In January I attended MMC’s “Kickoff to Lenten Paperless Music” session on Zoom. During the session, MMC board member Nancy Willibanks taught us John Bell’s song “Lo, I am with You”. This beautiful, mournful, soothing song became the tune that accompanied me throughout my Lenten journey, and came to bookend our Holy Week observances at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, NM.

On Palm Sunday, we divided the Passion Gospel into 14 segments.  A different member of the community created an artistic interpretation of each portion of the gospel and we created a corresponding “original verse” for the song, inspired by the gospel text, which the entire community sang together in response to each portion of the gospel after it was read.  The congregation’s response was tentative at first, but by the end of the Gospel (and after 14 repetitions of the song!) our congregational voice was strong and the tune firmly embedded in our bodies, hearts, and minds to carry us through our Holy Week journey.

The journey culminated on Easter Morning, where the song provided the backbone for our Easter Sermon, beginning with the congregation joining the preacher in singing “Lo, I am with you as you wait for the morn” and concluding with the whole community singing the reassuring words of Jesus, that mark the end of Matthew’s Gospel:  “Lo, I am with you to the end of the age.”

Sylvia Miller-Mutia is a member of the Board of Music that Makes Community. She is a priest in the Episcopal Church. She serves as Associate Rector at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, NM with a focus on outreach, evangelism, and family ministry. In addition, Sylvia serves as "priest at large" for the larger church and wider world, assisting the people of God in whatever ways she can, and developing new resources for spiritual formation to share.