15 April 2025

Ever since a definable liturgy began to emerge in the nascent Church, it has been traditional to read the Passion narrative from one of the four gospels on Palm Sunday or Good Friday. It was the beginning of the dramatic arts which emerged with the Mystery Plays in the Middle Ages.

Throughout my ministry, I incorporated the Passion narratives in three ways. Firstly, at the  Good Friday service, we read the Passion often from St. John’s Gospel with different voices taking the roles of narrator, Christ and Pontius Pilate.

On Palm Sunday, I always told the children the story of Christ’s Passion beginning with the donkey ride into Jerusalem and ending with Christ’s moving burial in the garden belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. This was accompanied by artefacts of the Passion or pictures illustrating the events.

This all came back to me on Sunday when we went to St. John’s Kirk in Perth to hear the St. Matthew Passion composed by JS Bach for Palm Sunday or Good Friday. The whole Passion as recounted in Matthew is sung together with arias bringing out poignant devotional insights.

The Dunedin Consort was responsible. There were three encouraging things.  Firstly, they had a youthful set of soloists and a portion of the RSNO Youth Chorus. If the audience was predominantly older, it was young people who were retelling the tale beautifully.

Secondly, the kirk was full and at the end of the performance no-one clapped for some minutes. It was so moving, we were literally entranced by the profundity of the tale and the music. Clapping did ensue but the silence remained long after. It is a memory I shall not forget.

Thirdly, the restrained environment in which the drama took place made the gestures which were made more effective. The singers turned to face each other as appropriate e.g. Christ and Peter, Christ and Pilate etc. And the drama was evident in the music like the thundering and lightning which rent the Temple curtain in two!

One of the most beautiful things about our Presbyterian tradition is the emotional restraint which can become the perfect foil for a much deeper and profound religious experience. Too much colour, too much movement may distract. Smaller and more intentional actions may command greater attention and be more illuminating.