New Hymnal Created by St. Mike's Members!
St. Michael’s University Church Members to Publish Song Book
“Wait for the Lord,” a new hymn first performed at St. Michael’s University Episcopal Church in Isla Vista, is being published by Church Music Publications, based in New York City. The music for the hymn is composed by Karen Tanaka, music director for St. Michael’s Church, and the lyrics are by Mark Juergensmeyer, a member of the choir.
The hymn is part of a series of new hymns created by Tanaka and Juergensmeyer for the song book, St Mike’s Hymns from the Bible. The idea behind the songbook is to have a series of hymns on biblical themes that are set to modern musical tastes.
“Wait for the Lord” was written for two seasons in the Christian calendar, Advent and Lent. Advent is the period of waiting in anticipation of the birth of Christ at Christmas, and Lent is the forty-day period of reflection preceding the Easter season.
The hymn includes the line, “I wait in the forest for a ray of light, I wait in the desert for a bloom,” a phrase that evokes the image of Christ’s meditation in the desert. Another line, “I wait in the silence for a still small voice, I wait in the ocean for the calm,” suggests the “still small voice” of salvation, and the act of Christ in calming the troubled seas.
Karen Tanaka is a versatile composer, pianist and organist. Her works have been performed by distinguished orchestras worldwide including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Her works are often based on biblical themes such as The Song of Songs, Guardian Angel and Urban Prayer.
Mark Juergensmeyer, who has written the lyrics, is a professor of sociology and global studies and director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition to his research publications on religious nationalism and conflict, he has been the co-translator of a book of poems by medieval Indian saints, Songs of the Saints of India.
The hymn is currently available in the publisher’s on-line catalogue. It is expected that it will eventually be published in print, and that other hymns by Tanaka and Juergensmeyer will be selected for publication as well.
