New and Old; Quiet and Loud; Fire and Balm

This morning we celebrate the musical gifts of the Spirit… …gifts that manifest themselves in extremes.

New

David Hurd (b. 1950) has been one of the most distinguished African-American composers of his generation, in addition to teaching generations of priests through his professorship in Church Music at the General Theological Seminary [Episcopal] in New York City. This piece is new to us. It is the Spirit that gives us courage and strength to try new things. Please follow the lead of Margaret and Julia and join in on VERSE 5, singing lustily and with sense! I am particularly fond of the way these verses pile up on each other, generating continuous and ever-increasing excitement…

Quiet

The anthem, ‘Litany to the Holy Spirit,’ of Peter Hurford, the famous British organist, is a perfect musical depiction of the balm of the Spirit. He sets the Herrick lines with utter grace and simplicity and ease. It sounds like it might go on forever… and in a sense – due to its world-wide use – it does!

Fire

Julia and I offer a joint improvisation – a fusing of two hymns…

This is a preview of our work for the Interfaith Ministries GALA this Thursday, called “Tapestry,” wherein we will be finding musical common ground among disparate faiths: Judiaism – Christianity – Islam – Hinduism. This is the Christian spotlight….

Starting with ‘How Great Thou Art...’ we find ourselves, in mid-reverie, tugged at, drawn and nudged a little and finally compelled to GO into the great hymn ‘This Is My Song,” sung to the immortal tune of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, ‘Finlandia.’

The idea here is to submit to the call of a universal melody… to change, without losing one’s vitality or integrity, into something common, something ‘weaveable.’ In our case, a musical tune – that of the Interfaith Community, a joint purpose.

Time

The Spirit of our brothers and sisters from previous generations lives on in the songs that demonstrate a certain quality – a craftsmanship that survives. Such is the Bach chorale with which we close this morning’s service, a little monument of sense and structure.

-Keith Weber