Premiere event~an evening to remember

Lynley Lewis's eighteen minute musical reckoning with the historic and current conflict in the Middle East was born from a refusal to avert his gaze from travesties of justice and the horrific loss of innocent lives on all sides. 

After much hard work on his part and from his team of fourteen singers, twelve musicians along with many advisors from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities, Lamentations - Ṣumūd:Resilience (صمود) / Teshuvah:Repentance (תְּשׁוּבָה) premiered Friday night at St. Clement's. 

Attendees were well fed with food and conversation in the church hall before going into the church for the screening. An opening welcome was offered by the Rev. Helen Dunn, after which Lynley introduced speakers including the radio show host Shabana, Stephan Aberle, a member of Independent Jewish Voices, and Shadia Qubti, Lived Theologian. 

The richly-layered audiovisual presentation is better experienced than described, and we offer you the link below in the hope you will watch and share Lynley's composition (to be released shortly), in which a number of St. Clement's singers and musicians took part. Suffice it to say, the audience was very moved - not to immediate applause, but to holding a profound silence as the final notes came to an end. It was indeed an experience of collective lamentation and reflection.

For any moved to do so, Lynley is inviting donations to a number of relief organizations, including Alongside Hope, the national Anglican relief agency. They have a special appeal for emergency response in Gaza and the West Bank.

Further resources and suggested aid organizations can be found in this previous post on our website.

Lynley's YouTube channel (click here)

A YouTube link to the composition, when released, will be updated on this news post page and the previous post link above.