This cantata is based on Isaiah 40:1-11, and was commissioned by University Lutheran Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to celebrate the 60th ordination anniversary of Bishop Krister Stendahl. It was presented during the worship services on December 4, 2005 at University Lutheran Church.
The cantata text and score are available as a PDF files for download. (For permission to print the score, contact Bruce Brolsma.)
Related links:
Cantata2
Cantata 3
MP3 recordings are available for download below, as presented at the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services.
Prepare The Way, 9 a.m. service (17 Mb)
Prepare The Way, 11 a.m. service (17 Mb)
9 a.m. service (2.3 Mb)
11 a.m. service (2.1 Mb)
Comfort my people, says your God.
O speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to the city that it has served its term,
that its penalty is paid, that it has received from the Lord’s hand double for
all its sins.
9 a.m. service (3.8 Mb)
11 a.m. service (3.9 Mb)
A voice cries out! Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make a straight road in the desert for our God.
Every valley will be raised, every mountain and hill made low. Uneven ground will be level, and rough places, a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it.
The Lord has spoken.
9 a.m. service (2.2 Mb)
11 a.m. service (2.2 Mb)
People are like grass, perishable like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the Lord’s breath blows upon it. Surely, the people are grass. But the word of our God will stand forever.
9 a.m. service (3.2 Mb)
11 a.m. service (3.1 Mb)
Get you up to a high mountain, Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem.
See, the Lord God comes with might,and rules with a mighty arm. God comes with the reward preceded by the reparation.
9 a.m. service (3.5 Mb)
11 a.m. service (3.5 Mb)
God feeds the flock like a shepherd; God’s arms gather the lambs.
God’s bosom carries them; God gently leads the mother sheep.
Prepare the way of the Lord.
9 a.m. service (1.3 MB)
11 a.m. service (1.3 Mb)
The Lord has spoken.
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness.