Hosanna!

Today, I finished editing my 8th and final Lamb of God video. What a joy it has been to create these videos. Rob Gardner's Lamb of God has been an Easter tradition for many years and has become a very important part of my life. I know that this work has the power to change lives. I know this because it has changed at least one life, that being my own.

When Lamb of God was first released on album, I purposefully held off purchasing the CD. I did this because I had a ticket to go and see Rob premiere this work live. I had seen most of Rob's other works--including Joseph Smith the Prophet, Saints and Pioneers, and The Price of Freedom--performed live but only after I had already grown to love the music from those works through CD albums. I thought it would be extra special to experience Lamb of God the first time live. Unfortunately, I discovered just days before the performance that I had a conflict and would be unable to use my ticket. Devastated, I ran to the store the very night I realized the conflict and bought the album. I lay in my bed with headphones in and soaked in the majesty of Lamb of God. And though I'm sure I shed a tear or two in disappointment at not being able to go, I shed many more tears from the Spirit in the music itself. 

When I heard that a group was performing this the very next year, I offered to hand out programs at the door if they were full staffed with violinists more talented than myself. I didn't care in what way I might contribute. I just knew that I needed to try to share this music with others. For six years now, I've had the privilege of participating with this group's annual performance of Lamb of God. And thankfully, they did in fact decide to let me play my instrument rather than serve as greeter. I still feel such a drive to share this music with others. 

As something of an experiment, I took some time last year to create my first Lamb of God video, one about Peter, Peter's story especially resonated with me last year, and I kept thinking about a scene from one of the LDS Bible Videos that depicted Peter's betrayal of Christ. The scene showed Peter ashamedly looking on as Christ was shoved past him. There was a brief glimpse between the two that struck me. In that glimpse, I saw Peter's shame. And I saw Christ's forgiveness. I felt a strong need to connect that visual with the moment in the song where Peter mournfully cries, "And when thou lookest for a friend, thou findest none for I have fled, Oh God! What have I done?"

The music and the video footage from the wonderful LDS Bible Videos lined up so beautifully. I simply had to click a few buttons as the video creation seemed to happen on its own. This year, when Thomas' story cried out to me, I couldn't sleep until I sat down to create a video for Thomas. And in the weeks since then, one song after another has nagged me until I have finally created a video for almost every song in Lamb of God. 

My video series now complete, I have decided to release each video here on my blog on each day of this Easter week that corresponds to the historical events each video is related to. I will likely re-post my old blog entries on the corresponding days this week for those videos I've previously shared on this blog.

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With today being Palm Sunday, I wish to share Hosanna (Thy Savior Hath Come). When I decided to make this video, I faced a dilemma. For my other videos, I had decided to almost exclusively use footage from the LDS Bible Video collection. I do not believe that this church's physical portrayal was either more historically accurate or more prone to inspire or direct people spiritually to the Savior. It is truly inspirational, that is true. And I do feel close to my Savior when I view these. But this was not the motivation behind my choice. Rather, I decided to use this source material because there was a great deal of footage available and because I wanted to portray a generally uniform depiction of Christ across the videos I was making.

The dilemma I mentioned that I faced in making this video is that there was only about one and a half minutes of footage from the LDS Bible videos that depicted the Triumphal Entry, but I had about four and a half minutes of music that I wanted to fill. And this song makes me feel so much joy and happiness when I think about joining my voice with the many, many who have sung Gloria!, Hosanna!, and Praise to God! in honor of our Redeemer and Savior. So, instead of showing a montage of Christ, I wanted to focus on that joy and happiness and on those brothers and sisters of mine who share this joy.

So I turned to any and all random video clips I could find that depicted this Biblical event. And the result was something that surprised me. I was at first critical of the lower resolution footage I found and the contrasting imagery over the course of the video. And I made a point to not include close-ups of the various actors portraying Jesus in this event with the exception of those clips from the LDS Bible Videos for continuity purposes. I think what surprised me most was that here were multitudes of people who, though they were not from different races and ethnicities for the most part, were costumed and portrayed in different flavors as directed by the various film producers or as guided by the particular impressions and views of their religious denominations. And the result was what seemed to me to be people from all over the world (or at least from diverse denominations and Christian persuasions and their respective stylistic depictions of Christ and this one event) uniting in joy and exultation and singing Hosanna and praise of our common Hope, our Deliv'rer, and our All.

This unified shout of Hosanna makes me wonder how many of these brothers and sisters of mine from all different walks of life and all different religious persuasions joined with me in that Heavenly choir that heralded the birth of the Savior and how many of us may have been singing from the Heavens at this joyous moment as well. Whether that Heavenly choir was open invitation or audition only, we have the opportunity now this Easter and every day to sing together in praise, regardless of our differences. I invite you to join with me in my song. And I hope you'll invite me to join with you in yours.

God Bless! 

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The Promise of Ages whom prophets foretold, 

For whom we have waited e'er long, 

Hath come to redeem us from slavery's yoke 

And deliver His people back home. 

Come, Israel, come and see He who shall reign, 

In whom we will ever rejoice, 

We hear the sound of the glorious refrain 

And it echoeth back in our voice: 

Hosanna! Hosanna! Thy Savior hath come, O Israel, 

And blessed He'll ever be called! 

Hosanna! Hosanna! Sing praises to God, 

For our Hope, our Deliv'rer, our All! 

Oh, why should we wander as strangers from Thee 

And turn from Thy bounteous hand? 

Restore and defend us, oh, set us free, 

That beside Thee we ever may stand! 

He looks, and ten thousands of angels rejoice, 

And myriads wait for His word; 

He speaks, and eternity, filled with His voice, 

Re-echoes the praise of her Lord: 

Hosanna! Hosanna! Thy Savior hath come, O Israel, 

And blessed He'll ever be called! 

Hosanna! Hosanna! Sing praises to God, 

For our Hope, our Deliv'rer, our All! 

Hosanna! Hosanna! Thy Savior hath come, 

Our Hope, our Salvation, our All!