Description
That true believers are "in this world, but not of this world" is a recurrent theme of the New Testament. In Psalm 39, written a millennium before New Testament times, David foreshadows this theme. He prays for full awareness of the vanishing brevity and frailty of earthly life, and laments the futility of so much of human behavior. Having confronted worldly values, David renounces them and dedicates his existence to God. The text of this anthem (translation of Psalm 39 by Isaac Watts) is powerful, and the church choir will find the singing to be straightforward. Solo piano passages serve to link contrasting textual/musical ideas.