Choral Classics - Ev'ry time I feel the spirit

James Keay-Bright, Trinity Redemption, 2013

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on Wednesday 8th February 2023. My script is below. You can watch the recording below or on YouTube at this link.

Choir : Finzi - My Spirit Sang All Day (2m)

Hello and welcome to Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook, sung by our talented Choral Scholars under the direction of Dr Andrew Earis and accompanied by Phoebe Tak Man Chow. My name is Phillip Dawson. 

 

Our theme for this week is “Feeling the Spirit”. The Holy Spirit that is - the third, equal - but in some quarters at least, perhaps most overlooked - person of the Trinity. 

 

Since the earliest days of the church, being affected by the dynamic, transforming power of the Spirit has been seen as both liberating - but also threatening - especially to those concerned with maintaining order. Today, reports of being moved by the Spirit may still be viewed with suspicion.

 

But, as St Paul explains, it is the Spirit which draws us to God the Father, alongside his Son in prayer - through  “sighs too deep for words.”

 

So to feel the Spirit is to begin to be drawn closer into the very life of God as Trinity; the ultimate object and origin of our desire. 

 

The Spirit is manifest in diverse ways. Felt in moments of delight - as in Robert Bridges’ poem, which we just heard set to music by Gerald Finzi - composed whilst courting the woman who would become his wife, who happened to be called Joy:

 

My spirit sang all day
O my joy.
Nothing my tongue could say, 
Only my joy!

 

We feel the spirit when we encounter the joy of true love. 

 

Next, we hear three verses of a text by Robert Herrick - born just up the road in Cheapside - sung to a gentle tempo and soothing melody by Peter Hurford. In this piece, we are encouraged to feel the Spirit as comforter.

 

 

Choir : Hurford - Litany to the Holy Spirit (3m)

 

 

Medieval polymath and mystic Hildegard von Bingen described her life as a ‘feather on the breath of God’; acknowledging that all that she did was driven by the divine breath that spoke the world into being.

 

In much of her poetry and music we feel the Spirit as a regenerative, creative force; in the wonder of new life:

 

 

Reading : Antiphon for the Holy Spirit by Hildegard von Bingen 

 

The Spirit of God

is a life that bestows life,

root of world-tree

and wind in its boughs.

 

Scrubbing out sin,

she rubs oil into wounds.

 

She is glistening life

alluring all praise,

all-awakening,

all-resurrecting.

 

 

There is, I feel, a hint of a feather twisting and turning in the breeze in our next composition by John Rutter. Based on text from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, here the Spirit is the conveyor of wisdom. We feel the Spirit at that moment of inspiration when things seem to click into place; when we feel one step closer to the truth we seek. 

 

 

Choir : Rutter - I will Sing with the Spirit (3m)

 

 

Christina Rossetti was one of the finest writers of the Victorian age. This poem is a litany of the manifold ways in which we might feel the Spirit;

 

 

Reading : ‘Be the Power of All Things Within Us’ by Christina Rossetti 

 

O God the Holy Ghost who art Light unto thine elect,
            Evermore enlighten us.
Thou who art Fire of love,
            Evermore enkindle us.
Thou who art Lord and Giver of life,
            Evermore live in us.
Thou who bestowest sevenfold grace,
            Evermore replenish us.
As the wind is thy symbol,
            So forward our goings.
As the dove,
            So launch us heavenwards.
As water,
            So purify our spirits.
As a cloud,
            So abate our temptations.
As a dew,
            So revive our languor.
As fire,
            So purge out our dross.

 

 

Elgar’s great anthem ‘The Spirit of the Lord,’ is taken from his oratorio ‘The Apostles.’ The text, from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, describes the Spirit as enabling the fulfilment of prophecy - empowering God’s chosen one in his mission of salvation; healing the broken-hearted, preaching the Gospel to the poor.

 

Perhaps we too feel the Spirit when we are answering our call to serve others; when we feel our hearts on fire with a renewed sense of meaning and purpose in our lives.

 

 

Choir : Elgar - The Spirit of the Lord (7m)

 

 

Thank you for joining us for Choral Classics this week. We rely on your donations to fund our music ministry. Please give as generously as you can, by cash or card. Stay for rehearsals of our community choir, if you are able. 

 

 

The train in the second verse of our final piece refers to The Underground Railroad - a network of safe houses that enabled slaves to escape. In this eighteenth century African-American spiritual, set to music by Bob Chilcott, we feel the Spirit as liberator; the essence of freedom.

 

May all our hearts and minds be free to feel the Spirit and it’s transforming power.

 

From Andrew, Phoebe, the choir and me, until next week, goodbye.

 

 

Choir : Chilcott - Every time I feel the spirit (2m30s)


Image : James Keay-Bright, Trinity Redemption, 2013