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I offer two selections of music relevant to the Second Sunday of Easter.

The Epistle reading, 1 Peter 1.3-9, is the first portion of the text set by Samuel Sebastian Wesley in his famous Eastertide anthem:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heav'n for you,
who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wesley continues with verses (15, 17, 22b, 23a, 24) which provide a take on Easter joy tempered through a lense which seems releavant in our own time:

But as He which hath calleth you is Holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
Love one another with a pure heart fervently. See that ye love one another.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incoruptible, by the word of God.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever, Amen.

Here is the anthem sung by St Paul's (London) under John Scott:

The other piece I want to post here is Gibbons's lovely hymn tune with words by Timothy Dudley Smith; I recorded this with my partner Soile in our living room for use with today's Zoom Teleconferencing service; the text references Julian of Norwich: 'All shall be well.'

 

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