Music by Henry Purcell; words translated from the Latin by John Neale.

What a debt we owe to John Neale, a nineteenth century poet, scholar and Anglican priest, who has blessed many by translating many of the really great hymns from the Latin. It is a joy to introduce this powerful hymn to a new generation of believers who have a heart for both Church and nation.

The full lyrics of the original hymn highlight the continuity between the glories of the Heavenly city and God’s great power, ability and willingness to help us now. The words we have set it to here, however, are the verses that are most commonly known and sung.

Christ is made the sure foundation,

Christ, our head and cornerstone,

chosen of the Lord and precious,

binding all the Church in one;

Holy Zion’s help forever

and our confidence alone.

All that dedicated city,

dearly loved by God on high,

in exultant jubilation

pours perpetual melody –

God the One, in Threefold glory,

Singing everlastingly.

To this temple, where we call you,

come, O God of Hosts, today!

With your constant, loving kindness

hear your people as they pray,

and your fullest benediction

shed within its walls today.

Here vouchsafe to all Your faithful

gifts of grace by prayer to gain;

with the blessèd to retain

those good things their prayers obtain,

And hereafter in Your glory

evermore with You to reign.

Praise and honour to the Father,

praise and honour to the Son,

praise and honour to the Spirit,

ever three and ever one:

one in might and one in splendour

while unending ages run!

Musicians: Anthony Thompson, Peter Richards, Nicola Gerrard, Francis Cummings, Shirley Richards, Philippa Barton, Christiane Mueller, Jo Garcia

Aslan's Strength returns by Celia Redgate

"O children," said the Lion, "I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh children, catch me if you can!" He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail.

Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table.

Laughing, though she didn't know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began. (From The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.)

The whole thrust of the Christian faith depends on and revolves around Christ’s resurrection from the dead. So too in a greatly scaled down ways do we as individuals, communities and even nations go through times of renewed ‘resurrection’ after passing through various ordeals that may have lasted a very long time, emerging from them with renewed hope and strength.

In wild winter weather we once held a conference in a remote centre in North Wales. This was at the time when the Iron Curtain was on the point of coming down in the late 1980s, and we were praying hard for Eastern European countries to be set free from the communist yoke. At one point we found ourselves plunged into darkness as the power went off, giving us an additional sense of identification with Romania, which was suffering power outages as that time. Nothing daunted, the musicians promptly started playing Mozart’s Eine kleine Nacht Musik in the dark from memory!

Within the year, the profoundly repressive hold President Ceausescu had exercised for so long over the country was broken, and a new day dawned for Romania.

Celia Redgate had prepared some pieces for the under-10s to play at this event, based around CS Lewis’s tales of Narnia. The imagery and the music are so rich!

What a joy to have been able to record them now, many years later. May we likewise draw our strength in and from Him, whatever ordeals we may have to pass through in the course of our pilgrimage.

Musicians: Anthony Thompson, Francis Cummings, Philippa Barton, Christiane Mueller, Jo Garcia

Aslan's walk to the Stone Table - by Celia Redgate

Forward they went again and one of the girls walked on each side of the Lion. But how slowly he walked! And his great, royal head drooped so that his nose nearly touched the grass.

(from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis)

As Aslan, of his own volition, makes his way to the place where he will be slain, we are reminded of Jesus’ own stumbling journey along the Via Dolorosa, toward the place of His crucifixion. In this, He fulfilled His own words: “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down My life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-19)

The intense sadness of this piece makes it suitable for us to use as we pray for many other heavy, grievous situations.

Musicians: Mike Halliday, Peter Richards, Anthony Thompson, Francis Cummings, Philippa Barton, Christiane Mueller, Jo Garcia

Music by Celia Redgate

Your years will never end (In the beginning) . . .

Huw Humphreys wrote this really magnificent song that has shades of many of the great Biblical Scriptures, and Justin Coldstream arranged it for the musicians:

Megan Topper, (Vocals), Justin Coldstream (keyboard) , Francis Cummings, Philippa Barton, Christiane Mueller, Jo Garcia (strings), Anthony Thompson (trumpet), Peter Richards (French horn).

(© Huw Humphreys 1990)

Everything in life is changing and transitory . . . except the Lord, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Huw Humphrey’s beautiful and powerful song that spans the beginning to the end of time itself celebrates the glorious mystery that before our world came into existence, God already was.

He is the ‘Ancient of Days’ and He never changes in His love and sovereign oversight. May He root this glorious truth ever deeper in our hearts – and let it be proclaimed in the generations to come, so that a people not yet created may praise Him!

In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

They will perish, but You remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing You will change them

and they will be discarded.

But You remain the same,

and Your years will never end.

The children of Your servants will live in Your presence;

their descendants will be established before You.”

(Psalm 102:25-28)

Time and again the Lord's sweet presence steals over us, often when we are expecting it the least, or are in greatest need of it.

He comes quite unexpectedly, sometimes when we know ourselves to be in great need of receiving a fresh touch from Him. As the melody of this piece passes from one instrument to another, and the strings play a joyful pizzicato, may it release fresh joy into our own hearts.

Musicians: Nicola Gerrard, Francis Cummings, Philippa Barton, Christiane Mueller, Jo Garcia

How kind the Lord is –and how well He knows what people used to call ‘our mortal frame.’ Life can sometimes bring us so many unexpected challenges and tumbles, with a result that we can end up as it were holding our breath and feeling afraid to laugh in case tomorrow’s trials prove still more sever. But the Lord’s grace is always fresh, and it is good to laugh and not fear sheer joy and pleasure.

“Laugh and fear not, creatures,” Aslan urges the newly created talking animals of Narnia. “Now that you are no longer dumb and witless, you need not always be grave. For jokes as well as justice come in with speech!”

(CS Lewis, The Magician's Nephew, Chapter 10, The First Joke and Other Matters.)

I have dedicated this piece to ‘Gioja,’ an unusual spelling of the Italian word for joy. Despite all that is serious and can even be grievous in life, the joy of the Lord remains our strength.

The Lord has always used the night hours to draw close to His children – but they can also be a time when cares and worries come to the surface. I have written a song here that seeks to both soothe and reassure, and to welcome His presence with us, all through the night – for, truly, ‘He neither slumbers nor sleeps!’

Thank you so much to Megan Topper, Jo Garcia and Sally Prittie for singing and playing this spiritual lullaby so exquisitely.

Quoniam Tu sanctus by Ruach Breath of Life

Jesus is calling my name by Jane Charlesworth

This is a lovely song that draws us deeper into the precious and reassuring reality that Jesus not only calls us by name, but really does know everything about us. From the moment He began to knit us together in the womb, His call has shaped each of our lives in a unique way. It operates both directly and indirectly, and intersects perfectly with His purposes for others too, so that He might bring about the special thing He has had in mind for us to do from before the world began.

Vocals - Megan Topper

Flute - Nicola Gerrard

Clarinet - Mike Halliday

Guitar - David Booth

Violin - Shirley Richards

Cello Jo Garcia

Keys - Christiane von Albrecht

An improvisation inspired by Psalm 23 - by Sally Mowbray

Come and take a walk with the Lord alongside the springs of life!

Vocals and keys - Sally Mowbray

Guitar - David Booth

I will pour out My Spirit

At the Symphony of Prayer Conference in Malvern in 1996, Grace Nadin brought a brief but beautiful and powerful call to see and feel with the heart of the Lord Jesus. Here is something to savour deeply and take to heart.

The Lord longs that we should see things with His eyes and share the pain He feels about many things too.

At the very beginning of one of the Sounds of Heaven recording venues, we invited Nicola, Shirley and Jo to wait on the Lord and to accompany Grace Nadin’s original recording. May we take this inspired message again to heart, and open the pores of our heart to receive all He has in mind for us to see and understand - and to let Him pour out His Spirit upon us afresh.

Vocals Grace Nadin (1996)

Nicola Gerrard - Flute

Shirley Richards - Violin

Jo Garcia – Cello

Recorded at House of the Open Door 2022