Music to end the day for Sunday, 9 August 2020
Dear friends,
To open our music this evening, I would like to share with you Telemann’s sparkling Sonata in F for Treble Recorder and Continuo, in a performance by Rocio Sanchez, one of our guest choir members, at Olney Parish Church last September – part of the special service to conclude the Amazing Grace Pilgrimage Walk. Many will remember the walk as a very special time of sharing and fellowship.
And now, a wonderful song by John Bell and Graham Maule of the Iona Community, which contains some striking imagery. It takes Jesus out of the stained-glass window and presents him as fully human in his emotions and his compassion, introducing impatience and anger into the so-often sanitised Christian palette. It reminds us of all the injustices of the world, which many of us turn a blind eye towards. The song speaks of those who cry out for justice, of the affluent who want to keep the status quo, of the God who hears and calls, and of the one who answered that call … . The tune is a traditional Irish folk melody, well-known for its association with the W.B. Yeats poem ‘The Sally Gardens’. The arrangement is by Benjamin Britten.
Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by need and pain,
informed of God’s own bias, we ask him once again:
‘How long must some folk suffer? How long can few folk mind?
How long can vain self-interest turn prayer and pity blind?’
From those, forever victims of heartless human greed,
their cruel plight compose a litany of need:
‘Where are the fruits of justice? Where are the signs of peace?
When is the day when prisoners and dreams find their release?’
God asks, ‘Who will go for me? Who will extend my reach?
And who, when few will listen, will prophesy and preach?
And who, when few bid welcome, will offer all they know?
And who, when few dare follow, will walk the road I show?’
Amused in someone’s kitchen, asleep in someone’s boat,
attuned to what the ancients exposed, proclaimed and wrote,
a saviour without safety, a tradesman without tools
has come to tip the balance with fishermen and fools.
John L. Bell and Graham Maule; © WGRG, Iona Community (2003)
CCL31580
We conclude with a prayer:
Dear God, as I lay me down to sleep, relax the tension of my body;
calm the restlessness of my mind; still the thoughts which worry and perplex me.
Help me to rest myself and all my problems in your strong and loving arms.
Grant me a peaceful night, and tomorrow the energy and strength to live to your glory.
Amen
Goodnight, everyone.
Adrian Boynton
