It would be difficult to escape the claims being made across every sector of society that they are suffering more economic hardship than everyone else. Perhaps I have just grown more cynical, but the quality of news reporting has nose-dived. The local channels especially are so obviously clutching at straws for stories, given the additional constraints journalists are working under as they seek to create properly informed and relevant content. We seem to be operating under a rule of at least five hardship stories for every piece of cheerful news, and the presenters seem to revel more than ever in sticking the knife into everyone they interview.
The current candidate for greatest hardship is the whole entertainment industry – theatre, ballet, choirs, concerts, and gigs of all kinds. Next week, it will clearly be the turn of students and their exam results to take the lowlight. The travel industry won’t be far behind if current trends across Europe continue.
It all feels reminiscent of the book of Job. A story seeking to show that faith and prosperity are not linked to each other. The story starts off with an uncomfortable scene in which God and Satan have a bet with each other, that Job’s faithfulness flows solely from his wealth and good fortune. Satan wagers that Job’s faith will waver when faced with severe hardship. Job stays remarkably faithful despite losing his wealth and his loved ones, demonstrating that genuine faith is abiding, and that ultimately faith is all that matters – true faith can carry you through every storm. In many ways, the reaction of Job’s friends feels just like the shallowness of the news coverage. Instead of offering comfort and support, they repeatedly rub salt into Jobs wounds as they side with Satan’s wager, claiming that Job’s ill-fortune is punishment for his unacknowledged sin. Simply renouncing his sins would restore his good fortune. Job will have none of this falsehood, remaining faithful to God, and reminding everyone that just as he was fortunate enough to thank God for his previous good fortune, so now he must accept his suffering as part of the mystery of life.
Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the UK’s most loved composers, is perhaps best known for his gathering of a rich heritage of folk songs, though they will always be overshadowed by the Lark Ascending – a beautiful lyrical poem that has topped the annual Classic FM charts for all but one of the last several years. His variations on the theme of Dives and Lazarus is another inspiring and melodramatic piece. Perhaps less well known is his ballet “Job – a masque for dancing”.
It seems so fitting that one of the few pieces of music dedicated to the story of Job is written as a ballet in the form of a masque – a form of courtly dance in which masks were worn to symbolise that both the high and mighty, and the more lowly were “in it together” with status being no barrier to participation (I doubt the Royals stuck to this principle with their elaborate masks however!). It is a ballet which follows the story of Job, in which both fortune and misfortune are presented as inevitable partners through life.
As we struggle through these times in which we are forced to hide our true identity behind a mask of sorts, and in which all of the elements of the masque (singing, dancing, acting and music) are trying to find new ways of providing entertainment and cheer despite being temporarily on hold, perhaps we should thank RVW for his strange ballet title. Despite his hardship, Job can still don the mask and cheerfully join in the masque. We must thank RVW too, for his hymn tunes, none more glorious than the triumphal tune for the hymn that sat at number 2 in the 1933 Methodist hymnbook, but was then promoted to the number 1 spot in Hymns and Psalms, holding its place in Singing the Faith.
ALL people that on earth do dwell. Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. For it is seamly so to do.