Morning Has Broken

That Day; Dianne Reeves

This particular Dianne Reeves CD doesn’t prompt a story. “Erik Apland’s Tome of Life, Love, Music and Stories” would stand incomplete, though, if I didn’t include “That Day”. Ms. Reeves brings as much to the table on this CD as she does on any other of her albums.

I note, as an item of interest, her selection of “Morning Has Broken”. This song has found its way into a fairly exclusive club whose constituents include “Amazing Grace” and “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”. For some reason, one that eludes me, artists who sing and/or play these songs in a secular "environment" seem to believe that they stand in some “religious safety zone” when they perform them. They feel, and probably the audience with them, that they don’t have to be held accountable for the words they sing and the sentiments they express. They would claim that these songs stake a claim inside our American musical culture, one which would somehow negate any necessary conviction when singing or hearing the songs.

My rant here, of course, presents the darker side of religious song performance in a secular world. Naturally, as a Christian, I honor any performance of any hymn anywhere within the earshot of a non-believer as a furtherance of the good Lord’s kingdom. Once the words and sentiments come out of your mouth, God takes over. He’ll take the message to wherever he needs it to go.

I’m glad Ms. Reeves sings this song. She brings such grace to Eleanor Farjeon’s words:

Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for the Springing fresh from the word

____________

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven

Like the first dewfall, on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

______________

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God’s recreation of the new day.

I remember when this song got included in the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978. I wanted to sing this song every Sunday.

Credits: To John Newton, for Amazing Grace. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years…” I can’t get past those seven words without tearing up.