Charpentier by Ruach Breath of Life

On the penal colony of Patmos for his faith, John and could easily have allowed himself to feel deeply discouraged, and even resentful at being ‘stuck’ in such a dreadful place. No wonder we find him speaking of himself as being ‘our brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus! (Rev. 1:9) How grateful we and countless millions are that John resolutely overcame the plaguing ‘if onlys,’ and kept his heart open to Jesus, thereby turning his disappointments into God’s appointments. Jesus rewarded him first with a glorious awareness of how He is now in His glorious heavenly state, and then with a long series of visions of Heaven winning through in the battles to come on Earth that culminate in his return to rule on Earth.

As I listened to this powerful piece of music by my first music teacher, Philip Spratley, it seems a poignantly perfect backcloth to help us pray heartfelt prayers for Ukraine at this time when it is under such intense pressure in so many directions. Please do take time out to sit in the Lord's presence, and to pour your heart out to Him and see how He leads you. The people of Ukraine need the Lord's help so badly.

Many of you will be familiar with the hymn 'Blessed be the tie', a very deep affirmation of the strength that comes when believers truly love each other. As so often there is a story behind the words. In the mid-eighteenth century, John Fawcett was a young Baptist preacher in poverty-stricken Wainsgate near Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, when he received an invitation to come to a large and influential church in London. On the day of departure, with his family’s possessions loaded onto a waggon, the distraught congregation begged him to stay – and he did, passing over the opportunity to minister in more affluent surroundings. In a remarkable demonstration of how precious these godly ties were, he remained faithfully ministering there for the rest of his life. May we draw fresh inspiration from the words he penned concerning the strength of our own relationships. As you will hear, I have written my own words to the tune, but with an occasional reference to the powerful original words of the hymn: God of hope and Lord of life, dearest lover of my soul You alone so worthy, You alone so dear. this is my ardent prayer: Jesus, make me evermore like You. No one else can fill my heart, no other passion satisfy; I am captured by Your beauty, and blessed by the tie that binds our hearts as one. Spirit-strong and Spirit-sure, Spirit-fired and Spirit-led, let all I am bow to serve and worship You. There is no splendour compared to knowing You, No lasting glory but Yours alone I yield my life to worship You Close companion, Shield, Defender, You confer such care on me. You reveal Yourself, dear Jesus, in speaking moments deep within my soul, that leave me trembling in awe and adoration, longing just to fill Your heart with joy. One thing I ask of You, One thing I desire: That you would open my eyes to see You in Your splendour, I want to gaze on Your beauty all the days of my life, and so become more like You, my Lord. Justin Coldstream wrote this musical arrangement for us, weaving in the theme of a popular folk song from Languedoc, (La Langue d’Oc), in the south of France. I had wondered if it might be possible to blend the two together, and he found a way to do it! Sue Harris reads the words I have written, and was joined by Thomas, Susanne and Julia Herzog, Ann Seifer, Alex Koderisch, Gabriele Kröhnert and Peter and Shirley Richards in this recent recording. These are the original words of the hymn: Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. 2 Before our Father's throne we pour our ardent prayers; our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares. 3 We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear. 4 When we are called to part, it gives us inward pain; but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again. 5 This glorious hope revives our courage by the way; while each in expectation lives and waits to see the day. 6 From sorrow, toil, and pain, and sin, we shall be free; and perfect love and friendship reign through all eternity.

No matter how experienced we may be in terms of prayer and ministry, it is always a great source of joy when God moves in unmistakable ways. There is nothing quite like the sense of awe and astonishment we get when He comes in His beauty! Last Sunday, I was due to give a talk at church based around 2 Corinthians 10. I had worked hard to prepare it and focused particularly on the theme of demolishing strongholds. I also invited Sally Mowbray to come and lead the worship from the piano. The very moment Sally started playing, we became aware of a deep sense of the Lord’s presence, and a great freedom in the Spirit. We had planned three songs before the talk, but no one wanted to stop worshipping. I couldn't help wondering whether starting my talk would bring us back down to earth rather than allowing us to stay in this precious place before the throne of God. I had asked a few friends to pray for the meeting, and couple of them had messaged me beforehand to say that the Lord wanted me to speak from the heart. And that is just what happened! Instead of the somewhat formal talk I had prepared, I began to call on the Lord in an extended and impromptu prayer that covered many of the themes I had planned to speak on. I love how God meets with us unexpectedly! Our pastor told me that the Lord touched his knee during the evening, which meant he was able to play football during an outreach evening with local children. It reminded me of how the Lord healed someone of a long-standing ear problem while we were praying against the spread of Islam in this country many years ago. As we seek Him, He ministers to our needs! Of course, I still have all the notes for the talk I planned to give, and I hope to share them on another occasion. But talks can be read anytime, while the presence of the Lord is of the moment – may you encounter Him today.

I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests; all others seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 2:20-21) As much as these verses express a great commendation of his protégé, Timothy, they are also a sad indictment of others in Paul’s immediate entourage. It can be a distressing realisation to discover that people are more calculating and concerned for their own affairs and business than truly Christ-seeking. Set to a profound utterance in tongues that the Lord gave Linda Entwistle many years ago, and which is taken from a presentation called From the Depths to the Heights, this is a chance to, reflect, ponder and pray about what it means to put Christ’s interests first.

Inspired by the words 'Your Kingdom come' in the Lord's Prayer, this is a worshipful improvisation that Sally sung, accompanied by David Booth on guitar. It expresses our longing for more of God and His Heavenly Kingdom as we soak in His presence and seek His face - both for ourselves and for the many situations that we bring Him.

Many years ago, at the gates of the nursery that both Ruth and Tim attended, we enjoyed many precious moments of fellowship with a special group of parents. (We are still in touch with them all!) Amongst them was Sue Harris, who I was delighted to invite to record this poem-prayer that celebrates the "sacrament of the present moment": a lovely concept which Jean Pierre Caussade coined as a phrase three hundred years ago. Sue loves the Lord Jesus dearly, and we have paired her heart-felt recording with the music of one of Bach’s most beautiful Andantes, which Fontane Liang and Julia Herzog played for us on the harp and recorder. The music feels somewhat delicate and slightly fragile, like a bluebell just lifting its head, and inspires us to dwell on the tenderness of the Lord’s moment-by-moment love for us – and to remind ourselves that no lack of faithfulness on our part, or 'road block' that we face along life’s way can ultimately keep us from His unconditional love, if we will but resolve to reach out to Him. May this be a piece to which you often find yourself returning, and find in it fresh succour and sweetness in the Lord. It is beautiful.

Lord, you say, “This is the resting place. Let the weary rest. This is the place to be refreshed.” (Is 28:12 EHV) We are longing just to come and be refreshed. The Lord: Come aside a while and ponder My sovereignty. So far from being a distant or highfaluting concept, this is manna to your soul and truth to bring repose to weary hearts and minds. I am sovereign: this is the bedrock of everything in all creation. I am before all things and in Me, all things hold together. (Col. 1:17) The more you dare to believe this, the more it will focus your gaze on the Lamb upon His throne, and keep you from being led astray by every wind and whim. The believer: So here we are, Lord, bombarded on every side by make-believe reality and the strictures of a consumer society; immersed in the insistent mantras and populist slogans of governments and corporations, rights groups and movements – so many agendas, so many principles; so much intolerance, and fang-toothed, talon-clawed opposition. How we need not just a short-term break, but an eternal resting place deep within our hearts. Forgive us when we allow these things to impinge so strongly on our senses to weigh more heavily on us than the faith that beholds the invisible and perseveres accordingly. You are not a man that You should lie, nor the son of man that You should change Your mind. Have You not said, and will You not do it? The day will come when Your feet stand again upon the Mount of Olives, Lord Jesus, and Your glory fill the world. The Lord: My hand is on the tiller and My purposes cannot fail. I stand alone, and who can oppose Me? I do whatever I please and none can gainsay My word. (Job 23:13) Come near you nations and listen; you people, hearken to all I have to say; (See Isaiah 34 1-2) I brought Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir. It was I who delivered Israel from the tyranny of the Pharoahs, then from the Baals and then from Babylon – and it is I who rescue you from your many scrapes! The rulers of the world conspire together against Me (Ps. 2:1–2) but My anointed One is King over all the nations of the world. I have given Him the nations as an inheritance (Ps. 2:8) – yes even those nations that rage so loudly against Me.

The believer Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name be the glory, for Your steadfast loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness. (Ps. 115:1 AMPC) We are the inheritors of Your kingdom, and we live and move in Your glory, in the peace and security that comes from following the Prince of Peace. Voice: The Lord The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted – and they will be humbled. (Isaiah 2:11-12) The believer: Yes Lord, scatter all that is proud and lofty in the imagination of our heart and bring us to that deeper place of knowing that we are living and praying according to Your will; no longer asking amiss by following our own desires but increasingly conformed to the image of Your Son, whose only desire is to do the will of the One who had sent Him. Rather than looking wistfully at someone else’s gifts and opportunities, or bowing down at the shrine of our own achievements, we cry out with the psalmist, ‘All our springs are found in You!’ (Psalm 87:7) You, who did not spare Your own and only Son, do not spare us from Your work of refining. Remove all bias and boasting from our hearts; fashion within us a true and lasting humility so that we are spared the fate of Aaron’s foolish sons and Eli’s licentious offspring. (Lev. 10:1-3) Keep us from becoming like Demas, who put love of worldly things ahead of serving You (2 Tim. 4:10).

2 Tim 2:19 Though you see many things that might make you despair, when you indulge your woes and listen to your fears, and when your faults and failings shout aloud from the roof tops, and your senses are inclined to shrink in the face of all these discouragements, never forfeit the godly foundations I have procured for You: My arms beneath and My throne above undergirds all. There can no more be any such thing as ‘salvation by worry’ than there could be ‘salvation by works alone’. The fairest fruit comes when you admit your helplessness and look away to Me. How can you truly be free in My presence if you fix your eyes on earthly things and seek honour praise and approval more from one another than from Me? (John 3:12, 5:44) The believer: From heaven you make us hear Your voice to discipline us. (Deut. 5:24, 4:12, 36) You truly give and take away: blessed be Your name. (Job 9:12) Many plans occupy our hearts and minds: but may Your purposes alone prevail (Prov. 19:21). The Lord I am the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; and the key to this treasure is to be found by pressing in and onward to know still more of Me as I work all things together according to the counsel of My will, on behalf of those whom I have chosen from before the beginning of time itself. (Eph. 1:11) My foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘I know those who are Mine – and everyone who confesses My name must turn away from wickedness.’ (2 Tim, 2:19) Those who believe and trust in the precious cornerstone of Christ need never be disturbed nor give way (Is. 28:16).

Comment by the photographer - Some time ago while I was walking along Calle Larios in Malaga, I was struck by the skill of this craftsman who, there in the middle of the street in a completely artisanal way (the lathe was a wheel that he rotated with his hands) of a shapeless piece of clay was used to make vessels and other useful and beautiful pieces. The believer You are the Alpha and the Omega, the architect of all, and the potter who shapes and recreates all things for Your pleasure. Keep us from the barnstorming of the enemy’s thrusts and lies, swiftly acknowledging the things we need to repent of, and identifying those inevitable surprise attacks we need to rebuke. Grant us discernment to recognise Your strong hand behind the things that come upon us, to know that even our very afflictions are no chance or random event, but deeply disposed and ordained of You. May we not be unsettled by our trials, but recognise, for as Paul declared, we are indeed destined for them. (1 Thess. 3:3). If sometimes the measures You adopt feel extreme, and the situations we face most daunting, help us to maintain our confidence that You intend to be glorified through our surrendered lives. You do not err in what You allow to come our way. (Job 9:12) Even when our soul is sore and pressed with sorrow, yet we have but to look to You to find You drawing near. Even though this new found helplessness is not what we would have chosen, it is what You knew it would be needed to complete the cycle of things You intend us to overcome, and to turn from all the glorying and boasting in vain things that so characterises this present era. It is not so much that You help those who help themselves, but that You help those most willing to confess how unable they are to help themselves. For whatever our outward limitations our hearts and springs are at liberty to find their joy and freedom with You.

Seated on high You yet stoop so low to meet us as and where we are. No matter that may sometimes feel like worker bees, gathering but a fraction of a teaspoonful of honey in our lifetimes, yet we are doing and seek to do all that you have commissioned us to do as we look above and not at the things of life. You are our refuge and our fortress, O God, in whom we trust (Psalm 91:2). You are fully committed to take all that we give You and to work it out in ways that lie far beyond our understanding. You ride on the clouds in Your majesty yet come to our aid. (Deut. 33:26) Fickle and foolish our ways, but stable and strong Your throne – and set and secure Your far ranging purposes. Make us, each one, more patient in adversity, tossed no longer every which way by each fresh challenge, but pressing on to pursue the unsearchable riches we have received in Christ (Eph. 3:8). Lord of our hearts, and Lord of our destinies, You alone know the days allotted to us. (Job 14:5) Direct the flow of our days according to Your sovereign purposes, and just as You fine tune and regulate every living thing in all creation, regulate the precious hours that You have entrusted to us, as we wait for Your supreme and blessed hope to be revealed once more from Heaven (Titus 2:13). You alone our refuge, and Your everlasting arms will never let us down. You have made our hearts a resting place beneath the shadow of Your wings – and we ascribe glory to Your name, dearly beloved and Eternal God (Deut. 33:26-27).

My compassion is not dependent on what you do. Neither does My justice depend on human will or exertion. My compassion and mercy spring from My mercy seat. (Rom. 9:15-16) Seek My mercy on behalf of erring souls and nations, streets and towns and regions, careers and professions. My Sovereignty is not blunted or diminished by your failures. I can yet rearrange the strands of your lives, and ordain strength and fruitfulness even from the pits of your failure. Have I not brought you to this place where you have reached the end of your own resources, in order that I can rule and reign in your lives? Since nothing lies beyond My ability to redeem, can I not turn tragedy into triumph? I am and always will be, and those who submit to My leading will find themselves encompassed in My great purposes. Those who want to be My disciples must follow Me, because I desire My servants to be where I am. I will honour anyone who serves Me. Listen only for My voice: this is the way and you must have the courage to embark upon it. Allow no foothold to the forces of fear and disappointment, for they have the power to shut out the awareness of My presence. Come to Me afresh and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matt. 11:29)

Miserere mei, Deus (‘Have mercy upon me, O God) Disaster! With one fell swoop, the second king of Israel broke three of the commandments God had given to help His people live in the light of His holiness. The enormity of what David had done in his sudden relationship with Bathsheba did not seem to strike his heart immediately, however. He had coveted another man’s wife, committed adultery, planned and plotted the death of one of his most loyal and upright followers – and then carried on as if everything was normal. But God knew, and in his love and holiness He sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. Gulp! It was a task that required courage, given the king’s sometimes domineering and even tyrannical tendency to exert his power in unkind and capricious ways. Nathan, who seems to have served as something akin to a court chaplain, knew that he was risking his life, and wisely approached the matter by telling David a riddle within a parable about a rich man stealing a poor man’s pet lamb, before pointing the finger squarely at him. Nathan’s words pierced the hardness in David’s heart, reminding him of the shepherd he had been, and the unfairness of the tale that he had just heard. The penny dropped. David heard and took the matter to heart – and his repentance was as profound and far-reaching as his faithfulness had been so outstanding on so many other occasions. Deeper far than mere remorse, the Holy Spirit has used David’s record of his repentance in what we know as Psalm 51 to touch and convict countless hearts ever since. As we reflect and pray, may the Lord help us to enter more deeply into a 360 degree awareness of own faults and failings, and to pray blessing upon blessing on those who we have hurt or maligned. Few pieces of music can help us to enter more deeply into this ‘mea culpa’ recognition of our own sins and shortcomings than Gregorio Allegri’s stunningly beautiful setting of this psalm. You will probably be familiar with the story of how this sublime music was discovered. Jealously guarded by the Vatican, and forbidden to be sung anywhere outside the pope’s own Sistine Chapel, (and even there only during Holy Week), the story goes that Mozart, the teenage musical prodigy, heard the Miserere being sung during a service, and promptly rushed home and wrote the whole complex piece out from memory. Whether or not the story depicts exactly what happened, the fact is that, thanks to Mozart, the music entered the public domain – for which we can never be too grateful. A devout believer, Allegri himself had trained as a priest, and worked with the Vatican’s Papal Choir. He has been described as a man ‘whose music was imbued with his religious faith and personal sense of justice, and who was ‘a model of priestly peace and humility, a father to the poor, the consoler of captives and the forsaken, a self-sacrificing help and rescuer of suffering humanity.’ This combination of David’s words and Allegri’s heavenly music represent a wonderful opportunity for heart spring-cleaning. The music was recorded for us in Berlin in April 2025, and played by Susanne Herzog, Shirley Richards, Anne Seidler, Gabriele Kröhnert and Alexander Koderisch, with Julia and Thomas Herzog and Peter Richards making solo contributions on recorder, cor anglais and French horn.

I wrote this prayer piece after taking a walk around our immediate neighbourhood one day. It takes the form of a prayer dialogue, imagining the Lord speaking to me about some of the people I glimpsed in passing. I have set the words to a piece I wrote called Lament and Light, which incorporates a beautiful Swedish folk melody. It concludes with Linda Entwistle singing a hauntingly beautiful theme in the Spirit, which leaves a profound aftertaste. A huge thank you to Rebecca Whettam and Natalie Halliday, cellos, Peter Richards, piano, and Mike Halliday on clarinet.

Eternal Triumph by Ruach Breath of Life

Set to moving music from Monteverdi's brilliant vespers of 1610, with Anthony Thompson and Kevin Ashman leading on the trumpets, join Robert and Elizabeth in this rendering of Isaiah 26, and Psalms 18 and 17:14-15. Biblical Hebrew does not have tenses in the way that most modern languages do, so I have at times turned the tense around to make it not only a reflection on past deliverances but an active declaration that the Lord is always able to help us, and will continue to do so in the future.

O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago._ With these words, Isaiah falls in worship before the Lord. You have been a refuge for the poor , a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. How beautiful the Lord is, and how kind! In His gentleness, He stoops down to lift us up and draw us into His own family. This exultant reflection, which is adapted from Isaiah 25, Luke 1:51 and Psalm 18:35, is set to the glorious music of Giovanni Gabrieli’s Canzon septimi et octavi toni a 12. Beloved, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation! The words are read by Elizabeth Hume and Robert Weston, and the music is wonderfully performed for us by Nicola Gerard, Anthony Thompson, Mike Halliday, Peter Richards, Francis Cummings, Shirley Richards, Philippa Barton, Christiane Mueller, Jo Garcia and Corinne Frost.

What a gem Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is, with his unsurpassed eulogy to love, his seminal teaching about spiritual gifts and the functioning of the Body of Christ, crowned with his deep understanding concerning the glory we will enjoy with the Lord in our heavenly home and in our resurrected bodies in. It soars to such heights that you might almost wonder what a second letter could add to it. But this was also the group of Christians with which he had more trouble than in any of the other fledgling churches. From our perspective today we can be grateful, because it led to some of his most profound and personal writing that is of great benefit to us today. In this talk, which I have called In Christ’s triumphal procession, some of the principal points that I have touched on include: • Remaining alert to the promptings of the Holy Spirit • The triumphant return of Christ, accompanied by His saints • Spreading the fragrance of Christ • Pondering Paul’s question concerning who is equal to the task we are called to • The importance and power of our words of recommendation The talk finishes with the grande finale from our Transfiguration album – a magnificent improvisation that also brought Wellspring’s album ‘The Return’ to a triumphant close. The combination of the music and reading from the book of Revelation are stunningly glorious.