Let There Be

Let There Be, set to text by Pastor JoAnne Post, approaches the Christmas story through a deeply human lens, placing Mary, Joseph, and the Wise Ones at the center of a drama that is at once cosmic and intensely personal. The focus rests not only on the miracle itself, but on the cost of obedience and the uncertainty that must have accompanied it. Scored for children’s choir, adult choir, soloists, piano, and string quartet, the cantata invites listeners into a world where divine purpose interrupts ordinary lives and asks for courage, trust, and surrender.

The work opens in darkness, an unformed universe awaiting God’s first creative word: “Let there be.” From that primordial beginning unfolds a story shaped not only by proclamation and wonder, but by doubt and reckoning. The Angel Gabriel’s announcements set events in motion, yet it is Mary’s Lament that first draws us inward. Here she wrestles with the staggering gift and burden placed upon her. Her struggle is deeply human, marked by fear and questioning, yet it gradually gives way to awe and gratitude, blossoming into the spirit of the Magnificat as she embraces the life growing within her.

Joseph’s response to news of the birth, This Cannot Be, traces its own difficult path. Confronted with circumstances he cannot comprehend, he moves step by step toward acceptance, choosing faithfulness over fear. Around them, the world reacts in sharply different ways. Herod schemes to protect his fragile power (Find Him), while the Wise Ones set out in costly devotion, guided by a promise they only dimly understand (Open the Door).

The cantata closes not simply at the manger, but with the assurance that the same creative love first spoken into darkness continues to break into human history, still calling, still transforming, still saying, “Let there be.”