Bless What Is Breaking
Bless What Is Breaking is the debut collection from composer Kate Williams. A diverse set of collaborations with text authors such as Adam M.L. Tice, Hannah C. Brown, David Bjorlin, and others.
“Bless this breaking, God. Bless it, and let it be shared.” -Kate Williams
There is much to lament in the world today, and Kate has given us ample ways to voice our sorrow and protest to God. But lament and protest are only possible because we understand that something better is possible and promised. Kate’s work reveals this eschatological hope for us and for all of creation. To quote our first collaboration, “Rejoice, be glad, for heaven is coming to you.” -Adam M.L. Tice
A Look Inside
Kate’s work as a composer cannot be and should not be separated from who she is as a person. This is most obvious in the texts she chooses to set. There are clear and unequivocal declarations of support for victims of abuse and rallying cries of resistance, like No Room for Silence and God Bless Our ‘No’.
She has also partnered with writers to address topics not often tackled in hymnody, doing so with the utmost respect and sensitivity. Of particular note are two texts by emerging hymnist Hannah Brown: Bless What Is Breaking, dealing with divorce, and I Know God Holds You (My Love for You Goes On), which gives voice to the experience of miscarriage and infant loss.
In addition to composing tunes, Kate has also made a habit of writing original prayers in the form of the Beatitudes. These explicitly reveal Kate’s concern for those often abused or ignored by the church and society. And even more importantly, they demonstrate her trust in a God whose very being is defined by love.
We had our first collaboration when Kate requested a new way of singing the Beatitudes. This became Blessed Are the Poor (Rejoice, Be Glad). With that she became one of my go-to composers—both for my own texts and for the work I edit for other writers. David Bjorlin was an immediate match; and as Hannah Brown sent me more and more amazing texts, pairing the two of them became a regular source of delight.
A great tune is measured in part by its partnership with a text. I prefer to see a melody that is also compelling on its own merits—something that I could hum with no words at all and find satisfying. Kate’s tunes excel on both measures. They are resonant partners for their words, and they possess intrinsic worth when regarded on their own. She is clearly sensitive to the words she is setting. Her stylistic choices reflect the vocabulary and content of her texts. See Lay It Down (A Rich Man Came to Jesus).
All of these beautiful images, ideas, and words – and what I simply mean to say is that maybe you feel broken. Me too. I think part of every community doing the real work of loving knows deeply that the height and depth of human experience most definitely includes our failures and shortcomings, the internal wounds and their too-long-lived consequences. Our brokenness.
Isn’t it beautiful that we need not be alone?
So let us bless what is breaking, for we know that this necessary part of life’s journeying is holy, too. Let us sing songs that remind us that we are loved in the midst of it. Bless the welcome breaking of chains and toxic cycles and glass ceilings and please, God, add your blessings on those hearts and promises and dreams whose breaking may never make sense, yet is quite real all the same. -Kate Williams
Listen to Bless What Is Breaking
About the Composer
Kate Williams is the Vice President of Sacred Music at GIA Publications, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Music Composition degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, as well as a Master of Arts in Liturgical Studies degree from Catholic Theological Union in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, where it was her privilege to study as a distinguished Bernardin Scholar. Kate is the editor of Gather—Fourth Edition, the latest edition of the nation’s most well-known hard-bound hymnal, as well as the editor of Of Womb and Tomb: Prayer in Time of Infertility, Miscarriage, and Stillbirth, G-9816. Most recently, Kate was a co-editor of The Fire This Time: A Black Catholic Sourcebook, G-10878, with Kim R. Harris and M. Roger Holland II.
Kate serves as workshop leader, consultant, and musician in the Archdiocese of Chicago and abroad, following a passion to serve in multicultural, multigenerational communities, while mentoring young voices and building bridges through music ministry.