Matriarch Voices: Sarah laughs, Third Sunday after Pentecost, VF #18
The Laughing Child
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, maybe by Leonardo da Vinci
Voices Found # 18, verses 1, 2 and 4
Rejoice for women brave
who laughed and cried and sang
who listened to angels, believed their God
from them Salvation sprang
Lift up your hearts, lift up your voice.
Rejoice again, I say rejoice
Rejoice again, I say rejoice!
Rejoice for Sarah's mirth;
she listened laughingly.
In joy she brought forth a new nation,
saying all will laugh with me.
Lift up your hearts, lift up your voice.
Rejoice again, I say rejoice
Rejoice again, I say rejoice!
Your gracious love divine,
like Miriam we proclaim.
May we now sing praise and with Mary
magnify your holy name.
Lift up your hearts, lift up your voice.
Rejoice again, I say rejoice
Rejoice again, I say rejoice!
Words: Lisa Neufeld Thomas
Music: Mayfair, Frances M. McCollin (1892-1960)
Sarah laughed. Sarah rejoiced. Sarah gave birth to a miracle. Sarah named that miracle Isaac, meaning laughter.
"Rejoice for women brave" celebrates Sarah, Hannah, Mary, and more; the Matriarchs who bravely bore, tended, and laughed with their sons of Salvation. Above, DaVinci's Madonna, shows a laughing baby Jesus. Was Mother Mary laughing too?
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."
The Five Books of Miriam by Ellen Frankel
from the libretto for "Women of Valor," an oratorio by Andrea Clearfield, a contemporary composer in Philadelphia
About the music
Frances McCollin was a composer in Philadelphia in the early 20th century. Her prolific works are preserved in the Free Library of Philadelphia. Although blind, Frances composed a wide array of music including hymn tunes, and works for organ, orchestra, and chorus. She composed this tune, Mayfair, for the text "Rejoice, the Lord is King." I have used her melody to set my congregational hymn.
McCollins's music and Clearfield's oratorio Women of Valor were a source of inspiration for the Voices Found project, to find, sing, and publish sacred music by women.
https://www.churchpublishing.org/products/voicesfound2
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