Valiant Voices: Sarah laughed at miracles

                                          https://www.churchpublishing.org/voicesfound

 Voices Found # 18

Rejoice for women brave

Rejoice for women brave,

who laughed and cried and sang,

who listened to angels, believed their God, from them salvation sprang.

Rejoice for Sarah's mirth; 

she listened laughingly.

In joy she brought forth a new nation, 

saying all will laugh with me.

Rejoice for Hannah, bold; 

she loudly made her plea.

Then God heard her prayers 

and she, exultant, sang of victory.

Your gracious love divine, 

like Miriam we proclaim.

May we now sing praise and with Mary

magnify your holy name.

Words: Lisa Neufeld Thomas

Music: Mayfair, Frances M. McCollin (1892-1960)

About the text

 Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” Genesis 21:6-7 NRSV

 I wrote this hymn to celebrate Biblical women.  Although we could sing "Faith of our fathers," there was nothing about the faith of our mothers.   Genesis tells us of  Sarah, a woman of faith: a faithful wife, companion, and mother.  She laughed.  She said yes to God and her husband, Abraham. She agreed to  the joys  of pregnancy and the travails of childbirth, despite her old age.  In Hebrews 11,  Paul points to Sarah and Rehab, as the embodiment of   lives of faith, the only women he includes in his list.  This Voices Found hymn celebrates  Sarah and  three other lives of faith. It also celebrates the faith of our mothers living still, in our time, in spite of terror, famine, and war.

About the music

Frances McCollin was a composer in Philadelphia in the early 20th century.  Her prolific works are  housed in the Free Library of Philadelphia.  Although blind, she wrote a wide array of music including works for organ and hymn tunes.  She wrote this tune for the text "Rejoice, the Lord is King," it is better used for  a feminine text.

A Reflection on Sarah

"I am the first Jewish woman, the first Jewish wife, the first Jewish mother

As a young beauty I left my home, my family, my culture, my faith,

and with my beloved Abram set out to follow the Voice-Without-A-Face...

I am wise because I have faced impossible choices and have nonetheless chosen.

I am shrewd because I have learned to laugh at miracles

And thereby to force God’s hand."

From Ellen Frankel's the Five Books of Miriam

From the narrated text by Ellen Frankel for the movement “Sarah,” from the Women of Valor Suite by Andrea Clearfield, commissioned by Lisa Neufeld Thomas, Artistic Director of the Women’s Sacred Music Project, premiered September, 2011 at the Daylesford Abbey, in Paoli, PA and the Germantown Jewish Center, Philadelphia, PA 

https://www.andreaclearfield.com/works/vocal/women-of-valor/

Meditation

What is a life of faith today?  Who is a woman of valor in our time?  Who would you include in a list of lives of faith, historical or contemporary?Why?

Give thanks to God for the women of faith in your life.