How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place

The Brahms requieum has spoken to my heart since I sang, "How lovely is they dwelling place" in Concert Choir when I was in the tenth grade. Of all the choruses in the Requiem, "How Lovely" is the most performed. Partly because it is a set chorus with no solos, and because it is mostly harmonic, with only a small part that is polyphonic, it suits high school, college and church choirs well. It is also most beautiful.

I came across this picture of Bethlehem, the long view, tonight and "How Lovely" sprang into my mind. How lovely is thy dwelling place, dear God! You came among us and dwelt here, on this earth, living the life of the everyday human being in the sin and degradation he/she regularly inhabits. Yet you stayed with us, died among us, and rose for us. This is an everpresent puzzle to me. You didn't have to do this! No one made you! And if I were you I certainly would have changed my mind and decided to go back "home" where things were much nicer. I think of my own regular desire to escape reality anyway I can, and marvel.

If you found this old earth with its human propensity to make a mess of things to be a worthy place for you to live and die, then maybe I can, too. How lovely is thy dwelling place, oh Lord of Hosts! May I dwell here in faith and love with you.
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