Gene Robinson Interview – 1

I've not many words today so all you are getting is a bit more of the interview I did with +Gene. This is the first bit, all about what it felt like to come to Scotland straight from the Lambeth Conference.

All people – All people that on earth do dwell

Several people have asked me who it was who chose the music for last Sunday morning's service. The answer this time is that it was me. Usually, that is not my job though I do take my part in the creative process. Luckily, the my taste overlaps reasonably well with the Director of Music's taste.

It has to be said that there were those who raised a questioning eyebrow at the combination of words and music to the first hymn on Sunday morning. One hymn to the tune of another it might have been, but there was nothing more appropriate to sing than All People that on Earth do Dwell to the tune of that old English warhorse, Jerusalem. I'm no nationalist, but the fact that Scotland is not England was certainly one of the themes of the whole weekend for me.

As it was, the singing of this hymn was extraordinary. The microphones on the cameras don't quite capture what we heard from the front, which was an amazing wall of sound. It lay somewhere between the triumph of a happy football crowd and the conviction of a congregation that has arisen to good news on an Easter Day following a good Holy Week.

Which brings me to your +Gene clip of the day – the opening sequence, which begins with last Sunday's organist Mr Oliver Rundell's clever weaving of another anthem into our worship.

I'm getting better at editing the video, don't you think?