Duet this Sunday

The offertory music this Sunday will be more collaborative than usual with Jack and I singing "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Gustav Holst. We had initially discussed making a duet out of the lovely arrangement for solo voice by Richard Walters which I've sung in years past, but that version proved a little too dissonant and free rhythmically. We opted instead for a more traditional take while LeeAnna improvises a flowing accompaniment that carries the piece through.

If you have a moment, you may wish to meditate on the text of the piece written by Chris ti na Ros set ti in 1872.
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.