Christmas cheer, Spectator style

It was the Spectator’s Carol Concert last night, in the Fleet St church of St Bride’s – and one of my favourite nights of the year. The choir is amazing: if you’re a sucker for John Rutter-style choral arrangements (which I very much am), then it was heaven. The choir’s first piece was Harold Darke’s stunning arrangement of In The Bleak Midwinter, perhaps my second-favourite piece of Christmas music.* I was up for the first reading, Isaiah Ch9, predicting the birth of Christ. It was weirdly short, so I looked up the Good Book to see if I could beef it up a little – and it was one of those moments when you’re reminded just how brutal the Old Testament can be. Just a few lines down from the words “Prince of Peace” are a few lines about just what the Lord would do to Israel: “By the wrath of the LORD Almighty, the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire; they will not spare one another.”