A few weeks ago I and some other songwriters got an email from Bruce Benedict asking if we’d take part in his latest musical venture–a re:hymned version of Samuel J. Stone’s Lyra Fidelium. This collection is Stone’s hymnic reflections on the Apostles’ Creed. Inspired by Brian Moss‘s version of “The Church’s One Foundation,” Bruce thought it would be cool if a bunch of us would contribute new tunes to these classic texts in time for All Saints’ Day.
“Sure,” I said. “No problem.” I quickly chose Article V: He Descended into Hell. This may seem like an odd choice, but let me explain. First of all, it was one of two texts that others hadn’t chosen. Next, I felt it was penance for a job interview in which I submitted the Apostles’ Creed as my statement of faith and subsequently got grilled by one of the people on the search committee who asked if I *really* believed that Jesus went to hell. Very awkward.
The tune wrote itself fairly quickly. But a demo had to wait a week. When I had some free time to record the song on Friday, I spent the day laying down tracks that I realized by 2pm were sadly lacking. So naturally I brewed some coffee and assessed the situation. I started over with a more direct approach to the song. (See: Occum’s razor.) Somewhere around 4pm it all became an act of worship, and the arcane English worked its way deeper and deeper into my heart and the recording became an opportunity to explore Christ’s death, descending into hell, and resurrection more fully.
You can check out my All the Sacrifice Is Ended and a bunch of other songs at Cardiphonia Hymns of Faith page.
