Great Sacred Music
A Resource for Mission Through Music
By Samuel Wells and Andrew Earis
Canterbury Press, 128 pages, $27.50
In 2013, the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, began Great Sacred Music, a weekly Thursday offering. This offering featured choral works and hymns to “begin a movement that changes the way people approach sacred choral music, the way people think about making faith accessible to seekers and the lapsed, and the way people think about what church really is.”
Today, the gatherings pull in roughly 200 people each week and an average of 20,000 additional people watching online each month. In short, Great Sacred Music has sought to evangelize through music without being overly didactic. Some can attend and feel they’ve experienced a concert. Others might find it an interesting music history lesson, and still others might consider it a form of spiritual worship.
The success of Great Sacred Music has led Samuel Wells and Andrew Earis (vicar and director of music of St. Martin’s) to publish Great Sacred Music as a guide for other communities that might wish to duplicate these efforts.
The Thursday events follow the same weekly pattern: a choral anthem followed by a general welcome and explanation of the theme for the day, then an introduction and background on an opening hymn sung by everyone present. Next are three choral anthems, each preceded by a brief history on the composition (both text and music). Another hymn is described before being sung by all. Finally, there is an explanation on the last choral anthem, which is then performed.
Great Sacred Music offers almost everything one would need to put together such a service, the one notable exception being a choir of skilled singers. The task of assembling the choir would fall to the host church or organization. One could perhaps consider offering this to a community and playing recordings in lieu of live performances, though copyright issues might come into play. Or one could use this as a guide and create a custom program that is similar in style and substance, but using local resources.
This book provides an outline for 52 weeks of offerings, with topics including the seasons of the year, hymn writers, saints, occasions, particular choral works, and themes of hope and faith. Some of these might not be suitable for every location (the anniversary of King Charles III’s coronation, Sea Sunday, Remembrance Sunday), but the authors have provided multiple musical suggestions for each week, along with the script for each part of the service (including the details for each of the musical selections). If for no other reason, this is a book worth owning for the insightful commentary on so many hymns and anthems.
The authors include a wide variety of musical styles and suggestions, including traditional Anglican choral gems, spirituals, modern British and American compositions, hymns from evangelical communities, German chorales, and numerous compositions by women. They cover a tremendous scope of material.
The success and popularity of the weekly Thursday event proves how music can be a successful tool for evangelism. This book hopes to make that reach even further—providing all the planning and preparation so that it might be duplicated in other locations. And, even if it is not possible to create a replica, Great Sacred Music offers inspiration on a new way of approaching and sharing many great choral works and hymnody of the Christian tradition.
Jason Abel is director of music at Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia.
