Sing Resurrection

A Report and Some Reflections

by David Pott

The Birth of an Idea

The idea for Sing Resurrection came to me as my wife and I were driving south along the A9 in Scotland on March 18th after visiting my two brothers just before lockdown. Part of the inspiration was that I had been thinking about the Italians singing on their balconies. It was like a little escape from the prison of those flats and was an expression of hope and joy. I then started to think about Easter Day and what a special thing it had always been in my life to sing some of the great Easter hymns with other people in church. It seemed amazing to think that, although there have always been, and sadly still are, many persecuted Christians who cannot celebrate Easter together, 2020 would be the first in history where millions would not be able to gather together to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. The basic idea that came to me in those few seconds on March 18th, was that, because Christians in many nations would not be able to worship inside churches this year, instead they should be invited to step out of their front doors or into their gardens and sing Jesus Christ is Risen Today and Thine be the Glory at 10am on Easter Sunday.

I started to share the idea on March 20th and I was surprised at how quickly the idea began to capture the imagination. Within one week, three organisations, Churches Together in England, The Northumbria Community and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland agreed to endorse Sing Resurrection and promote it and CTBI arranged for part of their website to be dedicated to it, including a lot of associated resources. An artist in the USA, Nicholas Markell, agreed for his resurrection image to used as the logo.

Three other things that took place in the next few days, were firstly that Premier Radio agreed to play the two hymns at 10am on Easter Sunday, so that listeners would be able to sing along as they stepped outside. Secondly I was able to do 15 radio interviews on BBC local radio stations promoting Sing Resurrection on March 29th and thirdly, the musician Dave Bankhead and his friends put together two great versions of the hymns which were also available to sing to on the website and on youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg8_eASYUSQ&t=88shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SRimR4LDEI&t=83s

We also connected with the Choir of the Nation initiative from St Paul’s Cathedral:https://www.stpauls.co.uk/worship-music/worship/choir-of-the-nation-join-our-hymn-flash-mob

Two Metaphors

In the preparatory phase, two metaphors came to the fore in connection with Sing Resurrection. Firstly, I saw it as a counter infection of joy and hope in the context of covid-19. We talk about ideas “going viral” and I was motivated by the thought that even though we were confined at home and self-isolating against covid-19, I could still do my utmost to see how many other people I could infect with this virus! Could this counter infection make a difference in the current situation and its aftermath? Well the record of history is that during the plagues, Christians played a huge part as they brought comfort and care and the compassion of Christ in their day and the church grew as a consequence. Why not in our time also?

Secondly I realised that Sing Resurrection could be seen as an Easter metaphor. We remember that Jesus was three days in the tomb before his resurrection. By Easter we would in a sense have been “entombed” in our houses for three weeks, but on Easter Sunday we could follow in the footsteps of Jesus and burst forth from our tombs, at least for a few minutes, to announce His resurrection in song and to express the joy and hope which both springtime and the resurrection point towards. In a similar vein, I was also thinking that with church buildings closed, there was a unique opportunity to sing the Easter songs, not safely behind church doors, but outside for friends and neighbours to hear, many perhaps for the first time.

Sing Resurrection on Easter Sunday

When I opened my computer on Easter Sunday morning I was delighted to receive a photo from our friends Peter & Simone Bruce who had started Sing Resurrection at 10am in New Zealand! I also know that Sing Resurrection happened in Thailand with Paul Ewing and his family and also took place in Pakistan, Uganda and Rwanda before we started here in the UK.

We live at the west end of a quiet village called Binchester near Bishop Auckland in Co Durham. As we stepped out to sing at 10 am I wondered how many others around the country would be doing likewise. A friend took her permitted walk at the same time and was able to sing with us and a neighbour also came to her gate to listen in. I knew of two other households at the centre and east of the village who also took part.

Later in the day, I began to get reports from others who had taken part in the UK and there were also several who took part in Canada and the USA where I think most of the time zones were covered.

Three Street Reports

Over the following days I received a number of reports from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland or to me personally. I was particularly struck by reports from three street events that happened in Cranleigh, Surrey, Llandudno in North Wales and Lanchester in Co Durham. Here is James Cooke’s report from Cranleigh…

“We had a very encouraging and moving time this morning in our cul-de-sac. The man at no 33 is a wizard with sound reproduction and he put up two speakers pointing in different directions. We had emailed him versions of the two hymns and he played them so that we could all hear and sing along to them. People came out to sing from 16 of the 38 houses here so that was about 40%.”

Here now is Roy Thurley’s account from Llandudno: “We heard about your “Sing Resurrection” idea through the Christian Concern weekly email and advertised it around our church members (Emmanuel Church, Llandudno). Our next door neighbour is the

minister of the local Welsh Presbyterian Church and his wife plays guitar, so we got them involved as well. Between us we purchased an Easter Card and a tract for every household in the road (St. Mary’s Road) and printed an invitation to join us from their garden, with words of the hymns. We began by sounding the shofar (Numbers 10:9) and then the minister next door (Rev.Neil Kirkham) welcomed everyone and we sang the two hymns. At the end he gave a very brief (two-sentence!) speech and then handed out chocolate Easter eggs (by throwing them and letting them catch them, to preserve social distancing).  Including ourselves there were 26 people in the street who joined in – an amazing answer to prayer!”

John & Heidi Taylor sing in California

Finally we hear from Ali Grimes from Lanchester: “We live on an estate which just happens to have many households who attend one of the three churches (Methodist, Catholic or Anglican) and has a long history of this! Therefore several had heard about the Sing Resurrection initiative. There are two families who have five members of Lanchester Brass Band between them I believe! Thus a gathering was organised and we all went out at 10am on Easter Sunday to sing. Everyone came out to watch and/or sing including some from another estate nearby, it was a very moving experience of togetherness and worship. There were some elderly neighbours who sat in their porches with the door open and joined in!”

A variety of instruments

A particularly pleasing feature was hearing about all the instruments that were played for Sing Resurrection. Guitars were frequent and we have heard about the blowing of the shofar in Llandudno. The brass band members in Lanchester comprised a trombone, French horn, cornet and two trumpets! Young Eva Kingsford-Bere in Felixstowe played her cello. Most unusually Gill Lyons from Alnwick played the two tunes on the Northumbrian smallpipes. This was no small feat in her difficult circumstances:  I have been very ill for several months having had major spinal surgery and having a wound that has opened up exposing my spine and is infected and requires daily dressings by our local district nurses and also has a large, mains powered vacuum suction pump on it to help

Eva playing the cello

clear the infection. This limits my movements considerably.  I can unfasten from the mains power for short periods only.   Because of my illness I haven't been able to play my pipes for several months and today fastening the bellows over the pump tubing and my wound was very painful, but I was determined to get into the garden at 10am to join with Christians all over Britain in "Jesus Christ is Risen today" and "Thine be the Glory". 

#SingResurrection and Other Highlights

There were a number of interesting and varied Twitter entries under #singresurrection including the following:

Choristers singing in Wells

Above: Frank McGregor and his daughter followed the Italian example, singing from their balcony in Stoke-on-Trent.

Right: Many zoom church gatherings included Sing Resurrection - not without some challenges!

The four-part padre choir from the Army Chaplain’s Department singing Jesus Christ is Risen Today was the most viewed contribution under this hashtag.

Above: The community at Minsteracres Catholic Retreat Centre were isolating together and theygathered by the Cross of Hope for Sing Resurrection.

Top right: Methodist Minister John Purdy in a perilous position on his window sill in Bishop Auckland!

Right: The Hofmeyrs sang by their flowercross at Leatherhead Methodist Church

Some Reflections

I have no way of knowing how many thousands of people participated in Sing Resurrection, but what I do know is that it was well promoted by the partners and by the BBC in the short time we had to let people know about it. The feedback has been very encouraging. Quite a common feature was that people described feeling rather nervous before the day and were wondering how other people would respond, but invariably neighbours did respond warmly. On the Sunday after Easter Sunday in Beccles Suffolk, the neighbours asked the Christians why they had not been out singing again! As a result of that encouragement, the Christians there sent a letter to all the households in the street including the words of the two hymns they planned to sing on April 26th. There have been no reports of negative reactions from anywhere.

It is interesting to reflect on the fact that Christians very rarely go out of their homes or churches to proclaim or sing about the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Has the covid-19 pandemic caused more Christians to actually get out and declare the resurrection in song in greater numbers than ever before? Walks of Witness, which generally are of a rather sombre nature, take place on Good Friday, but we are primarily an ‘Easter People’ and surely this should be a day to celebrate and also share the good news of Christ’s resurrection with others.

Some have suggested to me that Sing Resurrection should not just be a one-off for 2020. In future easters they say, we should not slip back into our churches or zoom meetings, but be ready to increase the numbers of participants and the volume of praise as a special Easter Act of Witness. I am open to exploring the possibilities, but after just celebrating my 74th birthday, I would certainly be looking for a younger person to pick up the baton! Of course if it was felt Sing Resurrection should continue, I would hope that the existing partners would continue to promote it and that new partners would come on board also. The possibility of increasing the global participation would also be another thing to consider.

Postscript

Throughout the time of Sing Resurrection there was a very personal thing happening in my life and that of my extended family. The main reason for visiting my brothers in Speyside in Scotland just before lockdown was that my younger brother Jonny had cancer and we did not know what the future might hold for him. I was very grateful for the opportunity to spend time with him and we especially enjoyed a walk near Loch Garten where I took this photograph of him.

On April 8th, my other brother Tim took Jonny to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness as he was having stomach pains and some bleeding. When I phoned him on Good Friday he was in considerable pain even

to the point of saying that he felt as if he was identifying with Christ on the cross. It was a strange experience for me continuing to prepare for Sing Resurrection on Easter Sunday at the same time as having my brother Jonny very much on my mind and in my prayers. On Easter Sunday itself, Jonny had hoped to go down to Loch Garten and sing the resurrection hymns, so not being able to do so was a great disappointment to him.

At lunchtime on Thursday, April 16 we heard that Johnny had multiple organ failure and would not have long to live. I drove up to Scotland but due to the current situation was not able to go to his bedside. His two daughters were able to be with him and Tim and I were able to say our final farewells by phone before he died at 10:15 pm.

The next day was a glorious sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. Remembering how much Jonny wanted to sing as part of Sing Resurrection, that evening I asked my brother Tim and Jonny’s daughters if we could go down to Loch Garten. There I sang Thine Be The Glory as my tribute to Jonny and in that way it seemed that Sing Resurrection and my brother’s life, death and resurrection merged into one. Tim filmed this special moment which can be seen here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vwx6PS-6jE&feature=youtu.be

For information about Sing Resurrection please visit https://ctbi.org.uk/sing-resurrection/

Art courtesy of Nicholas Markell. Copyrighted. www.markellstudios.com