only through Him may we have eternal life.
A quite organ interlude lets us ponder the boundless gift of love that is offered to each of us. When the choir joins again, it is with conviction and testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
I hope you don't find this laborious. If you do find it useful, please provide feedback. I would love to hear what you think etiher way, in fact.
Lyrics: (Loosely)
Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain for
the sins of the world.
For God so loved the world
that He gave his Only Begotten Son,
that whoso believeth in Him,
shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
Worthy is the Lamb,
Worthy is the Lamb,
Worthy is the Lamb.
Worthy is the Lamb.
