Seek Ye First

Song Heard Around the World

By Dan Herrera, Editorial Page Editor Albuquerque Journal

The song is called “Seek Ye First” and the lyrics come directly from the Bible. Matthew 6:33, to be precise — part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Authorized copies of the sheet music will tell you the composer is Karen Lafferty (BME 70). What they don’t tell you is that she is from Alamogordo, was educated at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales and, for the past 16 years, has been a resident of Santa Fe — after spending almost two decades abroad as a Christian missionary, or “musicianary,” as she calls it.

Over the years Karen says, she has ministered and performed in more than 70 countries. Her travels have led her to sing “Seek Ye First” in places as diverse as a secret house church in China and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Karen Lafferty’s promotional photo for record label Maranatha! Music

Through the years, this simple praise song has become a worldwide phenomenon, sung in many languages by dozens of Christian denominations from Presbyterian to Quaker to Coptic to Baptist to Catholic. With its seven alleluias in a descant, it is sung at many Easter services.

Karen says she has heard others sing her song in just about every European tongue as well as languages of Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Dozens of adaptations of the song can be found on YouTube. Try an orchestral arrangement by Jean-Francois Paillard’s Kanon Orchestre de Chambre that moves between “Seek Ye First” and Patchelbel’s “Canon in D.” Or one by a gospel choir mixing the song with Andrae Crouch’s “Jesus Is the Answer.” Or a heavy metal take by the British band Fire Fly. Or lively Eurojazz interpretations by Dieter Falk and Sons or the Jan Willem van Delft Trio.

“Seek Ye First” compares in its universality with “Amazing Grace.” Where a slave trader converted to abolitionist wrote “Amazing Grace” about wretchedness in need of redemption, “Seek Ye First” is a song of faith and hope. Like the story behind “Amazing Grace,” Karen says she wrote “Seek Ye First” during a period of worry and self-doubt.

Photo by Rebecca Adcock

“I’m the author of the melody,” Karen says. “Of course, Jesus said the words.”

After earning her degree in music education at Eastern in 1970, Karen started a career as a singer. In case she didn’t make it in the music biz, she would become a music teacher. Her repertoire included the sounds of artists like Joni Mitchell, and she was finding regular work in Dallas and New Orleans.

“I was singing in bars and making pretty good money,” she said. Then, a friend introduced her to Calvary Chapel’s personal style of Christianity and she moved to southern California. She began attending services in Costa Mesa, Calif., and, shortly after, decided to quit singing in bars and focus on a Christian music ministry, but there was little to no money in hippie ministry. Car payments, the rent and basics became an issue.

“I went to church one night. I was just so frustrated and said, ‘God, I need some answers.’ And they were teaching out of Matthew 6 ... . And then it says, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these shall be added unto you.’

“It kind of burned in my heart and I said, ‘OK, God, that means my rent and my car payment.’ I went home, and I had my joy back and my faith back. I picked up my guitar when I got home and actually wrote the melody then on my guitar.”

She presented the song during Calvary’s Monday Youth Night and the crowd quickly picked it up.

Karen became part of Maranatha! Music’s stable of musicians and singers, and when the label put together its first record, “The Praise Album” by the Maranatha! Singers, “Seek Ye First” was one of the tracks. Maranatha! published “Seek Ye First” in 1972 and released “The Praise Album” in 1974, sharing royalties with Karen for her song 50/50. Karen says the royalties from “Seek Ye First” are largely what has made her life as a missionary possible, usually contributing at least half of her income.