In January I mentioned the sudden passing of our friend, David Oestreich. David had been a supporter and occasional contributor here on the blog, and his tragic death due to complications from pneumonia was a shock to us all.
David was quite an accomplished poet. He had several of his poems published in various collections, and he had even had a solo collection published–“Cosmophagy.”
After David died, I stumbled across his poetic setting of “The Apostles’ Creed,” simply titled, “Credo,” and I posted it here on the blog. Shortly thereafter, we decided that we wanted to include the poem in our new hymnal, and so we commissioned our friend Josh Bauder to compose a new tune.
I am pleased to share the result. Josh did a fabulous job setting the text, and David’s dear wife has given us permission to use it.
Ironically, just after we decided to use “Credo” in the hymnal, I discovered an email David had sent me in the fall of 2015, shortly after we had announced that we were working on a new hymnal. David had sent me this very poem as a submission for the hymnal. I had filed it away and forgotten it, but I’m so glad it resurfaced again.
Enjoy this new hymn: “Credo,” with lyrics by David Oestreich and tune by Josh Bauder.
About Scott Aniol
Scott Aniol is the founder and Executive Director of Religious Affections Ministries. He is director of doctoral worship studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in ministry, worship, hymnology, aesthetics, culture, and philosophy. He is the author of Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World, and By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, and speaks around the country in churches and conferences. He is an elder in his church in Fort Worth, TX where he resides with his wife and four children. Views posted here are his own and not necessarily those of his employer.
