Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, and today’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles tells of ‘Saul’, a zealous Pharisee who wished to travel from Jerusalem to Damascus to seek out disciples of Christ and bring them bound back to Jerusalem. On the way to Damascus, God appeared to Saul, blinding him and asked him:

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4)

Later, after converting to Christianity, ‘Paul’ defended himself to Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, and king of Judea, and recounted the story of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Damascus. Here, Paul remembered how Jesus added the phrase:

It hurts you to kick against the goads. (Acts 26:14)

The great German composer of the early Baroque, Heinrich Schütz, wrote a choral setting of just these two lines for soloists and with ‘polychoral’ segments — places where various parts of the choir call back and forth to each other. It is one of Schutz’s most famous and beloved works. Especially notice how the word ‘Saul’ repeats emphatically in various places. Also, the opening rising notes from the basses through the sopranos is particularly striking.

This piece is a lovely celebration of God’s willingness to convert us, in spite of our stubbornness!

Yours in Christ,
Justin

Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? SWV 415, Heinrich Schütz