Choral Classics - Our Journey

David Hockney, Pearlblossom Highway, 1986

It was a great joy to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook this week, five beautiful choral works and two readings on the theme 'Our Journey'. A recording of the service is on YouTube. My script is below:

Choir: Never Weather Beaten Sail - Thomas Campion (1567-1620) (2.5m)

Hello and welcome to St Stephen Walbrook, my name is Phillip Dawson and it is a great pleasure to introduce five Choral Classics this lunchtime, selected by Dr Andrew Earis and performed under his direction by our talented Choral Scholars, accompanied by Phoebe Tak Man Chow. Our theme this week is “Our Journey”. 

These days, I know that we are generally sceptical of one-size-fits-all explanations for anything – but one intriguing approach to reading the scriptures maps the stages of the Biblical Cycle to the stages of our journey through life.    

The joys - and dangers - of the creation stories in Genesis resonating with our own birth and infancy. The journey through the wilderness and the early years in the Promised Land equating to our rebellious teens; prophetic texts to our search for meaning and identity in young adulthood. The incarnation of Christ representing the beginning of our spiritual maturity; our walk with him involving learning to move from selfishness to selflessness, culminating in our need to confront our death, embrace the resurrection life and be welcomed into a new creation. 

Perhaps, as statisticians say, it’s a case of “all models are wrong, but some are useful”! Of course, the scriptures speak to us in different ways throughout our lives; but the underlying principle of turning to the Bible to help us answer fundamental questions about where we’ve come from – and where we’re going – is one which endures.

In ‘Never weather-beaten sail’ by poet and composer Thomas Campion, we heard someone at the end of their earthly journey, pleading for the Lord to come quickly and take their soul to rest. But despite their weather-beaten sail and tired pilgrims limbs, the music is hopeful. The earthly paradise that God created before the Fall is now within reach - a new creation, in the heavens.

 

 

Our next piece moves us from rebirth to a rebellious stage. Manasseh, the King of Judah has strayed from the one true God, permitting idol worship among his people for his own personal gain. As a consequence, he is forced to offer his own children as a sacrifice.

 

‘Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land’ was described by Parry as the most affecting section of his oratorio Judith. Here, in the composer’s original text, Queen Meshullemeth sings to her condemned children. Her ballad contrasts the unfaithfulness of her husband with the steadfastness of God, as he guided the Israelites from Egypt into the promised land. 

 

 

Choir: Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land - Hubert Parry (1848-1918)(4.5m)

 

 

Our journey through life - and our growth in faith and understanding - is a recurring theme in the literary arts. Wordsworth’s lengthy “Great Ode” perhaps one of the most celebrated examples. 

 

Our next, short, poem was written in 1959 after Gwendolyn Brooks saw seven young men bunking off to play pool. ‘We Real Cool’ explores the new phenomenon of the teenager. 

 

The text captures the search for identity and meaning in young adulthood. The pushing at boundaries. The need to belong. 

 

But, written from the perspective of an older woman, the text is also prophetic. Hinting at the dangers of life as part of the gang. 

 

 

Reading: ‘We Real Cool’ by Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)

 

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

 

  

 

It can be an enlightening exercise to map out our lives as if drawing the course of a river or a road - significant events that have shaped us represented by its twists and turns. 

 

It’s a technique sometimes used in spiritual accompaniment - where a trained  guide walks with us as we seek to grow in our spiritual life. You can find out more about that at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction, just up the road on Lombard Street. 

 

Visualising our lives in this way helps us to remember that our journey of faith is not something that just happens to us, but something we “do”. 

 

In life there may come a point when we make a personal commitment to follow a particular path. We choose faith for ourselves. Not because it’s something we’ve inherited.  

 

Often this point comes at one of those bends in the river or turns in the road - when we stand at the threshold of a new stage in life. Following illness. The death of a loved one. The birth of a child. 

 

Whatever the circumstances we make the choice because we yearn for a Closer Walk with God. 

 

 

Choir: O for a closer walk with God - Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) (3.5m)

 

 

As we continue on our journey we come to realise how difficult this walk is. We must live with the consequences of commitments we can’t unmake. 

 

We discover that life is not black and white. We must learn to embrace and appreciate a range of possibilities and viewpoints. 

 

The journey, as expressed in this poem by Christina Rossetti - is ‘Uphill’. An ascent to truth. 

 

 

Reading: ‘Uphill’ by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

 

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.

 

But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.

 

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.

 

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labor you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

 

Thomas Hewitt Jones’ setting of a verse from Psalm 5 is the timeless prayer of a traveller on that uphill journey. 

 

By this stage of life, the journey is no longer our own  - but God's. 

 

“Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness; make thy way straight before my face.”

 

 

Choir: Lead me, O Lord - Thomas Hewitt Jones (b.1985) (3m) 

 

 

Thank you for joining us this week for Choral Classics. Do give generously before you leave to support our music ministry; we rely entirely on your donations. If you’ve been inspired to try signing for yourself then do stay for friendly and informal rehearsals of the Walbrook Community Choir who follow.

 

Do take a leaflet with information about our series of concerts next month with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, performing music from the time of Sir Christopher Wren.

 

There’s just time for the choir to help put a spring in your step as you journey on. 

 

I want Jesus to Walk with me is a traditional spiritual arranged by Larry Shackley.

 

From Andrew, Phoebe, the choir and from all of us at St Stephen Walbrook until the next time, safe travels and goodbye.  

Choir: I want Jesus to Walk with me - Larry Shackley (b.1956) (3m)