Last Updated on March 31, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
An Easter anthem with lyrics by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry and music by composer Thomas Griep makes its online premiere on Easter 2024.
Heartfelt lyrics in “Choose Life” express the profound spiritual transformation from grief to joy that Mary Magdalene felt on the first Easter morning when she met the risen Christ. Q Spirit released the lyric video of “Choose Life: Easter Anthem” on YouTube today (March 31, 2024), marking its first availability online.
The reflective music mirrors the emotional progression, moving unexpectedly from discordance to majestic “Alleluia’s.” While Cherry is known for promoting LGBTQ spirituality, “Choose Life” transcends labels and delves into universal themes, moving listeners from despair and death to hope and new life, ultimately offering a message of joyous renewal. It is also a rare foray into musical creativity for Cherry, whose expertise is visual art and writing.
“‘Choose Life’ does not speak directly of queer subjects, but it is informed by my experiences as a disabled lesbian,” she said. “It can apply to anyone, including LGBTQ youth who are at risk because of how society mistreats and stigmatizes them.”
The anthem is a collaboration between Cherry and Thomas Griep, choir director and professional musician. He has worked in most of the major music venues in southern California and is in demand as a conductor and pianist for celebrities such as Carol Channing, Nathan Lane, Rita Moreno, Cher, and Olivia Newton-John.
Kittredge Cherry and Thomas Griep at the debut of their Easter anthem on Easter 2001
The soundtrack of the six-minute video comes from the original debut performance 23 years ago on Easter 2001. It was sung by the United University Church choir at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Griep joined the choir on piano, mixing in some solo passages throughout the performance. He composed the vocal arrangement for “Choose Life,” including the four-part choral music and piano score, while Cherry wrote the lyrics and sang in the choir.
The new video shows the words of the song synchronized with the music. It was produced with the help of Roque Nnz, a videographer and “digital nomad” in Brazil and Germany. He worked with EuQor to publish the German translation of Kittredge Cherry’s first novel “Jesus in Love” in 2007.
A message from Kittredge Cherry
I wanted to offer Q Spirit readers something special this Easter, so I decided resurrect our Easter anthem from 2001. I dug through dusty files and old cassette tapes to find the sheet music and original recording. It still sounded fresh, as evocative as ever! With Tom’s permission, I had it converted to digital format and worked with a videographer to create the new lyric video that I am sharing today.
I wrote “Choose Life” back in 2001. That was four years before I launched my first LGBTQ spirituality website, Jesusinlove.org, which later evolved into Q Spirit. At the time that I wrote the lyrics, I was in the early stages of conceiving my novel about a queer Christ, “Jesus in Love.” I was a member of the United University Church choir that Tom directed. He is a great friend and world-class musician, so I was thrilled and honored when he invited me to join him in creating an Easter anthem.
It is a joy to to preserve and share a beautiful piece of music that could have been lost. My hope is to inspire listeners around the world and give Q Spirit readers a different window into my own spirituality and the wellsprings of my faith.
First page of sheet music for “Choose Life”
“Choose Life: Easter Anthem” Lyrics
The spoken-word quote at the beginning comes from Deuteronomy 30:10-20. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving God, obeying God’s voice and cleaving to God.”
I have wondered: Why choose life? Why choose life?
Tell me Jesus, tell me Jesus, tell me Jesus,
Why choose life?
When death was all that I could see, When death was all that I could see,
I didn’t know, I didn’t know, that I was free.
Death dies; you arise. Death dies; you arise.
Your lullaby still cradles me.
Now I know, Now I know: You choose life.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu.
On Easter morn, On Easter morn, On Easter morn,
You shove the stone, you shove the stone,
you shove the stone and call my name.
Death dies; you arise. Death dies; you arise.
Your song and my song are the same.
Hear my promise, Hear my promise:
I choose life, I choose life.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu.
I will thank you, I will thank you for each breath.
We can give birth to happiness.
Death dies; you arise. Death dies; you arise.
Our light keeps singing, “All is blest.”
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Amen.
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, events in LGBT and queer history, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of faith and our allies.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
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