Rejoice and Sing, Hosanna to the King!
Composer: Lloyd Larson (Beckenhorst Press)
Text: Lloyd Larson, from the Palm Sunday narrative
Season: Sung April 13, 2025, Palm Sunday, Beverly Heights Sanctuary Choir
Palm Sunday is the one day in the church year when the crowd gets it right. “Hosanna” is a Hebrew cry for help, “save us now,” that had become a shout of praise, and the people lining the road into Jerusalem used it in both senses at once without knowing it. Within the week the same city would call for his death. The anthem does not dwell on that; it stays with the morning, the palms, and the children singing.
Lloyd Larson wrote it as a processional for exactly this Sunday: bright, rhythmic, built to be learned quickly and sung loudly, with a tambourine part if the choir wants one. At Beverly Heights it followed the children’s tone chimes and “Antiphonal Hosanna” on Palm Sunday 2025, so the whole church had been singing hosannas before the choir took its turn.
Scripture: Matthew 21:1 to 11; Psalm 118:25 and 26