Through the frame

Sunday
This was the first Sunday for our church choir to sing in service after the summer break. It’s nice to have a break in the summer, and of course we are usually gone for a good part of it anyway, but it’s always good to get back again, and the congregation are always very glad to see us back. Our robes and stoles had all been dry cleaned over the summer, so we all looked super smart! Our pastor was beginning a series of messages on Grace-filled parenting. Whilst we unfortunately don’t have a great number of children and young parents in our church, as our pastor pointed out, most of us have some children in our lives, whether it be grand children, nieces, nephews, neighbours children etc, so we can all take something away from these messages. Following the service we went to Bible study as usual.
In the afternoon, we were down at Christ Church cathedral again for a concert, Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen. It is an eight movement piece of chamber music , scored for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. Messiaen wrote the piece while a prisoner of war in German captivity, and it was first performed by his fellow prisoners in 1941. His choice of instruments was based on the instruments and players he had available to him. The quartet was heavily influenced by the composer’s devout Catholic way of life, and the title itself is a representation of the apocalyptic theme of the Book of Revelation. Messiaen was called to active duty by the French Army in 1939, serving as a hospital nurse. Soon after he was captured by German troops and sent to Stalag VIII-A, a prisoner of war camp in Görlitz Germany. Whilst conditions in the camp were quite harsh, the Germans considered Messiaen to be completely harmless, and since they still loved music, not only did they allow him to keep what scores he had on him, but an officer also gave him pencils erasers and some music paper. And so he began to compose. We hadn’t known this ahead of time, but the cellist was Tom, our church pianist and organist, an amazingly talented musician, but so humble and pleasant with it. The performance was added to by the use of the church’s beautiful lighting, colours changing according to the mood of the movements. Messiaen isn’t one of my favourite composers, but the story behind this work makes it so special. The work was quite short - a little under an hour, so this still gave us time afterwards for a shortish walk at Winton Woods, where my blip was taken. I was taken by the light shining on a group of sculptures, outlines of a tree, a deer and a couple of birds, against the cloudy background. The sunlight only lasted a couple of minutes and then it was gone!
Step count: 7,217