Hymn Sing for Haiti
4:00 pm., Sunday, February 28, 2010
Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust, St. Louis.
Download a flyer
Even before the earthquake, visitors to Haiti had hearts touched hearing hymns sung by the faithful. Now, amid rubble and uncertainty, hymns continue to waft over the tent cities and places of refuge; a people’s response of prayer and determination.
Photos from Episcopal News Service. Cathedral in Nov. 2008, and Haiti’s Bishop Jean Duracin and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Feb 8, 2010, in front of the cathedral ruins.
The Diocese of Haiti is the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church, and she has lost a cathedral, a convent, schools that educated 80,000 children, colleges, and churches; she has lost parishioners. But the people of Haiti have not lost faith.
In Missouri, we were touched by Presbyterian missioner Suzi Parker’s description of those first hours after the earthquake. She and her husband slept those first nights outdoors, on a school soccer field, the beginning of one of the tent cities now served by the Bishop of Haiti, his clergy and staff, and the Sisters of St. Margaret. “At night we sleep in the yard behind the hospital where the bandstand was. It has fallen, as has the Episcopal school. They sing hymns until almost midnight, and we wake up to a church service with hymns, a morning prayer, and the Apostle’s Creed. The evening sky is glorious. In the field there is a real sense of community.”
To gather and sing is a profoundly affirming and hopeful act, in times of celebration and in times of need. Canon William Partridge, Christ Church Cathedral music director and organist, came up with the idea for an “old fashioned hymn singing.” Hymns old and new chosen from the hymnal that Episcopalians share here and in Haiti, and Lift Every Voice and Sing II, and from the rich tradition around the Christian church.
The people of the diocese invite community members to join in singing for Haiti, and in praying for Haiti. A free-will offering will be taken to support the work of Episcopal Relief and Development, currently on the ground in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Musicians from around the diocese will attend; singing will be lead by the Cathedral Choir and Canon Partridge. John Stewart, Director of Vocal Studies at Washington University, and cathedral member, will conduct.
UPDATE from the Rev. Lauren Stanley, missioner to Haiti’s blog: Cathedral Ste. Trinite’s ‘Food for the soul’
On Friday in the Bel Air section of Port au Prince, an area of town that was poor before the earthquake, the Ste. Trinite Music School held a concert for the people. The Ste. Trinite Music School complex is destroyed, many of the instruments are gone, much of the music is missing. But that didn’t stop the music from being played.
The CNN report brings great joy personally, for it shows my parish, St. Jacques le Juste, looking intact! The musicians practiced there. And even more, one of my friends about whom I had known nothing, is right there playing the violin! There is great joy and much food for the soul in seeing this, and much of God’s grace!
See the CNN report on the concert here.
See the ABC report on the concert here.
To hear the NPR report, go here.
Qui cantat, bis orat (To sing is to pray twice). – St. Augustine
Photos from the recent visit by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Lauren Stanley to the Diocese of Haiti.
- Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103, ph 314-231-3454, www.christchurchcathedral.us
- Metro II Map by convocation
