Kate's Canterbury Retrospective

After singing for five Evensong services in the Quire and becoming more accustomed to the acoustical challenges involved (Bravi! Martha and Bruce!), we were all a bit anxious about the Sunday morning worship in the nave. The logistics of this new arrangement highlighted the layers of ecclesiastical and architectural history that are Canterbury Cathedral. For this service no longer were we sequestered in the Quire stalls, surrounded by the dark warmth of carved wood and slanted rays of afternoon sun. In fact, there was a certain impression that the choir (i.e. us) was not part of the original configuration, as we were to be seated on wooden boxes placed on the ancient stone steps behind the altar and leading from the nave to the Quire. Was this always the arrangement or a contemporary adjustment? How would Martha and Bruce communicate for our part in the service?

But oh, what a view! There we were in the middle of that glorious space, the columns rising on either side, drawing all eyes and voices heavenward. Stretched out before us was a communal arena drenched with light and filled with the faithful, including our own friends and family members. After a week of singing, worship, history and comradery, here was the moment to take stock of this time and place, and our part in it. I wonder what it's like to worship in such a space on a regular basis. Does one become accustomed, even oblivious to the history and the grandeur of Canterbury Cathedral? Who are the parishioners? A reminder that Canterbury is home to a living, active spiritual community was revealed to us as we vested behind the Quire stalls. Here we could see some of the projects of children, perhaps of the Christian Education classes, and then later, there on the altars the glorious clothes created by the needlework guild. And it works! All things came together in living worship. What a privilege to participate in such worship and with such a perspective!

And yet, the day was not over, nor were we finished singing, for there was one more Evensong, and this one attended by the International Friendship of Reconciliation Trust, dedicated to healing the emotional and cultural wounds of war. The words of the wartime poets, the laying of a wreath, the vow that by the deaths of so many, others might live and thrive, the frail pace of veterans present, and the participation of nations once enemies-can such a remembrance provide hope in our own day?

After a week of reveling in the sacred music of the English, it was the Americans turn. From the ebullience of Hogan's Magnificat and Nunc dimitis, the fresh harmonies of the Preces and Responses of our own Thaddeus Cavuoti (borrowed from Maryland) and crowned by Daniel Pinkham's Beloved, Let Us Love One Another, our commissioned anthem, here was a testament to the power of hard work, sensitive listening, skilled leadership, and God's grace. And how fitting for a service encouraging reconciliation was this anthem setting Jesus' first and second commandments? Hours later, when I listened to the recording of the anthem Verily, verily I say unto you by Thomas Tallis, which our choir offered in the morning service, I was filled with emotion-pride and gratitude for the growth and cohesion that this group of folks from St. Peter's has experienced in the preparation and realization of this music residency, and for the gift of music that reaches so far beyond words. I know that many have gained and more will benefit from this endeavor: those who were touched by the music we offered at Canterbury, those of us who created that music, and those of us at home at St. Peter's who will continue to make that music and who will be touched by the growth of the singers in our choir.

Kate Mallon-Day