chant – The Raynville Rambler

My eyes are dim with weeping (and other prayers)

Monument to Thomas Sainsbury – St Mary’s church, Market Lavington
© Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.

Yesterday I combined two short prayer responses in one comment. We have three more for the rest of the week (numbers 207 to 209 in the Sing Praise book), equally short, so I’m combining them too.

207 (Tuesday) is a setting by John Harper of the response familiar to all Church of England regulars: ‘Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer’. 209 (Thursday) is by Paul Inwood and is a cantor/response chant: ‘We ask you, Lord / Listen to our prayer’, repeated one tone lower. Either of these would be used after each section of congregational prayers.

208 (Wednesday), with words by John Bell to a tune by Alison Adam, is also a cantor/response chant, but is slightly longer, and also quite different in tone. In fact it is achingly plaintive in its words and music. The cantor wails ‘My eyes are dim with weeping and my pillow soaked with tears’, the response being ‘Faithful God, remember me’. This is not so much intercession as lament.

Previous generations are sometimes criticised for being over-sentimental in their use of imagery such as the one above. Church monuments like this one from the late 18th century often feature women weeping over a tomb or urn covered in drapes (similar to pillows, I suppose). But sometimes in grief or pain we do find ourselves literally weeping into the pillow, either for our own situation or that of a loved one, and there seem to be no adequate words with which to ask God to help. These words will do, and
this chant could be used by the individual lamenting over some great crisis in their life. Asking God to ‘remember me’ is asking him not to ignore my plight or leave me helpless.

Alternatively, this could be used corporately, perhaps at a funeral, remembrance service or or if the theme of the service leads itself to intercession for people who might not be known to us by name but with whose suffering we want to empathise: flood or famine victims, survivors of a disaster, etc. But like strong medicines it should only be used sparingly. ‘Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer’ will suffice for most occasions.

The next blog in this series will therefore be on Friday as we look at the ‘O antiphons’ for the last week of Advent.

Your words, O Lord, are spirit and life

Today’s song from Sing Praise is a gospel acclamation or antiphon by the Catholic composer Bernadette Farrell: “Your words, O Lord, are Spirit and life”. Like the ones I described on 14 February and 17 April, it is used in some churches before and/or after the reading of the Gospel. The congregational response is “Alleluia! your words, O Lord, are spirit and life. Alleluia, open our hearts to your word”. This is sung twice before the chant (if it’s unfamiliar to the congregation this might be once by a soloist, then everyone joining in), and once afterwards as a response. Depending on local custom it might also be repeated after the reading.

Three chants are given, but they are for different seasons of the year and it’s not intended that all three would be used on any one occasion. The chant for Easter is “Rejoice and sing, all the earth, for the night is gone. Our God has raised us up from death in Christ Jesus the Son”. There are also chants for Advent and Christmas seasons.

The intention behind all acclamations of this kind is, I would suggest, threefold: to make sure the congregation is fully alert to hear what is often considered the most important of the readings from the Bible (standing and singing is a great way to shake off any drowsiness); to remind us that the Gospels are all about Jesus who is still alive (in one way or another, these chants are all addressed to him); and to stir up a sense of excitement (they are all set to a lively tune in a major key). Hearing the Bible read should always leave us with a sense of having encountered God in some way, however small, but with this preparation it’s easier to approach the Gospel with a sense of expectancy.

In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful

The hymns from Sing Praise for the last week or so have taken the serious themes of repentance and commitment. A more joyful note now follows with today’s song, a Taizé chant, “In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful”. I have known the chorus or ‘ostinato’ part of this song for many years (it was written in 1998) but the words to the ‘verses’ (or rather the soloist’s or cantor’s acclamations) are new to me. John, who has been playing these songs online as part of morning prayer, thinks they may be offered as examples of the sort of words that could be extemporised to suit the theme or mood of a particular act of worship, since they don’t fit easily to the metre of the chant that the congregation or choir sings at the same time. It’s not possible for a single person to sing both at once, but John has recorded both parts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6EqDdGrw0w

The cantor acclaims her or his reasons for trusting God: “You are my salvation”, “The Lord is my rock and fortress”, “The Lord God is worthy of praise”, “You have done wondrous things”. These are in one sense quite vague, though all are Biblical. It is up to each worshipper to know make these personal in their heart – how has God saved me? How has he protected me? What has he done in my life to make him worthy of my praise? What wondrous things has he done?

Singing the praise of God can actually be hard work, to get beyond repeating the words on the page or screen and really meaning them. Another reason, perhaps, for thinking that these are merely suggestions and the cantor could actually be intended to make them personal to themselves or their congregation. For example, “I praise you Lord, for you saved me from depression. I will be thankful always for the dream that gave me new hope”. Or corporately “God has brought us new members, let us praise him. For our sisters and brothers in Christ let us give thanks”. The skill is in fitting these words around the ostinato, and again the various lines of music in the book just give an idea of what is possible, but it requires a gifted singer to do justice to this cantor role.