Page 15 - Skellern Rest in peace SATB

Performance Notes
REST IN PEACE (and Rise in Glory)
This was written in October 2001 at the request of the BBC for the Songs of Praise Remembrance Day Service in November that year. It was to commemorate not only the dead of the two World Wars and all other conflicts but also the victims of the September 11th atrocities in America.
Since September 11th there have been other such atrocities executed in the name of God and of ‘right’; there were before and there will be again. Though the title comes from the Anglican liturgy and the text refers to the Crucifixion of Christ, the God
to whom this hymn is addressed is not solely a ‘Christian’ God, and neither is it a ‘Muslim’ God nor a ‘Jewish’ God nor any God other than the creator of all things and of all mankind. It is a prayer for the souls of us all, regardless of creed or colour, whether alive or dead, whether innocent victim or deluded fanatic.
Its purpose is to help with grieving, both private and public.
Peter Skellern Lanteglos-by-Fowey 2002