Like so many others, I’ve watched the news of COVID-19 spreading and wondered how it will affect my life. My family usually spends the summer months at home in Northern Ireland; now, it looks like we’ll have to stay put in America. That’s a minor concern compared to the deeper troubles that confront many around the world.
Though we don’t know what exactly will happen with this virus, we do know that we’ll all face death. Unless Jesus returns first, it is the one certainty we can count on.
That’s why, in the providence of God, I’m excited that my four daughters have been gathering around our piano to sing a new song. It’s a song that’s honest about death, and that’s why I think it’s a song that can remind us of our unshakeable hope.
This song has been in the works for more than two years. A couple friends and fellow songwriters, Jordan Kauflin and Matt Merker, brought me an idea for a hymn of hope. Little did we know that the other two writers on our team, Matt Boswell and Matt Papa, were trying to write a song based on the first article of the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563: “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” We brought the two ideas together, and around the piano at our home in Northern Ireland, a new song was born: “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.”
This song has been in the works for more than two years.
Christianity that ignores the reality of death is utterly inauthentic. We need songs that are honest about the grave, for we have real hope to offer our troubled world. Though many believers may be singing at home, unable to gather with their churches as usual, we can still sing with confidence, because we know the One who conquered the grave by his resurrection. We need not approach death crippled by fear. As this song reminds us, we can sing “Hallelujah” because Christ himself is our hope in life and death.
Download free sheet music and MP3 for the song.
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, featuring the Getty Music writing team of Keith Getty, Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, Matt Merker, and Jordan Kauflin.
