Remembering Glenn Edward Burleigh

Since finishing Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, a mammoth work comprised of more than 40 CDs, the time spent in my Jeep (which is more than I care to think of) has been made bearable by some odd music CDs -- a mixed bag including Il Divo, Rodrigo, Shirley Ceasar, Frank Sinatra & Quincy Jones, Michael Bolton, the Chicago soundtrack, Mozart's 41st Symphony (I don't know what orchestra or conductor, nor do I care to know) and Part II of Glenn Edward Burleigh's Christmas cantata, Born to Die. I listed Bureligh's recording last because once I reached that one I have continually pressed its disc number to restart it from the beginning once it has played through. And one must dispell the notion that Born to Die is fraught with songs of tinkling bells, hay rides, snow and other such nonsense. Born to Die is pure Gospel -- Good News -- about the coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Born to Die tells not just the who -- the story of the birth of Jesus -- but the how and the why -- the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus so that the world might be saved. [see John 3:16-17, The Holy Bible]

For those of you who are not familiar with Burleigh's music, his lyrics are well grounded in the Holy Bible, sometimes verbatim (depending on the translation), and his writing style is all over the musical spectrum. While he may be best known as the composer of Order of My Steps, a traditional gospel song, Burleigh's musical compositions are infused with many different genres. He was classically trained in music and reborn of the Holy Spirit. That is a tremendous combination! Some people are of the school of thought that there is a tedious sameness about music of the faithful. Not so. Hymns and anthems are dull and plodding, old and stale, only if one refuses to see that the words give them new life whenever sung by those who understand and appreciate their meaning. While this writer believes there is no tedious sameness to the music of the faithful, she recognizes well that only very infrequently someone like Burleigh comes along, sharing his faith through his fingertips in a way that is foreign to most. (That is, because folks tend to expect the dull, plodding, old, stale, and tedious sameness ad nauseum, of "church" music.) In fact, she knows of only one other, whose musicianship she has experienced from a performance perspective, but has yet to experience his compositions or arrangements. Perhaps one day . . . but for now, back to Burleigh.

I first experienced Glenn's music when he was the Minister of Music at Good Hope Baptist Church here in Houston, Texas. That was a couple of decades (and then some) ago, as my very much now grown up daughter was just a child. While we had never met, I remember approaching him after a concert at Good Hope and telling him that his music is timeless and I believe it will be sung for decades and decades to come. Several years later it was my blessed pleasure to meet him face-to-face and work with him on his music catalog. After he left Houston we stayed in touch, though infrequently. That was okay, because his music was always near. Picking up a familiar piece of Burleigh's music was like picking up a telephone for a brief conversation with him. Picking up a new piece of Burleigh's music was like learning something new about him. In that way, even though I spoke with him only occasionally, saw him perhaps once or twice a year when he came to Houston, and exchanged emails now and then, he was as near as sitting at a piano and playing one of his songs, or just singing one, even in my head, only to be heard by me and my God.

And God is a fitting subject on which to end this writing. For it is not so much Glenn Burleigh as it was his willingness to empty himself and allow the Spirit of God to fill him in such a way as to express and live out his faith through his music, touching countless lives, even those who know not that the music is of his hand, from his mind and heart, and even those who are yet to hear it.

Thank You, God, for Your unmerited favor that manifested itself in the life of Glenn Edward Burleigh and Your gift to us through him -- music for now and years to come.