For those not able to attend the Christmas Concert-Service by the Risen Christ Choir at the Good Shepherd Cathedral last Sunday I pen a few words. They won’t attain the heights the choir reached nor will they convey the sense of hope – that overlooked virtue – the singers were able to bring to the non-religious as well as the religious. There were a few requirements for enjoying and absorbing this masterpiece of diverse inclusion – ability to pause and listen, a sense for beauty, appreciation of the finer stuff of which humanity is made.
This was the fifty-second time Peter Low, his wife, Linda, their daughters and a multi ethnic background choir led us gently but firmly through thoughts about who we are and why. If I say it was like being taken by the hand by a kindly and wise leader to walk down the path of a fresh spring garden keeping a sharp eye and a receptive ear, I don’t exaggerate. The design of an event of this beauty in a world of such antagonism requires a skill few can claim. To meld the duties of over seventy Ambassadors with songs of praise for the deeply believing and the sometimes sceptical is a feat any producer would be proud of.
To have so many representatives of the Diplomatic Corps jointly placing their gifts on a tree and then to hear songs and carols from each sung in the country’s language gives a shaft of poignant meaning to the phrase United Nations.
The Risen Christ Choir does all this without judgment, with well-honed skill and with a love that lights a whole sensational vision of what matters.
May the best of all blessings be showered upon those who sang, those who listened and those who prayed even if they knew not to whom.
Peace is a concept that requires skill, care, love and perseverance.
Just like that required by the Risen Christ Choir.
Amen.
John Bittleston
09 December 2025
