Ruach Breath of Life

I woke up a few days ago thinking of this song that Huw Humphries wrote a few years ago. It feels a very relevant time to release this reminder to Israel of His kindness and goodness - and that even though they have so often failed to respond to Him, He has given them their land once again, and longs to draw many hearts there to worship Him. May it be a blessing to you, and a renewed incentive to...

This song started out with the Lord challenging me to sing at the keyboard one day when praying for a friend who was going through an extremely painful time. It's a song that is highly appropriate for anyone going through hard times, as the Psalmist cries out to the Lord in anguish, declaring God's strength, and that He is our Rock and refuge. Written and sung by Sally Mowbray © 2022 Jo Garcia - C...

The despairing words of the original Welsh song, the Ash Grove, tell of a lover wandering in an ash grove, mourning the loss of the love of his life because she has been taken from him too soon. I have given this poignant folk song a new twist by taking for its subject the potentially tragic figure of Jacob’s first wife, Leah. When her father subtly substituted her more flamboyant and attractive s...

Music: Lauda 2, written and performed by Bill Klein God, give us worthwhile work to do, and precious people to befriend for You. Meet with Your people, Lord, as they go to work this day. May all they do help to fulfil Your purposes in the world. Use us wherever we go today, more perhaps than we realise at the time. Grant to those who work in spiritually sterile places an awareness of Your presence...

Music: Lauda 3, written and performed by Bill Klein This is an extract from a brilliant exhortation that Abbess Hilda gave back in the seventh century. As the monks and nuns in her charge in her great double monastery looked out over the North Sea and Whitby harbour, you can hear the waves crashing against the East Cliff at the beginning and end of this piece. Don't worry, they can't reach you! Th...

Music: Vivaldi: 'Autumn' - Concerto No. 3 in F major from The Four Seasons Musicians: Shirley Richards, Suzanne Herzog, Helen Rees, Julian Chang, Jo Garcia Lord, we remember those who have meant a lot to us but from whom we have grown apart. Help us not to resent those who, for whatever reason, appear to have distanced themselves from us. Help us to honour the stand that they take for You, and the...

Music: Francis Cummings: Psalm 45 Musicians: Francis Cummings, Cathie Muncey, Natalie Halliday, (strings) Mike Halliday (clarinet), Jane Horsfall (Celtic Harp) James Horsfall (keyboard) CS Lewis said, ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures; He speaks in our conscience, but He shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ Lord, we ask that You will come especially close now to all w...

Music: An oboe concerto by Marcello and a sonata by Jean Baptiste Loeillet Musicians: Amy Roberts (oboe), Francis Cummings, Claire Lewis Lim, Chian Lewis Lim, Corinne Frost, Matthew Deakin (strings) It’s been said that there are no atheists on the night before a battle. Help us to seek You, Lord, in our times of crisis. ‘I cry out to God Most High, who fulfils His purposes for Me.’ In all our dist...

Music: The Second movement of Torelli’s trumpet Concerto in D (Etienne), plus an improvisation on the theme. Musicians: Philippa Barton, Helen Rees, Julian Chan, Jo Garcia, (strings) James Horsfall (keyboard) Solzhenitsyn wrote, ‘The line dividing good and evil cuts through the hearts of every human being, and which of us is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?’ Make us willing to face the...

Music: A beautiful piece that Richard Williamson originally improvised, followed by further improvisations Musicians: Julian Chang (viola soloist) Julia Herzog, Shirley Richards, Suzanne Herzog, (strings), James Horsfall (keyboard) Forgive us, Lord, that we are the generation that believes in our disbelief. There is no limit to the depravity that we have fallen into, Lord, or to the cynicism we ha...

Music: Albinoni: Opus 9, no. 2 D minor oboe concerto – 2nd movt. Adagio Musicians: Anthony Thompson, (trumpet) Philippa Barton, Helen Rees, Julian Chang, Jo Garcia (strings) Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I’m going you cannot come, for the moment, but you shall follow me afterwards.” Death is not the extinguishing of light, but the blowing out of...

Music: Vivaldi: Concerto in D minor Op. 8:7 2nd movement. Musicians: Shirley Richards, Helen Rees, Cathie Muncey, Chian Lewis Lim, Corinne Frost, (strings) Fontane Liang (harp) Bless all who even now are waking up on the far side of the world and looking to You. Hold our nation in the palm of Your hand. As night falls and the workers of darkness bestir themselves, Protect our land from their malic...

Music: From the Oboe Concerto by Cimarosa Musicians: Thomas Herzog, (oboe) Francis Cummings, Suzanne Herzog, Chian Lewis Lim, Corinne Frost, Jo Garcia (strings) In the stillness of my heart, Lord, I wait for You. I long to hear Your voice and to follow You. Help me to recognise and harness those emotions which are creative and to avoid those which are destructive. When I’m feeling angry, let it ma...

Music: Minor Muse by Colin Owen Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armour of light. Lord, You alone know our inmost thoughts and the true condition of our heart. Overcome our reluctance to seek You and deepen our trust in Your dealings with us, Lord. For where we are tempted to see only difficulties You see a whole range of possibilities. Strengthen...

As the waters flow each day into the harbour, so each tide marks a new beginning. We trust You Lord to make this new beginning in our hearts and to lead us on to glory. Let nothing and no one thwart Your purposes, but may You receive the joy and the praise as we become the people You long for us to be. In the name of the One who was, and is, and is to come. Amen. Jesus, lover of My soul, hold me i...

When I hesitate, help me not to falter or to hesitate with what You have given me to do, for when I hesitate I give ground to the enemy. Free me from trying to carry responsibilities that are not mine to carry, and from avoiding those which are. Lord, free us from judgmental thoughts and assumptions, that trap us and others in unhelpful patterns of behaviour. Keep us from the pitfalls of pride and...

Music: From the Oboe Concerto by Cimarosa Musicians: Thomas Herzog, (oboe) Francis Cummings, Suzanne Herzog, Chian Lewis Lim, Corinne Frost, Jo Garcia (strings) Cleanse our inmost desires. Help us to love what You love and to hate the ways by which evil appeals to our senses. Straighten out our muddled longings, Lord – especially those which would make us quest after things which in reality would...

Music: Per Crucem (Taize) Musicians: Wellspring Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before...

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy, according to Your unfailing love have mercy, according to your unfailing riches in Christ, O Lord hear our prayer. Hear the longing of Your people for righteousness to prevail, and for Your glory to visit our land. May your mercy come qui...

Lord, I focus now on You, with all my heart and mind and soul. Teach me how to rest and play and pray and send my spirit soaring far and wide. Let Your angels inspire and direct me And bring the touch of heaven very near. Watch over my emotions, Lord, Let no wayward fears or longings rule my heart. Capture wayward thoughts and wild emotions Restore my heart to silence Expand my heart to love. Focu...

As we know, David faced huge trials at every stage of his life: external ones, for sure, as wave after wave of devastating reverses came his way (along with unparalleled opportunities), but also internal ones, causing him to wrestle with both the challenges that faced him, and his own shortcomings. His perseverance and persistence in seeking the Lord in and through each such tossing tidal wave wer...

On this track we are taking something of an aside from the literal story of David’s time in the wilderness to imagine David being caught up in a ‘green pastures’ moments, pouring out his heart in love and trust to the Lord as he had done on so many previous occasions in less challenging circumstances, using Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the opening verses of Psalm 63 in The Message as the starti...

Learning to worship, and to be content in all circumstances is not something that comes easily to most of us. When we have endured many stern and bruising challenges, it can be hard to pursue and grasp hold of that spirit. Having found, or more probably rediscovered it, however, knowing when to rest in contentment, and when (and how) to resist something that is not right, is a matter of both exper...

When Absalom launched his lethal attack against his father, and drove King David into the wilderness, we can imagine the pain in David's father heart. In this piece we have imagined David longing for his son in such a way that we can make it the basis for our own cries to God on behalf of those we love and are concerned for, but who are currently not walking with the Lord Jesus. The stunning first...

Jesus boldly declared that ‘The meek with inherit the Earth.’ (Matt. 5:5) But who are the meek? It is not primarily people who have a particularly ‘docile’ nature whom Jesus is talking about here, but rather those who have deliberately humbled themselves before the Lord of Heaven and Earth, and asked Him to be Lord of their lives. Consciously and contritely, they have acknowledged their need of Hi...