Background Notes

In Isaiah Chapter 11, we find a people who have been “cut down” but return, capable of bearing good fruit and soothing that which binds people to sin, because they have been rooted firmly in “good soil.”  In a sermon on these texts, it was likewise noted that when our roots are grounded in a soil of love and reconciliation, we are “irrefutably hardy:” when we are cut down, a shoot will grow; we are given new life that heals and bears fruit. The hymn text for Creator God provides a description of this process.  Beginning in verse one with recognition of the source of our life, the second verse gives voice to our times of difficulty, followed by a reminder of the promise of new and abundant life in verse three. The music strives to capture a bit of Natalie Sleeth’s style, who always wrote such pleasant tunes to sing.