“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice”

Copyright © Edward Riojas

Finally, the book is out. “Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice” (Kloria Publishing), may seem ill-timed in its release but, even after a year and a half in the works, its timing is spot on. If anything, current events have forced us to consider what makes us happy versus what makes us joyful. For Christians, there is a vast difference between the two and hymns, such as the one illustrated in the book, show us why.

In this and upcoming blog posts, I hope to give insight into some artistic decisions that went into the project. I also hope to add a smidgen of insight into Martin Luther’s life as he wrote the hymn.

Those who open the book will immediately be confronted by a conscious decision that was made. The publisher and I discussed the setting of the book, and whether it should be a modern setting or something else. I decided to go with a historical setting that would be close to Luther’s day. There were two reasons for this:

Firstly, modern settings quickly become dated when illustrated. Even the most up-to-date clothing fashions, hairstyles, and the like become embarrassingly-passé within a few years. Books illustrated with that sort of modern appeal soon find themselves collecting dust on a shelf. A historical approach, on the other hand, has a much better chance of standing the test of time, and has a much longer – and useful – shelf life.

Secondly and perhaps more importantly, there are verses within the hymn that seem to have been very personal to Luther. While we can identify with most of his words, phrases such as, “Death brooded darkly over me,” point to specific crossroads in the Reformer’s life. Those sentiments can only be best expressed when using visuals drawn from Martin Luther’s day; when forcing the reader to see things through sixteenth century eyes.

It was a bit unnerving for me in making an attempt to visualize the hymn-writer’s intent, and daunting to supplement such an important example of Lutheran hymnody. I do hope Luther would approve. Some day, I’m sure I will find out.

“Dear Christians, One And All Rejoice,” (Kloria Publishing) is available through amazon.com