Sunday saw the premiere of Ye Are Of God, a new choral work written for the chapel choir of St Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford. The piece was commissioned by private patrons and was conducted by Christopher Watson of the Tallis Scholars with David Allen on the organ.
The anthem was written in a late Edwardian style, paying homage to works such as Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens and Elgar's The Apostles, and set a text that was selected from various parts of the scriptures and following a theme of Christian unity, finding strength in the Cross during times of difficulty, and following the example of Christ throughout our daily lives.
Copies of the anthem are now available for sale from the online shop.
Ye are of God, and have overcome:
for greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
They are of the world: so speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us;
for greater is He in you, than he that is in the world.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
For the word of God is living and powerful!
It is sharper than any two-edged sword.
I have set the Lord always before me:
He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
in thy presence is fullness of joy;
at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
But God, being rich in mercy, for His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead through our trespasses, has made us alive in Christ -
by grace we have been saved.
Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses
let us cast off that which weighs us down and run to finish the race set before us,
fixing our eyes upon Jesus the author and perfector of our faith.
For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.