Themes of Two Cities. The two central musical themes are introduced ... the haunting ‘weep’ theme associated with the earthly Jerusalem, first stated by french horn, and the A minor theme of the New Jerusalem, first stated in the pipe organ solo. Declaration Anthem. The opening choral anthem takes the challenging words from Revelation: ‘He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches’. Those who overcome are promised ‘the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem’.

This narration and soprano aria describe the land and time of Christ’s popularity, which He must soon leave behind for the harshness of Jerusalem.

The Good Shepherd laments over the condition of His sheep, but looks beyond the giving of His life to the time when His sheep will hear His voice and gather together as one flock.

The ‘pastorale’ flute solo sets the scene for the processional anthem, which describes the gathering together of His sheep from every nation and tribe, from every mountain and valley. This future gathering will be made possible through the laying down of Christ’s life.

Christ must now face the city of His destiny, the city that will soon be made desolate for her rejection of Him. ‘Weep and weep and weep and cry, for Jerusalem’.

The disciples are told of His coming passion, and of the destruction of the earthly temple in preparation for the raising up of the new temple, which is His body. They are introduced at the last supper to the elements of participation in His broken body and shed blood.

Jesus then prays for His disciples of all ages, that the Father will keep them in His name and make them one, just as He and the Father are one. The depth of this timeless prayer is reflected in the following organ postlude, which opens with the pleading echoes of the vocal motif and the ‘weep’ theme, before the majestic conclusion translates us into the confident certainty of the unity for which He prayed.

The Son proceeds to the garden called Gethsemane where He must take from His own Father ‘the cup’ of the sin of mankind. ‘If it be possible ...’. He cries, but ‘nevertheless ... I’ll take the cup’. Thus commences His solemn anguish.

Faced with a unique personal, religious and political conflict, Pilate tries three times to release Christ, but is told by the Jews that they ‘... have a law, and by that law He must die!’ We are left to ponder the tragedy that the very law given by God, had in the hands of men, become the means of rejecting and destroying the truth.

As an elegy for Christ’s death, the tenor soloist laments the death of the Saviour of the world. The spotless Lamb of God is lifted up. Now we see His face and adore Him, with a humility and reverence echoed in the ‘Consummation’ harp solo.

The dismay and anguish of the watching crowd and the unbelief of the thief beside Him are echoed in the chorus ‘O Jesus Saviour, come down from that cross ...’. Even greater is Christ’s own anguish, as He is encompassed by the pains of hell, as well as by the awesome agony of the Father’s rejection. With His suffering complete, He finally cries, ‘It is finished!’.

The final tension and then the resolution of all universal conflicts are conveyed by the agitated development of the ‘weep’ theme which resolves into the tenderness of the ‘Consolation’ melody. ‘For You are my Rock.’

The faith of His commitment to the Father, and the ecstasy of His consolation in the Father’s bosom, are expressed in the female trio arioso, the chorale ‘Into Your Hands I commit My Spirit’, and in the ‘Amen’ chorus.

The apostle John, in His gospel account, surprises us with a further point of emphasis: ‘And He who saw it has borne witness ... and his testimony is true ... so that you may believe’. He comments on the ‘blood and water’ which flowed from the pierced side, and thus prompts us to consider the hope of a perfected church for Christ’s return, a glorious bride city that the Scriptures call the ‘New Jerusalem’.

The victory of the resurrection is first announced in the pipe organ prelude, then in the choral anthem. An essential Christian understanding is woven into this anthem, viz. that when the physical body of Christ was raised after three days, this resurrected body included all those through the ages who would become members of Christ through faith. This many-membered body, or temple, replaced the physical temple in Jerusalem as the centrepiece of the covenant.

A ritual dance called ‘Searching for the Body’ is still performed in Jerusalem to this day. Those involved act out the disciples’ search in the empty tomb. Against the background of this ritual, this contralto ballad carries us down through the ages of mankind’s search for the true body of Christ.

Where is the body? Where is His temple? What is the New Jerusalem? For whom has He wept and cried? In the ‘Soliloquy’, the violin reflects on the themes and leads us to the answer - His people, the eagles.

Eagles are used in the Scriptures as symbolic of believers. The fact that they are creatures of vision that feed on a slain body, provides the background to the poetic question, ‘Where are the eagles?’. This anthem declares that ‘eagles’ know where the body of Christ is. It is to be found where believers gather as the living body to partake of the broken body of Christ. ‘Where are the eagles?’ Where are those whose instinct is to gather in unity as the body of Christ. Why don’t they see and fly home!

It is the time for God’s people to come together and express the unity of the body of Christ. The chorale declares the certain hope of such a unity.

The same John who saw the pierced side yield blood and water, also described the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, adorned as a bride for Christ. Rev 21:2. Such is the imminence of the coming of the New Jerusalem, that we are urged to pray and call to the heavens, ‘Jerusalem, come down’!

When the passion of Christ for His people, the New Jerusalem, becomes our passion, then the words of this commitment chorale become our song. ‘Christ Your passion has become our passion’.

In the certain hope of Christian unity, this celebration anthem looks forward to the day when believers will be able to eat and drink at one table of friends, no longer divided by their separate doctrinal distinctions and traditional divisions. Then the blood of Christ, the royal blood, will be able to flow and bring life to the world.