Earth Teach Me Quiet

Earlier this year, when singing together became just about the most dangerous thing you could do, Donald Nally, the magus behind the Crossing, our finest contemporary-music choir, began posting daily recordings from their archives. He called it “Rising w/ the Crossing,” also the title of an album of a dozen highlights. There’s David Lang’s eerily prescient reflection on the 1918 flu pandemic, performed last year, and Alex Berko’s stirring “Lincoln.” But I keep returning to Eriks Esenvalds’s dreamily unfolding appeal to the Earth, its text a prayer of the Ute people of the American Southwest: a work of true radiance, fired by the precision and passion of this spectacular group. – ZACHARY WOOLFE

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Intrigued, I googled the lyrics to this Native American prayer. Here is what I discovered.

Earth teach me quiet ~ as the grasses are still with new light.
Earth teach me suffering ~ as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility ~ as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring ~ as mothers nurture their young.
Earth teach me courage ~ as the tree that stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation ~ as the ant that crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom ~ as the eagle that soars in the sky.
Earth teach me acceptance ~ as the leaves that die each fall.
Earth teach me renewal ~ as the seed that rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself ~ as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness ~ as dry fields weep with rain.

I am so grateful to have a full lifetime on Earth to learn quiet. Suffering. Humility. Caring. Courage. Limitation. Freedom. Acceptance. Renewal.

Maker of the Earth and every living thing, please teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Creator of each person breathing breath upon this Earth, teach me to remember kindness.

God claims the world as his. Everything and everyone belongs to him! He’s the one who pushed back oceans to let the dry ground appear, planting firm foundations for the earth. Who, then, ascends into the presence of the Lord? And who has the privilege of entering into God’s Holy Place? (Psalm 24:1-3, TPT).

Please join me as I touch on the link below, mesmerized by the dreamily voices unfolding our radiant prayer, “Earth teach me quiet.”