Great Is Thy Faithfulness

I was contacted by Evan Edwards, who at the time was at Euclid Avenue Baptist Church in Bristol, VA, for the orchestra's 10th anniversary. As we were talking about possible titles for his commission, I mentioned that Great Is Thy Faithfulness has always been very special to me, and I had never done an orchestra arrangement on this hymn.

All of the lyrics are strong, but my favorite line is "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow"; something that is so desperately needed in the world today. The hymn is traditionally in 3/4 time, however, I did the introduction in 4/4 and started the melody in the traditional 3/4 time.

For power and expansion, the last verse is in 4/4 time. I wanted the arrangement to end fortissimo to proclaim the power of God's faithfulness in our lives.