The Gospel Isn't Written In the Bible Alone (Elizabeth Alexander)
voice and piano
low voice (a-b'/d")- SEA-082-00 NEW FOR 2010!
medium/high voice (e-f"/a") - SEA-082-02 NEW FOR 2010!
5 minutes - $5.00/copy
A gospel hymn to the sacredness of all creation, inspired by this anonymous quote: "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars." This sweet and soulful song welcomes some rhythmic and melodic improvisation, and some heartfelt vocal nuance.
Composer's Note: The inspiration for this piece began with a quote from one of my favorite free thinkers, the provocative Protestant reformer Martin Luther, whose words I came across in an old anthology of religious writings: "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars." What a fabulous quote, I thought. Wouldn't that sentiment make for a wonderful song? However, after an afternoon of exhaustive research, Luther Seminary research librarian Bruce Eldevik reported to me that it was highly unlikely that Luther was the source of the quote. (Thanks anyway, Bruce!) I was a little disappointed, but that didn't keep me from using this anonymous quote as the inspiration for this song.
Medium/high voice - ScoreLow voice - Score
vocalist Libby Turner-Opanga and Elizabeth Alexander
The Gospel Isn't Written In the Bible Alone is also a movement from Go Out! - A Musical Celebration of Liberal Religion and Freedom of Thought
"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars."
- Anonymous, erroneously attributed to Martin Luther
The Gospel is written on the trees and flowers, it's written on the wind and the rain,
Recorded on the rock and sediment and sand.
It's written on the glory of the far-off sun, and also on the very near,
Inscribed upon the palm of every open hand.
You can hear it in the thunder, you can read it in the stars,
You can find it under every leaf and stone.
On a page wide as a prairie there's a message large as life:
The Gospel isn't written in the Bible alone.
The Gospel is painted onto fins and scales, it's ruffled into feathers and fur,
It's spun into the seashell's deep and sacred scroll.
Behold it in the voices of the birds at dawn, composers of the Song of Songs,
Discern it in the Acts of every living soul.
Every pebble holds a Proverb, every spider spins a Psalm,
Every seed's a Resurrection of its own.
On a page wide as a prairie there's a message large as life:
The Gospel isn't written in the Bible alone.
Imagine now, if you were God
Setting forth a Gospel for all you're worth,
Why would you settle for a single book
When you could write the Gospel on the whole wide Earth?
The Gospel is moving over darkened seas, it's working in the change and the flow,
It's written in a tongue we long to understand.
We marvel at the beauty of the poetry encoded in the chromosome,
And braided through the length of every twisted strand.
It is molded into muscle, it is whispered into breath,
It is carved into the curve of every bone.
On a page wide as a prairie there's a message large as life:
The Gospel may be written in the Bible —
But it surely isn't written in the Bible alone.
Lyric Copyright © 2009 by Elizabeth Alexander. All rights reserved.
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