Common Ground Song 107 ‘Sanctus and Benedictus’
Words: traditional / Music: James MacMillan © Boosey & Hawkes
YouTube recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99vWqeEAxk
Featured image: © slideplayer.com

Last week, I commented on a simple and moving service of plainchant Evensong at Wakefield cathedral, as well as the song for the day. Likewise, before I get to today’s song, I will mention a performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at a different cathedral yesterday, Palm Sunday at Bradford.

As we enter Holy Week 2026, this was a moving and sensitive performance by the cathedral choirs and organist, as much worship as classical music. The man introducing the event said that the music is intended to move us emotionally (as should any music worth its salt).

Indeed, I meditated on ‘Comfort ye, my people’, prayed through the story of the Crucifixion (as foretold in the Jewish scripture rather than the direct Gospel account), stood with the congregation to rejoice in the Hallelujah chorus and wept with joy at ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’. A murmur went through the congregation at ‘the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord’s anointed’ as we remembered current international events. The final blessing and Amen, with full choir and organ, supplemented by drums and trumpets, took us to another level – the eternal worship of God in Heaven.

But back to the song I picked for Palm Sunday (blogging one day late, sorry). This is another setting by James MacMillan whose music we have already encountered three times this year. Common Ground offers both unison and four-part arrangements; the linked video is the unison version, probably easier to sing along to.

The words are the English version of the traditional acclamations ‘Sanctus’ and ‘Benedictus qui venit’ which the editors note is ‘said or sung in all traditions as part of the prayer that precedes Communion’. I’m not sure about ‘all traditions’: there are some Christian churches that do celebrate Communion but which would not recognise these words. But in Catholic, Anglican and mainstream Protestant churches, yes.

These two acclamations complement each other. ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might’ is about God’s eternal greatness.  In older translations it was ‘Lord God of Hosts’ or ‘Lord God of Sabaoth’, the Hebrew word for the ‘hosts of heaven’.  The second part, ‘Blessèd is he who comes in the name of the Lord’, is a reference to Jesus coming among us, and in particular to his entry to Jerusalem in his final Passover week, which all those traditional churches marked yesterday as Palm Sunday. What links the two is the shout ‘Hosanna in the highest!’, as the crowds shouted to Jesus. They claimed him as the one who came to save them. Not from the Romans, as it turned out, but from themselves. The very holy God of heaven had indeed come among them, as the Saviour of the world.

Going back to Messiah, something struck me at yesterday’s performance. Handel dwells on God’s promises to save his people, and on the sorrow and suffering of the Crucifixion – all using text taken directly from the Bible. He goes on to use texts about Jesus’ ascension into heaven, his reign over all things as King of Kings, his final judgement and victory over death, and the eternal worship of the saints and angels. But the Resurrection – surely the central point of Christian faith – is almost passed over, with just one verse adapted from Psalm 16:10 (‘thou didst not leave his soul in hell, nor didst thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption’). Nor is there any mention of the Last Supper or of Holy Communion. Were these not relevant to Handel? Maybe as a German Protestant he wanted to avoid any suspicion of ‘Popery’. But perhaps the answer is that Handel’s focus in ‘Messiah’ is on Christ himself, suffering and glorified, rather than on what his death and resurrection means for us.

As we move through Holy Week, first shouting our Hosannas, later sharing in the Last Supper, watching with Christ in Gethsemane, standing helpless as he is tried on false charges, kneeling at the foot of the cross, let us remember that this is the same Messiah who is now glorified and in whose eternal worship we will one day share. But that could not have been achieved without the Cross. ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his Blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!’