Harringey, now with recording.

Back in 2012 I set these words by Doug Chaplin:

From the Jordan to the desert,
from the crowd to barren place,
Spirit-driven, Satan-tempted,
Lord, you sought the Father’s grace:
show us now your pow’r, in weakness,
presence in the empty space.

Out of Egypt with God’s people,
freedom brings its testing stress:
what is right and what is truthful,
how the name of God confess?
Jesus, be our journey’s leader,
guide us through the wilderness.

Lack of food for empty stomach,
offered only cold hard stone;
scripture used to tempt and strengthen;
easy route to grasp the throne:
Bread of life, and Word incarnate
help us worship God alone.

In the search for loving justice,
in the quest for truth and right,
Jesus walk beside, before us,
hold your Cross of love in sight;
keep us in your Father’s presence,
guide us to your risen light.

Thanks to the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, there is now a recording:

Doug Chaplin’s text is CC BY-NC — you can use it, but not for profit. The music is CC BY-SA as is my usual practice: this means you can download the sheet music and use this hymn in your church at Lent, should you so wish. Or at some other time of year, but it is really a Lent hymn when you get right down to it.

I’m not averse to a tierce de Picardie at the end of the last verse, if that’s your kind of thing.

There are more LFCCM recordings; do have a listen, it’s well worth it.

2 thoughts on “Harringey, now with recording.

  1. Hi Kathryn,

    This seems a bit over-restrained and late-19C to me – is this catching the spirit of Lenten self-denial do you think? Lent is a bit old-fashioned? Sorry to carp.
    Also, while I’m bleating on, Haringey is the name of the London Borough, and Harringay is a region of that borough to the North and East of Finsbury Park, where there used to be a great stadium beloved of Billy Graham (now a Sainsbury’s impossible to leave). Harringey is nowhere.

    N

    1. Dear Nick

      If you are sorry to carp, consider not doing so.

      I’ll continue to write tunes as I see fit — Lenten and miserable or otherwise — and name them likewise. I’m certainly not going to worry overmuch if someone who cannot find anything good to say about my work takes issue with my spelling (which was entirely deliberate).

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