The Passion

I chose this poem by George Herbert for Station X in my Stations of the Cross, "Jesus is Stripped". To have our clothing removed, particularly forcibly, is so vulnerable; but in asking Jesus to fill the emptiness of his heart and drive out sin, Herbert mirrors that vulnerability. Or so it seems to me, anyway... The Passion Since blood is fittest, Lord, to write Thy sorrows in, and bloody fight;...

Love (III)

At St Andrew's Leytonstone we had the final service of our much-loved parish priest, Fr Duncan, this morning. I've interrupted the Song Cycle pilgrimage to come back and play. He is retiring and we will all miss him loads. I wanted to do something special for this service, so I asked him for a favourite poem. When he said "Love bade me welcome" by George Herbert, I was delighted; and I had...

Trinitie Sunday

A few weeks ago when Fr Duncan and I were discussing hymn lists, he said he'd like to have a lot of George Herbert this Sunday. It seemed like as good a reason as any to write an anthem. I launched into a setting of "Love (III)" but it didn't quite "sit" right, wasn't working out, and was perhaps a little long. So instead I decided to set the poem "Trinitie Sunday" as an anthem. It isn't Trinity...