Originally Posted by Matthew

I really enjoyed listening to it, it sounds like a great start to the piece. Something that I did not like, though, were all of the voice crossings. For the most part, the only voices that really should cross (albeit sparingly) are the alto and tenor, which ironically doesn't happen much. You have quite a few crossings between the bass and the tenor where the bass could easily sing the lower of the pitches. While I could understand why you might do this for reasons of "singability," it will really only make it more confusing to the choir in the end.
Also, the last chord struck me as odd. You endeavored throughout the rest of the piece to keep words like joy and stars on major chords; why not a picardy third for the end? Something about "hope" being on a minor chord there at the end struck me as inconsistent.
Besides that though, an excellent start to the piece; I really enjoyed it.