Music for Sunday 10 January 2009
January 6, 2010 by Rob Westwood-Payne
Filed under News, Random Jottings, Worship Meetings
In our evening meeting this week, the Band will play Stuart Watson’s Here at the Cross, in recognition of the fact that The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom designates this Sunday as Commitment Sunday.
Here at the cross is a much loved and cherished song within the Salvation Army. The song was composed by Colonel Bramwell Coles, who was head of the Salvation Army’s International Music Editorial Department between 1936 and 1952. Stuart Watson is a bandsman at the Salvation Army Regent Hall in London’s Oxford Street.
The reason the music is so appropriate for Commitment Sunday is that throughout the setting it asks the question found at the beginning of the first verse of the song: How can I better serve thee Lord? The basses answer that question during the opening thematic material of the work: Here at the cross. The music ends with the full assurance that the resources we need for Christian service can be found at the cross of Jesus.
Why not join us for our meetings at 10:30am and 6:00pm on Sunday at The Salvation Army, Meredith Street, Cradley Heath B64 5EP?
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Rob Westwood-Payne grew up in The Salvation Army at Norwich Citadel. He left Norwich to study at the University of Warwick and became fully involved in the music centre there culminating in his conducting Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to a full house in Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He also transferred to The Salvation Army at Coventry City, where he became Songster Leader at the age of 21. He was made Songster Leader at Cradley Heath in April 1998 shortly before marrying Gail in the following October. He was commissioned Bandmaster of the Cradley Heath Band of The Salvation Army in January 2006. He is a former leader of the West Midlands Divisional Youth Chorus and is currently Programme Director at the West Midlands Divisional Summer School for The Salvation Army. He is an Associate Solicitor in the Licensing Team of a national practice based in the south west.
Nice to see your choice of music for Commitment Sunday – the arrangement was written with this kind of occasion in mind. I hope it made a helpful contribution to you meeting.
Nice to see your choice of music for Commitment Sunday – the arrangement was written with this kind of occasion in mind. I hope it made a helpful contribution to your meeting.
Thanks Stuart. We have found your music so helpful in a number of contexts. We’ve used this arrangement at Easter too. Now I have your website address, the next time we use it, I’ll include the link. We are also rehearsing your Psalm 91 and hope to play that out publicly soon, too. God bless your composing. Rob Westwood-Payne, Bandmaster.