The Everlasting Man

When planning for this summer psalms series, I initially chose Psalm 15 for a new setting because of the calendar: Psalm 15 was scheduled for the last Sunday in June (a month with five Sundays), which meant we could practice the new setting over four Sundays before using it to conclude the service this week. I was also intrigued by the question that opens the psalm, “Who shall dwell on Your holy hill?”— a phrase which brings together thoughts about heaven, eternity, and assurance of salvation in a single verse. The Stone Mountain tune tries to musically illustrate this questioning sense, with the refrain never quite settling into the key of G minor. The verse, which sets forth a positive (though impossible in human strength) description of the man who is blameless, hints at the distant key of D major only to return to the uncertain refrain. The bridge, which sets the concluding line “He who does these things shall never be moved,” consists of a single repeated pitch—displaced by an octave only at the very end. Even though the harmony shifts and builds to a climax, the melody, in a sense, never moves. —Henry C. Haffner