Bells of Hope (Optimized for Church Audio)

(This version is updated to enhance the bass in a church audio setting).

My wife said to me, you should create a video based on this quote from Charles Spurgeon:
"Oh, that the LORD would come! He is coming!
He is on the road and traveling quickly.
The sound of His approach should be as music to our hearts!
Ring out, you bells of hope!"
-Charles Spurgeon

I have since composed and orchestrated the music entitled, "Ever-Enduring" to go with the quote. The concept of ever-enduring came from my first idea, to portray a relentless violin ostinato as the theme of Love. Love is a verb, and involves tireless action. Then I heard the melody, which was Hope. Hope involves looking for things yet unseen, so there is an element of longing. Finally, I composed a counter-melody, the faith theme. Faith involves a future realization manifest in present action, and as the counter-melody it undergirds hope and love with a solid and steady repetition of belief. So the piece involves Faith, Hope, and Love. Love in this video is expressed as Jesus' determined approach toward us, as well as our unceasing acts of love as we follow His Way.

Toward the end, I wrote a perfect fifth for the French horns to blow as a representation of the rapture. Then I asked myself what a "Trumpet" in the Bible would refer to, when it speaks of the final trumpet. It was most likely a Shofar horn. So I pulled up a video of a guy blowing the shofar, and lo and behold, it was a perfect fifth, and in exactly the same key I had written! That was interesting... praise the Lord.

The music has a marching rhythm as though Jesus is approaching with that same piercing countenance that he had when he set his face toward Jerusalem. The striking of the bell throughout signals his return is imminent and celebrated. The trumpet features prominently in the middle section foreshadowing the final trumpet and the final interval - a perfect fifth. The soprano joins to add the feel of angelic support for this final glory.

The focus of this video is to stave off the hopelessness I have felt in my own spirit, the temptation to give up while watching the darkness spread and misusing prophecy as an excuse to say all the bad things happening are just inevitable. Instead, this video encourages us to redouble our love and good deeds in these final days with hope abounding. Hope is poignant, but powerful.

Finally, this video ties in Christ's resurrection with the our hope and source of joy, just in time for Resurrection Sunday.

I believe Jesus wants to return for us even more than we want Him to return. Enjoy Bells of Hope!