Elizabeth Alexander

Seafarer Press

SEA-082-00 $5.00

The Gospel Isn’t WrittenIn the Bible Alone

low voice and piano

Composer Note

“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.”

This quote was attributed to Martin Luther as early as the 1950s, when it was published in an

anthology of religious quotations. In the decades since, it has appeared in countless sermons,

devotional manuals and gardening books; on greeting cards, posters and T-shirts; and on

thousands of websites.

When I first discovered this sentiment, I too was delighted by it, and it played around in my mind

for several years before I allowed it to inspire this song.

Wanting to know more about the source, I called on Bruce Eldevik, a reference librarian at

Luther College, who graciously searched Martin Luther’s complete writings for me. He was not

able to locate any such quote, and finally concluded that it was highly unlikely that Luther was

the true source of this quote.1

As someone with a longtime fascination with Luther, I was a little disappointed by Eldevik’s

findings. However, I still find myself pleased by the anonymous quote inspirated for this song.

- E. A.

________________

1 It’s possible that a quote from Luther’s book Table Talk fueled this longtime misattribution, given its similarly

democratic sentiment: “The gospel belongs to the poor and sorrowful, and not to princes and courtiers who live in

continual joy and delight, in security, void of all tribulations.”

Cover image: “Zen Landscape” by Valerie Kelly

Valerie creates art for her personal pleasure, and it always makes her

happy when it gives pleasure to someone else.

More of Valerie’s art may be seen at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88995402@N00/

The Gospel Isn’t Written in the Bible Alone

“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone,

but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.”

Anonymous, erroneously attributed to Martin Luther

The Gospel is written in the trees and flowers, it’s written in the wind and the rain,

Recorded in the rock and sediment and sand.

It’s written in the glory of the far-off sun, and also in the very near,

Inscribed upon the palm of every open hand.

You can hear it in the thunder, you can read it in the stars,

You can find it under every leaf and stone.

On a page wide as a prairie there’s a message large as life:

The Gospel isn’t written in the Bible alone.

The Gospel is painted onto fins and scales, it’s ruffled into feathers and fur,

It’s spun into the seashell’s deep and sacred scroll.

Behold it in the voices of the birds at dawn, composers of the Song of Songs,

Discern it in the Acts of every living soul.

Every pebble holds a Proverb, every spider spins a Psalm,

Every seed’s a Resurrection of its own.

On a page wide as a prairie there’s a message large as life:

The Gospel isn’t written in the Bible alone.

Imagine now, if you were God

Setting forth the Gospel for all you’re worth,

Why would you settle for a single book

When you could write the Gospel on the whole wide Earth?

The Gospel is moving over darkened seas, it’s working in the change and the flow,

It’s written in a tongue we long to understand.

We marvel at the beauty of the poetry encoded in the chromosome,

And braided through the length of every twisted strand.

It is molded into muscle, it is whispered into breath,

It is carved into the curve of every bone.

On a page wide as a prairie there’s a message large as life:

The Gospel may be written in the Bible —

But it surely isn’t written in the Bible alone.

Lyric copyright 2009 by Elizabeth Alexander. All rights reserved.

Seafarer Press

SEA-082-00

© 2010 by Elizabeth Alexander. All rights reserved.

Please do not photocopy this music. Composing is my livelihood.

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“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.”

Anonymous, often attributed (erroneously) to Martin Luther

The Gospel Isn't Written In the Bible Alonefor low voice and piano

Elizabeth Alexander

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3

Opal Palmer Adisa, poet B Margaret & George Alexander, parents B Yehuda Amichai, poet B Bjorn Arneson, generous

web designer B Scott Bates, poet B Abbie Betinis, composer/colleague B Dennis Blubaugh, music dealer B Michael

deVernon Boblett, poet B Ray Bradbury, writer B Norbert Capek, visionary B e. e. cummings, poet B Philip Dacey,

poet B Emily Dickinson, poet B Evelyn Dudley, poet B Rob Eller-Isaacs, minister/writer B Sophia Lyon Fahs, writer

B Richard M. Fewkes, writer B Pesha Gertler, poet B Richard S. Gilbert, minister/writer B Jack Gallagher,

composer/teacher B Paul Gerike, proofreader B Steve Harper, technical advisor B Steve Hawkins, generous web

designer B Edie Hill, composer/colleague B Langston Hughes, poet B Mark Humphrey, piano technician B Karel Husa,

composer/teacher B Kalidasa, poet B Garrison Keillor, storyteller B Denise Levertov, poet B George Ella Lyon, poet

B Jonathan Machen, artist B Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet B J. David Moore, composer/colleague B Joan Wolf

Prefontaine, poet B Gerald Rich, poet B Carl Sandburg, poet B King Sigismund III, religious reformer B Steven

Stucky, composer/teacher B Rabindranath Tagore, poet B Howard Thurman, civil rights leader/writer B John

Greenleaf Whittier, poet B Theodore Chickering Williams, poet B Daniel Winter, pianist/teacher B Nancy Wood,

poet B Yehudi Wyner, composer/teacher B Paul Adams, technical advisor B Opal Palmer Adisa, poet B Margaret &

George Alexander, parents B Yehuda Amichai, poet B Bjorn Arneson, generous web designer B Scott Bates, poet B

Abbie Betinis, composer/colleague B Dennis Blubaugh, music dealer B Michael deVernon Boblett, poet B Ray

Bradbury, writer B Norbert Capek, visionary B e. e. cummings, poet B Philip Dacey, poet B Emily Dickinson, poet

B Evelyn Dudley, poet B Rob Eller-Isaacs, minister/writer B Sophia Lyon Fahs, writer B Richard M. Fewkes, writer

B Pesha Gertler, poet B Richard S. Gilbert, minister/writer B Jack Gallagher, composer/teacher B Paul Gerike,

proofreader B Steve Harper, technical advisor B Steve Hawkins, generous web designer B Edie Hill,

composer/colleague B Langston Hughes, poet B Mark Humphrey, piano technician B Karel Husa, composer/teacher

B Kalidasa, poet B Garrison Keillor, storyteller B Denise Levertov, poet B George Ella Lyon, poet B Jonathan Machen,

artist B Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet B J. David Moore, composer/colleague B Joan Wolf Prefontaine, poet B Gerald

Rich, poet B Carl Sandburg, poet B King Sigismund III, religious reformer B Steven Stucky, composer/teacher B

Rabindranath Tagore, poet B Howard Thurman, civil rights leader/writer B John Greenleaf Whittier, poet B

Theodore Chickering Williams, poet B Daniel Winter, pianist/teacher B Nancy Wood, poet B Yehudi Wyner,

composer/teacher B Paul Adams, technical advisor B Opal Palmer Adisa, poet B Margaret & George Alexander, parents

B Yehuda Amichai, poet B Bjorn Arneson, generous web designer B Scott Bates, poet B Abbie Betinis,

composer/colleague B Dennis Blubaugh, music dealer B Michael deVernon Boblett, poet B Ray Bradbury, writer B

Norbert Capek, visionary B e. e. cummings, poet B Philip Dacey, poet B Emily Dickinson, poet B Evelyn Dudley, poet

B Rob Eller-Isaacs, minister/writer B Sophia Lyon Fahs, writer B Richard M. Fewkes, writer B Pesha Gertler, poet

B Richard S. Gilbert, minister/writer B Jack Gallagher, composer/teacher B Paul Gerike, proofreader B Steve Harper,

technical advisor B Steve Hawkins, generous web designer B Edie Hill, composer/colleague B Langston Hughes, poet

B Mark Humphrey, piano technician B Karel Husa, composer/teacher B Kalidasa, poet B Garrison Keillor, storyteller

B Denise Levertov, poet B George Ella Lyon, poet B Jonathan Machen, artist B Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet B J.

David Moore, composer/colleague B Joan Wolf Prefontaine, poet B Gerald Rich, poet B Carl Sandburg, poet B King

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A LOT OF HARD WORK &CREATIVITY

WENT INTO BRINGING

THIS MUSIC TO YOU...

...AND SOME OF IT

WAS EVEN MINE.

lone.

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Growing up in the Carolinas and Appalachian Ohio, Elizabeth Alexander gained her love of language

and music from her parents, a minister and a piano teacher. These twin passions are reflected in her

catalogue of over 100 choral and vocal pieces, which have received over 20 national and international

awards, and been performed by over 1000 choirs.

Reviewers have commented on “the close personal resonance between the composer and the words,” her

music’s “delicacy and sincerity,” and its “elegance, subtle unexpected harmonic turns, and...freshness

within a well-known language.” Her wide-ranging compositional influences include classical, folk,

atonality, Latin and classic jazz, and gospel.

A 2011 McKnight Fellow, she has received awards and fellowships from

the Jerome Foundation, New York Council on the Arts, Wisconsin Arts

Board, National Orchestral Association, International League of Women

Composers, and American Composers Forum. Her composition teachers

have included Jack Gallagher at The College of Wooster, and Steven

Stucky, Yehudi Wyner and Karel Husa at Cornell University, from which

she received her doctorate in music composition.

Other performers of her music have included orchestras such as

Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra and

Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; chamber ensembles North/South

Consonance, Society for New Music, and Sounds New; and singers Ruth

MacKenzie, Bradley Greenwald, Christina Baldwin, Janet Youngdahl,

Andrea Cawelti, David Gagnon, Libby Turner-Opanga, Linda Larson and

Cheryl Coker.

Elizabeth lives in St. Paul, MN, where her frequent commissions include works for orchestra, chorus,

chamber ensembles and solo musicians. She reads voraciously, shamelessly encourages her teenagers’

jokes, makes pretty good biscuits, and tends her garden during the three month period in Minnesota that

is not winter.

She believes she has the best job in the world.