If you read this on Thursday, August 10th I will be on holiday with my lovely wife Caroline celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary. In fact our anniversary was yesterday on the 9th but we are still away – not too far though as Rosy, the fiancée of my son James is soon to give birth.

It was also Caroline’s birthday on Sunday and it was great for the two of us to have a meal at Prezzo (yes with vouchers!) with my two wonderful sons, James and Chris and the lovely Rosy.

Although Caroline and I have been married nine years we have known each other more like twenty six years – why did we wait for so long to get married? Well that’s a long story but may I take this opportunity to say how kind, compassionate, thoughtful, patient, loving and understanding Caroline is? She is also very brave as she has been suffering knee pain for over three years, enduring five operations for an anterior cruciate ligament knee reconstruction that has been a tale of misfortune. In addition to surgery, pain killers and masses of physiotherapy Caroline has had various other treatments which have helped but have not cured the problem. What has made things much worse is that she is a brilliant sportsperson who played cricket for Middlesex and hockey for SE England but, at present cannot even run- swimming being the only form of exercise she can undertake. Now if that was me and I could not play golf I would be like a bear with a sore head but to her great credit Caroline very rarely complains. She is to have a new procedure in a month or so and we are hoping that will help. What would be great is if she could run again and also teach- she has been doing a great job mentoring coaches that deliver PE in Primary Schools but it would be so good if she could do the teaching herself (she is a great teacher and children love her.)

The featured song “Where Would I Be Without You?” is one of Caroline’s favourites and one of her favourite Bible verses is Isaiah 41:10 the words of which were prayed over me by Mr Milliken (Mr Mill’s father) when I renewed my baptism vows on 18th May 1997. I also prayed them over Caroline when she renewed her baptism vows in the Solent on September 4th 2011.

So do not fear for I am with you,

Do not dismayed for I am your God,

I will comfort you and help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Martin Connor and Ken Shearsmith in “The Pirates of Portsmouth”

“Because of Your Grace”- featuring Harun Kotch from the album “The Season of Singing” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

A few weeks ago I had the great privilege of watching an absolutely fantastic version of George Gershwin’s musical “Crazy For You.” (It’s the with “I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got music, I’ve got my girl – who could ask for anything more”) The play was at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and I cannot speak too highly of it – everything was of the highest quality – the 32 piece orchestra, the singing, the dancing, the acting, the costumes, the set – everything and it was all directed by my old school friend Martin Connor who is the Head of Acting at the Guildhall.

Back in August 2014 my blog featured the story of how I met Martin – extracts of which are below.

When, at the age of nine I moved from Gillingham in Kent to Portsmouth I went to the Northern Parade Junior Boys School. I have to say I did not like it at all – the teachers used the cane- something that I had not come across at all in the delightful Forge Lane Mixed School I attended in Gillingham.

Anyway one classroom teacher, Mr Thorpe was keen on amateur dramatics and each year would produce a show, usually one which he had written himself based on a Gilbert and Sullivan classic. I particularly remember “The Pirates of Portsmouth” in which I played a pirate “Mizzen Mast Martin” (I’ll let you pick me out in the featured pic) The star was a guy called Martin Connor who was in my class and who had been one of the few people who had been nice to me when I first went to Northern Parade. Martin is stage centre in the pic with a hook for a right hand (only make believe!)

In those ancient times we had to sit the 11 + exam to determine whether you went on to Grammar School or Secondary Modern. In Portsmouth there was also a “half -way house” – the Portsmouth Technical High School.  Well to cut a long story short Martin and I found ourselves both at “The “halfway house”.  We were also in the same form, the infamous 1B.  Martin went on to become Head Boy – I did not.

I knew Martin had gone on from school to pursue a career in acting, but on leaving school I had lost contact with him. When I was looking to cast for the role of John I needed someone who could both act and sing. All of Risen! is sung and I particularly needed someone who was expert in  recitative as this  holds the storyline together. I decided to try to locate Martin to see if he was still in the world of acting so I googled his name (what else!) and there he was Head of Acting at the Prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.  I knew it was the same Martin as there was a pic of him on the Guildhall’s website and he had not changed a bit. (spit!)

I emailed him and we met up at the “Coach and Horses” pub which is right opposite our old school. We talked and laughed non -stop for hours, picking up on all the old Tech School life as if it were yesterday. Anyway yes Martin did have someone in mind to play the part of John – Alex Knox. Alex had a degree in Music from Manchester University – he also had a Masters in Singing from Guildhall and was now taking the Guildhall’s Masters Acting Degree- he would be perfect. So I took the train up to London to meet him at the Guildhall. I sang Alex the John parts in one of the Guildhall’s studios, so I suppose it could be said that I have sung at the Guildhall School of Music and Theatre!  For a classical trained singer it would not have been normal to learn a part warbled by some PE teacher, but that is what happened with Alex singing the part in the Risen! CD.

Alex has become a great friend – my blog of November 24th 2016 features his appearance playing lead in the West End play “ It’s Easy To Be Dead.”It was his birthday yesterday so Happy Birthday Alex!

https://youtu.be/e5AEOgWefWY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFWJW7AEf9A&feature=youtu.be

Jordan Spieth Winner of The Open Golf Championship 2017

Well the Portsmouth University Gospel Choir did not win Saturday’s final of BBC1s “Pitch Battle” but they did do themselves proud with one judge choosing them and two other judges  choosing “All the Kings Men” who  went on to be runners up to the “Leeds Contemporary Singers. “ PGC were still by far the best for me though and as Judge, Gareth Malone quite rightly said “just pervaded excitement and joy. “

Their performances brought back wonderful memories for me of when they sang in Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal , Portsmouth  in November 2015.  The featured video has choir leader Heavilyn Sarpong (usually appropriately called Heaven) leading a rehearsal of a Risen! song “Jesus Oh Oh.”  They are such lovely people and I think you can get an idea of their joy from the other video clip which is of them in the New Theatre Royal’s dressing room after the final performance of Risen! The Musical – all singing “Jesus is my Lord.” I am not sure what they will be doing next apart from enjoying a well- earned break from their University studies- but my love goes out to them all.

Not sure if you are into golf but the final round of this year’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale was fantastic. Jordan Spieth managed to turn round a pretty disastrous final round by going birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, par, which for those who don’t know golf too well is like scoring four cricket centuries in a row or four football hat tricks. (well not quite!)   The runner up was fellow American Matt Kuchar – he and Jordan have something in common apart from being great  golfers – they are both Christians.

My lovely wife, Caroline and I celebrate nine years of marriage on August 9th and when this blog comes out we will be on an early holiday to Bath for a couple of days. Hope you have a nice week too.

First may I remind you that this coming Saturday, July 22nd starting at 7.25 pm the wonderful “Portsmouth University Gospel Choir” compete in the final of BBC 1s “Pitch Battle” choir competition featuring Gareth Malone. All this week the choir and their leader, Heavilyn have been conducting interviews on local radio and TV with a front page article in the Portsmouth News. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/celebs/student-gospel-choir-from-portsmouth-latest-pitch-battle-winners-1-8047366 The Portsmouth University Gospel Choir featured with the London Touring Cast in the first of two productions of Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth.

You can watch their winning performances from Episode 4 by viewing IPlayer on http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08yb0pj/pitch-battle-series-1-episode-4” Timings for the performances of the Gospel Choir are approx. 45 mins 50 –  54 mins 20 – 1 hour 11 mins 50 – 1 hour 24 mins.

The previous Saturday I watched on TV, with my dear friend Dr Graham Giles, the final Rugby Union test match between the British and Irish Lions and the New Zealand All Blacks. It was a fantastic game which finished in a 15-15 draw, which also meant that the three match series also ended as a draw.

Some were left rather cold as there were no images of celebrations for the winners -dejection, reflection and consolation for the losers. It is understandable that when players train so incredibly hard to become winners – having no winners and losers is rather strange. However in my opinion both teams were huge winners as they gave the world unforgettable images (as in featured pic) of their great respect and admiration for each other- something I would suggest is far more worthy of celebration than simply winning.

All this reminded me of the wonderful Rugby Union World Cup theme song “The World in Union” which is today’s featured song (and which always sends shivers down my spine.) It was adapted from the British hymn “I Vow To Thee My Country” which was apparently Princess Diana’s favourite. It was taken from a poem by Sir Cyril Spring Rice with music by Gustav Holst adapting the music from a section of Jupiter from his suite, The Planets.

“The World In Union” lyrics were written by Charlie Starbek. I particularly like the line “If I win lose or draw it’s a victory for all.” I suppose that is similar to a phrase coined by the founder of the Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

Portsmouth Uni Gospel Choir after a Risen! rehearsal

Portsmouth Uni Gospel Choir with London Touring Cast

Well I am not sure if you saw on Saturday, July 8th the fantastic Portsmouth University Gospel Choir on BBC 1s “Pitch Battle” with judges that included Gareth Malone and Seal but if you did not then I strongly suggest you watch on I Player http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08yb0pj/pitch-battle-series-1-episode-4” because they were absolutely brilliant. The clip featured today shows them being chosen by Seal after their rendition of “Kissed By A Rose.”

One reason was I was so very pleased with their success is that I knew most of the choir including their leader, Heavilyn Sarpong as they had sang with the London Touring Cast in the first production of Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal.

They deserve every possible success as they are such lovely people. I will never forget how welcoming they were when I first went to their rehearsals for Risen! and how hard they all worked. I remember so well almost being in tears when I first heard them sing “Jesus Oh, Oh” a clip of which I will try and post next week. I also treasure the friendships they fostered with the London Touring Cast and how moving it was when they prayed for the cast with us all in a circle on the stage of the New Theatre Royal just before the first performance.

Afterwards I could not get the Gospel Choir out of their dressing room as they were all singing “Jesus Is My Lord” at the top of their voices. I am sure one of the reasons why Seal chose them as winners of that “Pitch Battle” episode and why they will continue to do well is because they convey such love and joy. Although the cameras quickly switched when some of them got down on their knees to thank God – their obvious love of Jesus just shone through- although the performances of the others in the programme were excellent they just could not match the Portsmouth University Gospel Choir’s exuberance which I believe was Spirit led.

“Did they not do enough on that awful day ?” from Risen! The Musical – featuring the London Touring Cast at the New Theatre Royal

“Restore Us Lord God Almighty” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You?” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Over the past few weeks I have been offering songs as a means of responding to the tragic and awful events in Manchester and London. Today’s featured song is another “lament” taken from Psalms 80 and 88.

I use extracts from a paper “Psalms of Lament” by G. Brooke Lester to describe what exactly is a lament. However before that may I tell you a bit of the story behind the writing of this song? I had the idea of a lament after reading a devotion by Selwyn Hughes in “Every Day With Jesus.” God had inspired the melody to the chorus by “placing it in my head” but He had not given me a tune for the verse- so I made one up. When I sang the song to Lucy Stimpson- Maynard she loved the chorus but when I sang my melody for the verse she looked at me as if to say “What is going on?” I instantly knew exactly what she meant – but also instantly remembered a melody she had written as part of a school play- and yes it fitted the verse lyrics perfectly -so that is what you hear in today’s featured song “Restore Us Lord God Almighty.”

If many of us have been taught to put on a happy face, to let a smile be our umbrella, to keep our complaints to ourselves, then the Hebrew Bible offers a welcome corrective in the complaint psalms, or psalms of lament.

Lament, as a genre of psalm, is not the same as lamentation over the dead. In a lament psalm, a petitioner addresses God directly on the occasion of some calamity. Given God’s history with God’s people, the psalmist is comfortable charging God with “dereliction of duty” and unabashedly urges a favorable response.

Psalm 44 illustrates well the typical features of the lament psalm. A lament usually contains some direct address to God (Ps 44:1, “O God”), a complaint describing the occasion for the lament (Ps 44:9-22), a petition for redress (Ps 44:23-26), some statement of trust concerning God’s proclivity to save and vindicate (Ps 44:1-8), and a vow to offer public thanksgiving after God has intervened favorably.

As a response to crisis, the lament psalm is best understood in comparison to the other major genres of psalms, namely, praise and thanksgiving psalms. Psalms of praise, with their celebratory language, portray a just and life-sustaining created order. They reflect the comfortable embrace of a status quo whose conditions favor the speaker. Thanksgiving psalms speak to the gathered community of their deliverance from a crisis by God. They reflect the resolution of the crisis and the speaker’s progress toward moving on after trauma.

Between these two forms sit the lament psalms, which respond to a crisis that disrupts the life of an individual or community. In laments, a critical event calls into question the conviction that God reliably protects the speaker from injustice, chaos, and death. The lament psalm, then, looks backward at praise (recalling God’s saving acts), and it looks forward to thanksgiving and salvation (praising God’s inclination to save). Lament gazes unflinchingly at the present reality of pain and at God’s apparent slowness to save.

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow” from Risen!- The Musical

“Out of the Depths” featuring Chloe Brokenshire as Mary Magdalene from the album Risen!The Musical recorded and produced by Joffy Girling

It was sometime in 2000 that I was returning from a Partners Day at Waverley Abbey House in Farnham, which is the centre for the “Crusade for World Revival” (CWR) the publishers of Selwyn Hughes’ “Every Day with Jesus.” As I was driving car an up-tempo tune came into my head that I knew was very melodic (he says humbly!) Sometimes God gives me melodies and lyrics at the same time but on this occasion it was just the melody.

On August 12th 2000 the Russian submarine Kursk sank with all 118 on board lost. I remember seeing a photograph of one of the lost sailors’ mothers and her face was one of total anguish.

Shortly afterwards I was in London’s Leicester Square with my son Chris who was then aged 15. We were about to go into the Odeon cinema when my phone rang and I was told that his close friend, Richard had suddenly and un-expectantly died. I remember like it was yesterday sitting Chris down and telling him the tragic news before we immediately returned home.

The two incidents made me think of how the Psalmists would cry out to God in their songs/poems which are called laments. I searched through the Psalms and found the words of Psalms 130 and 6 and also those from Isaiah 55 to convey exactly what the Russian mother and all the family and friends of Richard were feeling.

Out of the depths I cry out to you oh Lord,

Wont you please hear me do not hide your face.

My soul is in anguish it cries “Why or why Lord?”

I’m worn out from groaning I’m drenched in my tears.

So I had the words but no melody- the most recent tune in my head – the one from the return journey from Waverley Abbey House was too fast and so totally inappropriate for such anguished words. But what if I slowed the tune down? Well that is what I did and the song that resulted became “Out of the Depths.” It was originally sung by Lucy Stimpson- Maynard on the Mustard Seed album “Love is the Way.”

Tragically I had another dear friend whose son died. Someone who had the “Love is the Way” album gave the “Out of the Depths” track to the family which they played constantly giving them much strength and comfort. Somehow Lucy even managed to sing the song live at my friend’s son’s funeral.

I also sent Selwyn Hughes a copy when his son died but today I have chosen another version of the song, this one by Chloe Brokenshire who sang the part of Mary Magdalene on the CD of Risen! The Musical. She sings the song after watching Jesus crucified and I offer it here, together with the songs or the past two blogs (“This is not Heaven,” “Allow His Loving Arms” and “Oh Lord Here my Voice”) to all those bereaved in the recent horrific and tragic events in London and Manchester.

 
“Father I’m in anguish” from Risen! The Musical

“This Is Not Heaven” from the album “Uplifted” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard recorded and produced by Bob Ross

Two weeks ago in response to the atrocities in Manchester and London I offered the words of two songs “Allow His Loving Arms” and “Oh Lord Hear My Voice.” Since then we have the awful event in Finsbury Park and the devastating fire in Grenfell Tower and it is only natural to ask the question “Why? and to ask that directly of God. In previous blogs I have tried to address the question of why does God allow suffering and it seems appropriate during these most difficult times to revisit a few key thoughts.

First, it is an imperfect world in which we live (the featured song for today expresses the same idea in slightly different words “This is not heaven.”)

Second for love to be genuine people have to have a choice whether or not to love – that is why God gave us a free will – to love and follow Him or not. Without a choice we would simply be robots. When given a choice some will make wrong ones, maybe even ones that could be deemed as evil as the case in Manchester and London. If the tragedy that is Grenfell Towers is found to have been caused by cutting corners on safety, born out of possible greed then that too could be deemed as evil- certainly the consequences of this disaster could demand such a verdict.

Third, it is possible to believe that God is good but that the world is often bad. Jesus lived in a world that was full of hate and persecution and He was eventually killed by people that through fear and bigotry decided His fate. Jesus suffered and so He understands how we feel when we suffer and He is, therefore perfectly placed to hold us in our grief. That is not meant to sound glib and I am not suggesting that singing a song to Him will make everything ok. No the pain of these recent horrific events is raw, as is the many ways in which we can suffer in this imperfect world. Having family and friends to show compassion, kindness, empathy and sympathy is wonderful, but the peace that comes from God is beyond understanding. We cannot avoid the storms of life and it is, I believe wrong to try and pretend they do not exist- no we need to walk through the storms and hopefully come out the other side stronger. In walking through life’s storms it is good to know that God walks with us and is there to comfort and support us – we just need to choose to believe that truth and call on His help.

Anger and revenge are understandable emotions during times like these and I believe it is ok to be angry with God – He is big enough to take it and indeed the Psalmists often displayed anger and bewilderment through their Laments – but more of that next week.

As I have said before I enjoy drawing attention to people who are generally regarded as cool and who are also Christians for example, Bear Grylls, Usain Bolt, Jürgen Klopp and Maro Itoje.

On the same theme I thought you might enjoy this video clip showing a number of other “celebrities” who state their belief in God- some may surprise you as they did me, for example, Tom Hanks, Beyoncé, Sylvester Stallone and Rihanna.

Allow His Loving Arms featuring Ross Gill from the album “The Season of Singing” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

“Oh Lord Here My Voice” – featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You? recorded and produced by Ross Gill

In light of the recent horrific events in Manchester and London I thought it appropriate this week to offer two songs- Allow His Loving Arms and Oh Lord Hear My Voice. Extracts from both are below:

Allow His loving arms to wrap around you.

Know his heart has been broken too,

And in the darkest night of doubt and pain,

Let Him comfort you,

Just whisper His Name.

This world and this life,

Lord are so unsafe,

But I know You’re good,

Place in You my faith,

Life’s mysteries I can’t explain,

Yet I rejoice in You all the same.