Music in the Benefice
Psalm 98:1-74
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
We don’t quite have all these instruments in our Benefice! But we can all worship God with our voices, and we recognise that music, in all its styles, plays a really important role in helping us worship and being drawn into God’s presence. We are blessed with having some talented musicians in the Benefice who use their skills to enrich our services and contribute to other events. We also love to include new music and contemporary songs from time to time.
We have several regular organists, who play for our more traditional Holy Communion services.
On the 1st Sunday in the month, there is a traditional service of Holy Communion at 9.30am in Sandhurst, accompanied on the organ, followed by either Café Church or an informal gathering of worship at 11.00am, also at Sandhurst.
If you can sing or play an instrument and would like to be involved with our worship, please speak to Rev Philippa, or email Ian Donald to find out more.
Occasionally we arrange special events. For example:
Special Musical Performances
- In 2025 a specially gathered group of singers and musicians performed Ian Donald’s remarkable musical ‘See the Servant of the Lord’ based on Isaiah 42 and 43. A joyous occasion and a blessing to all those present.
- Our Tracks Festival included special musical performances., In 2023 we welcomed Andrew Rumsey and in 2024 we welcomed Dan Pierce, both of whom performed some of their songs and poetry.
The Arts
We love to celebrate artistic endeavour and encourage people, young and old, to have a go! Here are some examples:
- Art Activities: Our Tracks Festival includes opportunities for everyone to get creative. Our prayer room at The Leigh Church and some of our worship gatherings encourage us to express ourselves creatively.
- Films: Sandhurst Church hosts a community film night every month. Our Tracks Festival always includes short films that help us engage with the theme of the the year. Other parishes show films from time to time – Norton recently showed John Lennox’s film ‘Against the Tide’ in the Village Hall.
- Paintings: An inspiring example of a benefice-wide arts initiative was, in the run-up to Easter 2017, the displaying in all our churches of dramatic and thought-provoking original artwork by Jonathon Brown – stations of the Cross as from the eyes of Jesus. People made a pilgrimage from one church to another tracing the Easter story. Click here to see images and to find out more. A book was produced with short reflections by Rev Philippa Donald.
- Photography: In 2024 Down Hatherley Church staged a photography exhibition ‘When I in Awesome Wonder’.
- Poetry and Storytelling: We often include poetry in our gatherings and have a Poem of the Month in our Benefice Magazine, we organised a poetry and storytelling Open Mic competition in 2024, which revealed some wonderful hidden talent from within our midst, and poem collections have been written and shared during Lent based on our verse for the year.
- Tree festivals: celebrate people’s inspired creative skills and imagination. Learn about the Benefice 2025 Advent Tree Festival here.