How shall I keep from singing?

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. No, not a reference to the church roof leaking (in fact the weather has been uncharacteristically dry this week) but to the theme of water in the Old Testament reading (Moses striking the rock at Horeb so the people could drink), the Gospel (the woman at the well in Samaria), the sermon based on this inclusive gospel message, and the anthem (Wash me throughly – Wesley). The anthem went better in the evening than the morning – there were fewer people but it sounded more confident. Actually, given the temperature in the church on what must have been the chilliest day of the year, I think you’d have had to break the ice on top of the washbowl first…..

I was asked to fill in a questionnaire about the trainee priest’s sermon today. Darnit, that means I had to listen! Anyway, it was about Journeys, outward (physical) and inward (spiritual). If I was doing a Mystery Worship report, I’d have given it a 10/10 and no rotten tomatoes.

We had a record number of 6 altos this morning, so I could relax and enjoy singing ‘If ye love me’ by Tallis. Music of that era sounds so much better if you can sing it with a relaxed tone of voice.

There were still chocolate biscuits at the back of church with coffee, even after I finished filling in the questionnaire. Thank heavens some of the congregation are strictly observing Lent!

A quiet and gentle service in the morning – such as is suitable for Lenten reflection. The anthem was sung to match the mood: ‘Lord for thy tender mercies sake’ by Farrant. A lighter moment was the not-so-subtle notification that it was the curate’s birthday during the organ interlude. Only two bars were played but no more was needed.

At evensong, the sole tenor who attended timed both the anthem and the sermon. The 9 1/2 minute sermon won – just – by half a minute. We sang ‘The Wilderness’ by John Goss. At first I was very cross that it wasn’t ‘The Wilderness’ by Wesley, but surprisingly the Goss version grew on me. Before that, my opinion was the same as the webmaster on “The Church Music Site” who said, ‘The Wilderness, all nine minutes of it, is sort of overblown, melodramatic piece that gives Victorian music a bad name’. Ah well, at least we knew we sang it at the right speed…..

The Transfiguration – and a celebration for the organist for his home country of Wales. Consequently the gospel fanfare and final hymn was ‘Guide me O thou great Redeemer’ and the offertory hymn ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’ (sung in staid Anglican style; the choir peering into their books following every syncopated note).

We sang a less well-known Charles Wood anthem, ‘O Lord that seest’, which seemed rather strange for a family service, but fitted better at evensong.

As usual, when the voluntary started up, the choir processed out. Which was a pity, as it was a first performance – by our own Brian Chapple, a tribute to his wife. I would have liked to have heard it.