Huwelijkslied: God wie in het begin = God, who in the beginning, 1967 - 2022

In making this translation, I have preserved both the essence of this early Oosterhuis' text.and his rhyming scheme. The title, God Who In The Beginning, is modeled after the Latin formula of the collect prayers in the Roman Sacramentary (Missal), Deus qui, a descriptive pharse about our attempts to name the unameable Deity. Words must fail us since the Infinite One can not be contained in finite definitions, But we have a memory, an experience, of promises made to us by the One who created the heavens and the earth and set the sun, moon and starts in their place, before setting us in our defined space as human beings, individuals who seek one another for companionship and fulfillment. This is a song about how we hestitatly find one another, and only after acieving a union of love discover the ultimate secret. It is a song which renews the Covenant relationshop which the Eternal One made with us, and therefore we with one another, through Moses at Sinai.

Huijbers has set this to a melody which he has used on other occasions. The wisdom of this is that it is a familiar enough tune for gatherings for special occasions, with the expectatations that the majority, if not, all who assemble, would be comfortable singing it. As with all of Huijbers' setting, the music itself tells a story, but with each setting this musical story is shaped bythe various texts which it has embodied. Characteritic is his use of syncopation, which allows the rhythmic value of the text to be sung independently of the musical pulse, creating the necessary tension to maintain the vibrancy of the song.

- Tony Barr