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Sing Hallelujah is a song that attempts to set some of the ideas found in Isaiah (chapters 8,9, and 60 specifically) into song.  I was drawn to these passages as I sought to reconcile holding hope for a savior who came in the flesh two millennia ago (and said that He is coming again) and the time that was the world of 2022.

There is no need to articulate how the world seems to be in turmoil as it is evident in any number of ways—wars in many places, toxic political ‘dialogue’, masses of people displaced or killed due to weather patterns and economic forces.  However, it is worth noting that in the text from Isaiah, we find words lamenting situations that sound strangely contemporary—war, leaders misleading the masses, the poor suffering under the weight of their burdens, and people “kept in fright”.  Of the familiar in these chapters, the passage that surprised me the most (and that is in this song) is:

Do not call conspiracy
    everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
    and do not dread it. – Is.8:12

 This direction to resist the interpretations that are provided, and in the next verse the directive that only the Lord God is holy and to be feared were and are good reminders to me as I sift through the voices and anxieties that regularly come to me through conversation and news. 

Finally, this song brings out the words of Isaiah acknowledging that darkness covers the earth and yet inviting the people of Israel to arise and shine “for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” (Is. 60:1)

We invite you to join us in singing “hallelujah” in this Advent and Christmas season.  It is a hallelujah that does not avoid the brokenness of our world.  It is a hallelujah and is aware of “every warrior’s boot used in battle” as well as the “rod of the oppressor”.  Nevertheless, it is a hallelujah that proclaims our belief and our hope that one day all people of the earth will be able to proclaim that “no longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders.” (Is. 60:18)

Peter La Grand