Camina, Pueblo De Dios
(Walk On, O People of God)
Refrain:
Walk on, O People of God;
walk on, O people of God!
A new law, God’s new alliance,
all creation is reborn.
Walk on, O people of God;
walk on, O people of God!
Look on Calvary’s summit;
on the rock there towers a cross;
death that gives birth to new living,
a new people, a new light.
Christ has brought us salvation
with his death and rising again.
Everything comes to new birthing,
all creation is reborn.
Refrain
Christ takes into his body
all our sin, enslavement and pain;
as he destroys them he brings us
life’s abundance, life’s new joy.
Christ brings reconciliation
to all things and people with God.
Nature bursts into new flowering,
all creation is reborn.
Refrain
Heaven and earth are embracing,
and our souls find pardon at last.
Now heaven’s gates are reopened
to the sinner, to us all.
Israel walks a journey;
now we live, salvation’s our song;
Christ’s resurrection has freed us.
There are new worlds to explore.
Refrain
Words and music:
Cesáreo Gabaraín; trans. George Lockwood
Judith Mosomos is Acting Director of Worship and Church Music at the Methodist School of Music, and a member of Kampong Kapor Methodist Church.
Easter is the day of greatest celebration in the church year. It is the first day of the “Great Fifty Days”. The Sundays following Easter are called 2nd Sunday of Easter, 3rd Sunday of Easter and so on till we reach the 7th Sunday of Easter. (The 40th day after Easter is Ascension Day which leads to Pentecost.)
With seven Sundays to celebrate Eastertide, what hymns do we have to retell the resurrection story? The United Methodist Hymnal (UMH) has 15 hymns for Easter – UMH 302-327. Let us look at UMH 305 ‘Walk On, O People of God’.
This was composed by a Spanish priest, Cesáreo Gabaraín. Gabaraín started to write hymns at the age of 30. He has written over 500 liturgical songs, four of which are in the UMH. The hymns he wrote were inspired by his personal experience in ministry. He was very much involved with children, youth, adults, nuns, laity, and especially the marginalised and those in need. This is reflected in the songs he wrote (see UMH 305, 344, 583, 637).
Singing hymns of this nature may not be easy. Two possible reasons come to mind.
Firstly, the music is foreign to the ear. Hymn 305 was composed in a Spanish folk tradition. It is a style we need to explore.
Secondly, like most of the hymns, the text is quite profound. It calls us to pay more attention to the words we are putting in our mouth. If we sing “Christ’s resurrection has freed us. There are new worlds to explore”, how should we translate that to action? Which world is there to explore? The consumer world? The world where children need food and education? The world that continuously seeks peace and justice?
Profound as the text may be, it will help cultivate our faith and our little knowledge about the resurrection. It will keep us wondering about its significance in our identity as Christians.
Gabaraín summons us to “walk on, O people of God!” I hear this with much encouragement and hope; even as life brings more challenges ahead, we will embrace His salvation and all the promises salvation brings us.
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