Angels Cry

Raised hands and a "joyful noise" set the scene in William Murphy's "Angels Cry," a short congregational call to worship. Hands, voices and a proclamation come first, then a plain request: "We want to see You high and lifted up for all the world to see." The singers ask to be "consumed" in God's presence and for His glory to be made manifest, so that heaven and earth together adore Him.

Everything funnels into the closing cry. Joining "with the angels," the worshipers repeat "Holy, Holy," and the song lets that single word carry the ending rather than adding more argument.

The scene is borrowed from scripture's own throne rooms. Isaiah 6:3 has seraphim calling holy to one another, and Revelation 4:8 pictures living creatures who never stop saying it. Psalm 47:1 supplies the earthly counterpart, a call to shout to God with loud songs of joy.