Choral Evensong Live from Trinity College Chapel — Sunday 20 February 2022

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] um [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] you foreign [Music] [Music] dearly beloved brethren the scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of almighty god our heavenly father but confess them with a humble lowly penitent and obedient heart to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness and mercy and although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before god yet ought we most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands to set forth his most worthy praise to hear his most holy word and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul wherefore i pray and beseech you as many as are here present to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace saying after me almighty and most merciful father we have earned and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts we have offended against thy holy laws we have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done and there is no health in us but thou o lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders spare thou them o god which confess their faults restore thou them that are penitent according to thy promises declared unto mankind in christ jesus our lord and grant o most merciful father for his sake that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of thy holy name amen almighty god the father of our lord jesus christ who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live and hath given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people being penitent the absolution and remission of their sins he pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfaintedly believe his holy gospel wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance and his holy spirit that these things may please him which we do at this present and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy through jesus christ our lord amen [Music] god makes me to save us glory be to the father [Music] is [Music] praise [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] us is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is one [Music] the first lesson is taken from the second book of samuel chapter 18 beginning to read at the 24th verse and david sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate onto the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man running alone and the watchman cried and told the king and the king said if he be alone there is tidings in his mouth and he came apace and drew near and the watchman saw another man running and the watchman called unto the porter and said behold another man running alone and the king said he also bringeth tidings and the watchman said me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of ahimas the son of zadok and the king said he is a good man and cometh with good tidings and our hamas called and said unto the king all is well and he fell down the earth upon his face before the king and said blessed be the lord thy god which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king and the king said is the young man absalom safe and ahimas answered when job sent the king's servant and me thy servant i saw a great tumult but i knew not what it was and the king said unto him turn aside and stand here and he turned aside and stood still and behold cushy came and cushy said tidings my lord the king for the lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee and the king said unto cushy is the young man absalom safe and because she answered the enemies of my lord the king and all that rise against thee to do the hurt be as that young man is and the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus he said o my son absalom my son my son absalom would god i had died for thee o absalom my son my son here ends the first lesson [Music] my is [Music] [Applause] [Music] i is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] she's is [Music] foreign [Music] god [Music] is [Music] [Music] the second lesson is taken from the gospel according to luke chapter 15 beginning to read at the 11th verse and he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the portion of goods that falleth to me and he divided unto them his living and not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living and when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and he would have vain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him and when he came to himself he said how many hired servants of my fathers have bred enough and to spare and i perish with hunger i will arise and go to my father and will say unto him father i have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants and he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him here ends the second lesson [Music] foreign [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i believe in god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy ghost born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead i believe in the holy ghost the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen the lord be with you let us pray lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon us our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen is [Music] thy ministers with righteousness [Music] oh is [Music] within [Music] [Music] oh lord god who cease that we put not our trust in anything that we do mercy fully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity through jesus christ [Music] oh [Music] give unto thy servants that peace our hearts may be said to obey thy commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies we pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of jesus christ our savior [Music] darkness we visit you lord and by thy great mercy defend us and danger of this our savior jesus christ [Music] so good evening and welcome to you all welcome to those of you who've managed to swim here this evening through the deluge welcome to those of you who are watching online um our preacher this evening is professor adrian paul who is continuing our series on old testament figures and he's going to preach this evening on david and absalom so thank you very much adrian in advance it's wonderful to have you here please do stay for a drink a glass of wine or something soft in the anti-chapel after the service and if you're visiting please do come and introduce yourself to me and to anne before we hear from our preacher we sit for the anthem which is thomas tompkins setting of the david and absalom story days [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] please [Music] please [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] is foreign [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] oh so [Music] [Music] is [Music] so [Music] what a way to hear david's unforgettable cry the singular pain of his words alleviated deepened almost unbearably protracted by the beauty of tompkins music and most importantly shared shared between several voices shared with us who hear them earlier on we listened to the last lap of the story we can see it portrayed in those two images from the morgan bible reproduced in the centerfold of the order of service today there is the lower one where david looks up to the watchmen as they wait for news of the climactic battle above albeit the two runners have been replaced by knights on horseback on the right of the image above we see absalom hanging by his hair in a tree while his mule canters demurely away and his killer or killers stick three lances into him how does the story get to these two terrible moments they're both scenes of suspense when time slows down and seems to stop in the old testament telling absalom's fate hangs in the balance for several verses while a nameless bystander tells david's general joab that he's seen absalom hanging in an oak tree joab says why didn't you smite him i'd have made it worth your while mr anonymous says no reward would be large enough because we all heard the king say see that nobody touches the young man absalom especially you joab and the other two generals joab says to this nobody stop wasting my time he takes three darts or stout sticks or spears and thrusts them into absalom then a gang of ten young men join in they throw the corpse into a pit and cover it with a great heap of stones it is an ignominious end the shame of it is momentarily dissipated when the story pauses to tell us about the pillar that absalom had raised for himself in his lifetime for he said i have no son to keep my name in remembrance and it is called unto this day absalom's place but as the shades of stalin saddam hussein cecil rhodes edward colston and so on will report you cannot always control what the future will make of your memory poor absalom never enjoys even the temporary honor that they did more than one tourist guide to israel tells of the custom for passers-by to throw stones at absalom's monument and for parents to bring their unruly children to the site to teach them what became of a rebellious son because let's face it absalom is every father's worst nightmare not that david is every son's dream of a father no every son's dream of a father is the all-forgiving one in the parable of the prodigal son who rushes out to meet the remorseful delinquent greets him with a kiss throws a big party and modifies his indignant elder brother in fact there is a reconciliation scene between david and absalom and a kiss but it comes too early their story falls into two parts the first part is dominated by a tale of rape and revenge and rough justice absalom's beautiful sister tamar has been raped by their brother amnon then brutally discarded when he hears about it absalom is as we like to say conflicted he's angry but he tells his sister to keep quiet do not take it to heart regard not this thing their father david is angry too but the rapist amnon is his firstborn so neither father nor brother do anything meanwhile tamar is desolate this is not the patriarchy at its best but absalom is not finished for two years he simmers is he waiting for his father to act one wonders then absalom takes the law into his own hands he arranges a big feast for all the king's sons plies amnon with drink and has him murdered by his servants it's all a bit mafia then everyone scarpers in haste including absalom who flees into exile what about king david when he hears what all his sons have been up to he mourns amnon but he gets used to it after all absalom is not any old son there are probably about 20 now in jerusalem that we know about absalom is special the one his father loves most the one he really misses and the soul of king david longed to go forth unto absalom three years pass before absalom is persuaded to return from exile his father does not rush out to throw his arms around him he refuses to see him everyone else sees absalom everyone thinks he's beautiful especially his hair yes the hair that will get fatally caught in the oak tree another two years pass before absalom insists on seeing his father and bullies joab into arranging it yes the same joab who will eventually murder or execute him and so we reach the end of part one with the stately scene in which son and father are formally reconciled save that david is not called the father but the king the king the king he summons absalom who prostrates himself and the king kissed absalom if only today ended there because then the real trouble starts as absalom starts carrying favor with the people gathering his forces in a parasital conspiracy preparing a coup the king james bible says that 40 years pass which seems unlikely probably a mistake for four and then all hell breaks loose as the world explodes into civil war david flees absalom seizes jerusalem he makes a show of raping his father's wives there are all kinds of dirty tricks espionage betrayal daring do until it comes to a climax with the big battle in the wood of ephraim where twenty thousand men are slaughtered in one day we hear mysteriously that the wood devoured more people that day than the sword it certainly proves fatal to absalom who gets caught in the tree and hangs there until joab and his gang stab and club him to death and then someone has to break the news to his father david what is the news the tidings after all king david's forces have won a great battle this is a cause for celebration the messenger who reaches david first thinks that he brings good news that all is well the rebellion has been crushed but david has only one question is the young man absalom safe this messenger lies and says he doesn't know then another slower messenger who set off first but arrived second breaks the news as gently as he can and this unleashes the great final verse of this chapter and david's cry of agony we talk of unconditional love perhaps too easily this is unconditional grief these are words that his son will never hear expressing a love that his father has never put into words time stops or seems to for david for everyone who hears this cry including us as readers and listeners millennia later david seeks privacy and solitude for his grief in the roof chamber over the gate but he cannot wait it cannot wait till he gets there it spills out of him on the way for everyone to hear except that time does not stop the story goes on the day of victory turns into a day of national mourning until joab that man again rebukes his lord and master it's not all about you he says you're a king as well as a father pull yourself together david complies he resumes his seat in the gate his public office on show for all to see he acknowledges and honors the servants and soldiers who have fought for him and saved his skin for the story of david and absalom riveting as it is in its personal tragedy involves many participants as all tragedy does there are the twenty thousand men without names slain in the wood of ephraim there are the loved ones and families they leave behind there are individuals with names and fates of their own advisors and middlemen like a hitterfell and hush ai there are the two messengers are himayas and kushi there is the nobody who finds absalom hanging in a tree there is joab and his ten young thugs and so on william faulkner knew what he was doing when he conferred on his greatest novel the title absalom absalom when asked which came first the title or the story faulkner claimed that they came together but this wasn't true his first thought for a title had been dark house which is good but nothing like as resonant as absalom absalom this is the cry that hangs over faulkner's tragic portrayal of the american south the obsession with patriarchal succession and heredity that dooms its inhabitants and compels all who are touched by it faulkner was right the story of david and absalom is endlessly compelling in its depiction of the rift between father and son and its terrible consequences it marks a limit at the other extreme from the parable of the prodigal son and alternative visions of what fathers and sons can mean to each other it is painful to remember the wonderful lament to which david himself was once inspired for saul and jonathan father and son swifter than eagles stronger than lions the father and son who were david sings lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not divided oh my son absalom my son my son absalom no comfort no consolation no remedy no wonder such moments in the old testament can make us turn towards the new [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] so [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] so [Music] may the peace of of god and his son jesus christ [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] uh

Channel: Trinity College Choir

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Length: 71min 55sec (4315 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2022