The Grass Still Grows

The Grass Still Grows was commissioned by the Korean Methodist Church and Institute in New York City to celebrate its centennial. The work is inspired by the church’s foundation during Japanese colonization, serving both as a spiritual home and a center for the community’s pursuit of freedom. That legacy became a central theme for this cantata. To create a gift for the community that goes beyond mere remembrance, I gathered voices across centuries, continents, and communities to speak together about suffering, resilience, and hope. Its title evokes 들풀, the wild grass that collectively survives against all odds: fragile, ordinary, yet endlessly persistent. The cantata is constructed from fragments of memory: some directly tied to the church’s history, others more broadly resonant, forming a web of testimony: lament answered by mercy, exile by welcome, protest by freedom, and sorrow by joy. Biblical and liturgical texts are interwoven with Korean and American poetry and declarations, encompassing diverse musical idioms: medieval chant, Korean folk traditions, and Western concert genres. Together, they convey the universality of the subject matter. The work begins with Rev. Jongsoon Lim (KMCI’s inaugural pastor), whose speech in Philadelphia serves as a plea for survival and justice, answered by an ensemble prayer (Miserere + Psalm 126:4–6). Excerpts from the American Declaration of Independence stand beside Byeon Yeong-ro’s powerful tribute to Nongae, a woman remembered for sacrificing her life in an assassination of a Japanese general (long before colonization). Shin Saimdang’s poignant farewell to her hometown is paired with Emma Lazarus’s The New Colossus and Langston Hughes’s I, Too, highlighting the struggles and aspirations of immigrants. Later, the tenor proclaims political freedom through the Declaration, followed by the celebratory rallying cry of Aunae Market (poem by Rev. Paul Chulwoo Chang). The 1980 Declaration of KMCI links the diaspora’s struggle for democracy to scripture’s promise: “Our mouths were filled with laughter (Psalm 126:1-3),” answered by Lux Perpetua, expressing the pursuit of radiant eternal light. The cantata concludes with Arirang, the Love Sonata, honoring both the pain of displacement and the miracle of endurance - reminding us that even in the hardest seasons, the grass still grows.