A long time ago, in the mists of pre-pandemic innocence, I received an invitation to preside at the 2021 Free Church Choir Festival, and – to my delight – to write a hymn for the occasion. The festivals are held every other year, and the proposed date, in the autumn of 2021, seemed a comfortably long way ahead.
Little did we know what a cataclysm was about to burst into our lives! The Festival, like many enthusiastically planned events, was at first put in jeopardy, then cancelled, then cautiously replanned. Everything became provisional. And, relevantly for the Free Church Choir Festival, all singing stopped.
We discovered, to our horror, that among the first super-spreader events, in the strange new world of pandemic, were church services, where people gathered to sing God’s praises. It was in the very sharing of breath, that the danger of infection lay. ‘Let everything that has breath’, says the Psalmist (Ps 150:6) ‘praise the Lord’. How could that God-given breath become a destroyer?
The breath, or Spirit, of God is there at the creation of the world, in the mighty wind over the face of the deep. It is the breath God draws, and speaks out in the nothingness, ‘Let there be . . ‘. The Hebrew words of Genesis 1:1-3 are full of breath – say ‘ruach’ (with a Scottish ‘ch’ as in loch). That is the word for the Spirit. Speak the words of creation: ‘yehi’ – ‘Let there be’. You have to expel breath to pronounce the words of life. But in doing so, you may be breathing death.
I am constantly fascinated and delighted by what happens when people sing together. It is much, much more than a collection of individual voices. It becomes a congregation, a single voice. In the singing, we believe - we know - that God hears us. And in the singing, we hear God.
For many years, I was involved in the Free Church Choir Union (as it was called then), eventually becoming chair. Our 1999 Festival was held at Union Chapel in Islington, for the bi-centenary of that amazing church, prominent in the history of church music. So I couldn’t have been more pleased to be invited to preside at this Festival, or more disappointed when the event fell prey to the pandemic.
Anyway, the date for the Festival was planned again, for May 21st, 2022: Yes, today, if you are reading this on its set date. Today, folk will be travelling to Lichfield Cathedral from all over the country. For the past year, whenever it has been possible, local choirs, or the remnants of choirs, or ones or twos who enjoy singing, have been practising the hymns and anthems. Regional rehearsals have been held. Faithful singers, from big congregations or tiny churches, will have the chance to join in a glorious chorus of praise and thanksgiving.
And we will draw in God’s life-giving breath, and sing, and laugh and praise God together. Hallelujah!
My hymn, composed for the occasion, is all about breath. I share with you the last verse, as a call to prayer and praise.
We long to hear the living Word
that leaps from voice to heart to hand
from Spirit’s breath to prophet’s call
till we together understand:
God’s gift of hope is ours to give,
the time is now, to love and live.
Janet Wootton
for the Free Church Choir Festival 21/5/22