Voices Found: A songing of our longing, VF 147, Second Sunday after Epiphany

 

                                                                                         

                 

Voices Found #147

 

There is a longing in our hearts, O Lord,

for you to reveal yourself to us.

 There is a longing in our hearts for love 

we only find in you, our God.

For healing, for wholeness, for new life: hear our prayer.

In sickness, in death:

 Be near, hear our prayer, O God.

 There is a longing in our hearts, O Lord,

for you to reveal yourself to us.

 There is a longing in our hearts for love 

we only find in you, our God.

Lord save us, take pity, light in our darkness.

We call you, we wait: 

 Be near, hear our prayer, O God.

Words and Music: Anne Quigley

Anne Quigley, a hymn writer in UK, is a member of the St. Thomas Moore Group of composers.  Her chant is a series of brief, but broad ranging,  petitions.  Verses four and five, highlighted here, sing of the longings expressed in the Matthew 4 text appointed  for the Second Sunday after Epiphany.   The full hymn  text, published in Voices Found,  might be sung during Advent and Lent, and also incorporated into services for justice and peace, or a vigil for the sick. 

 I have called Quigley's piece a "songing," which can refer to an improvisational way of performing; a therapeutic technique creating music to manage stress, build confidence, and/or process emotions. The full text of this chant could be sung as a litany, alternating between cantor and congregation or between a small group and larger one.  With its repetitive  cry for God to be near, it can encourage and affirm faith of the gathered community in stressful times of turmoil or social injustice.  An adventurous community might improvise other petitions to express current prayer  needs of the group.

Matthew 4:12-23

12 Now when Jesus^* heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
¹⁵ ‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
   on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people who sat in darkness
   have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
   light has dawned.’
¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’^*

18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him.²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 

23 Jesus^* went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news^* of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

More information about the chant and the full text is published in The Leader's Guide to Voices Found.

https://www.churchpublishing.org/products/voicesfound2