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FOREWORD
"We have come into this place to remember, to reflect, to renew."
Holy Week, of all observances in the church year, includes the most
dramatic of events and contrast of emotions. From Jesus' triumphal entry
into Jerusalem to His betrayal and suffering lies a journey which is
difficult to travel, no matter how often we contemplate this week and its
significance to our faith in Christ as our Savior.
When Jesus shared the bread and wine with His disciples in their final
meal, He said, "Do this in remembrance of Me." Somehow He knew they
would indeed remember His words, His actions, His stories, His love. And
so do we as we travel the distance He walked from Palm Sunday through
the final week with His own friends and followers.
I am extremely grateful to Mark Cabaniss for the concept, structure,
narrative and liturgy for this cantata. To begin and end with the heartfelt
words of the Prayer of Saint Francis frames our yearning to know Jesus'
Truth, the Truth Who sets us free.
"For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
~ John Purifoy
John Purifoy is an ASCAP composer and arranger with various published
choral anthems, cantatas and keyboard collections and works recorded by
Carol Lawrence, Anita Kerr, the Chicago Master Chorale and other artists.
His work for chorus and orchestra, We Hold These Truths, narrated by
Alex Haley won the 1987 Freedoms Foundation Award for musical
programs. He is the composer and lyricist of Chronicles of Blue and Gray,
commissioned by the Knoxville Choral Society, which received a premiere
at Carnegie Hall in 2014 by Distinguished Concerts International New
York.
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