We Believe

Music by Chris Anderson. Arranged by Dan Forrest.

What’s this?

It’s a section of this Substack containing videos of my choir’s anthems, along with my comments. A longer description can be found on the About page. If you subscribe to this Substack but don’t wish to receive notifications for this section, select Manage Subscription from the upper-right menu and turn this section off there.

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We Believe

A portion of publisher’s description, from the arranger’s page:

Chris Anderson’s modern hymn text with a strong creedal, trinitarian emphasis provides a powerful statement of faith...

The anthem begins slowly and softly, and builds and builds. It’s exciting to sing, and there is genuine feeling behind it.

The man playing the tuba here also played the bass bells (not at the same time). I guess he likes large, heavy instruments!

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I don’t yet understand what is happening with the livestream mix, which was once quite good before our mixer died for the second time and a too-small temporary replacement had to be substituted, but perhaps I just described the problem. The substitute is a very capable mixer, but lacks enough channels to properly mix choir, orchestra, and bells. If that is a problem, I have a possible solution for it.

There may be other things going on as well, and both house and livestream appear to be affected. If the problems remain unresolved and I can obtain the OK, I hope to look into it once we are finished with choir for the season, at the end of May.

I had wanted to also include two instrumental pieces in this post, the bell chorus prelude and the orchestral sermon response, but because of the sound quality issues I did not. They can be found, such as they are, at the full livestream link below.

With the audio issues resolved, I would love to mount a small camera behind the choir, aimed at the bells, for a view that ordinarily only we (the choir) can see. It’s amazing to watch these ringers.

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The lyrics for this anthem:

We believe in God Supreme,
Ever present, never seen;
God Most High, who reigns above;
Father nigh, whose name is Love.
We whose prayers to God ascend
Praise creation’s Source and End.

We rejoice in Jesus Christ-
God’s own Son, our Sacrifice;
Very God, yet virgin born;
Sinless, yet for sinners torn.
We whom Jesus died to win
Know He lives to come again.

We adore the Spirit free-
Author of our unity.
Giver of the sacred Word,
Wellspring of the second birth.
We whom He indwells and fills
Yield our hearts and minds and wills.

We, the Church, affirm our faith
In the Triune God of grace;
Kingdoms fall and ages change;
Faithful, changeless, God remains!
One in Christ, we lift one voice!
We believe, and we rejoice!

-Chris Anderson

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Recorded at Christ Community Church, Carmichael, California, April 28, 2024
Excerpted from this livestream.