Only in God

The Anglican Church is a big tent. I grew up as a child of Reformed parents in churches who were part of the Episcopal Renewal in the '70s and '80s. Those Episcopal churches are now part of the Anglican Communion.

Some of the treasures I received from that community in those days were the Episcopal liturgy as expressed in the beautiful and thorough Book of Common Prayer, the value of weekly communion, and also the tradition of the words of Scripture put directly to song.

The instrumentation in worship services was simple and beautiful, and the tunes were accessible to a musically-untrained, hyper-aware, internal little girl in a military family  -- afraid variously of Skylab landing on her house, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and making new friends. These old songs lingered in my head and comforted me with the sweet and timeless words of Scripture and the nearness of Jesus Christ.

As it turns out, my faith has been well-placed; Iranian ayatollahs may come and go, but our stronghold remains.

I have tried and failed to find many of those old songs. But I have found a few John Michael Talbot songs we sang at one time, and here is one I want to share with words from Psalm 62 -- the lyrics first and the link follows.

(John Michael Talbot is a Roman Catholic founder of a monastic community, so if you watch the clip you will see imagery common to that tradition.)

Psalm 62

Only in God is my soul at rest
In Him comes my salvation
He only is my rock
My strength and my salvation

Chorus:
My stronghold, my Savior
I shall not be afraid at all
My stronghold
My Savior
I shall not be moved

Only in God is found safety
When my enemy pursues me
Only in God is found glory
When I am found meek and found lowly

Psalm 62