This
past week the gospel industry lost a legend, gospel royalty Pastor Andrae' Crouch. There is no doubt that I am sad to hear about anyone passing away but I
my sadness could only last so long as I thought about his amazing music. How
could I feel sad as I reflected on the words to one of his most famous songs,
“Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King. singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
we’re going to see the King”? Another line in that song says, that in Heaven
there will be “no more dying there,” a reality I am sure his parishioners and
twin sister, Sandra Crouch, wish they were experiencing right now, here on
earth.
I
knew that the weekend following his death, music teams at many church services
would sing something to honor his great memory. I must admit, I was very
shocked when I heard the singers at Gateway Church closing out their service
with “Jesus is the Answer” somewhat because I would guess this church sings
eighty percent original music and the other twenty percent are from the contemporary
Christian music (CCM) world. The majority of the shock came when I read the
bottom of the screen where the words were displayed. It said that the song was
released in 1973. 1973, Wow! That was before I was born, and even though I do
not consider myself old, this confirmed to me Crouch wrote timeless classics.
We will be singing his songs for many more years and admiring the gift of
songwriting that Crouch shared with us while he was alive.
I
can only imagine the great length of his music repertoire and the value it
holds. I am quite sure that with all the wonderful music Crouch has written
that he was compensated very well, but I love that he continued to work, travel
and make appearances until the very end. It is obvious he did not do it for the
money but for the love of his craft.
No
gospel celebration this year will go without honoring him. There will be
tributes for months to come honoring the life, the legend of the great
songwriter, of our father of modern gospel music, Pastor Andrae’ Edward Crouch.
