Ever increasing Escalation - Falla Harpsichord Concerto

Some trust in (rely on) chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. (Some nations boast of armies and of weaponry, but our boast is in the Lord our God TLB) They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. LORD, give victory to the king! Answer when we call! (from Psalm 20) The verb to escalate is only acquired its modern usage in recent times. Deriving from the Latin scala ladder, and passing through ‘escalade’ (meaning ‘to assail a city by means of siege ladders), the West has been understandably cautious of escalating the conflict with Russia – but this at a time when that country has been throwing the entire weight of its considerable military weight and force against a nation many times its inferior in size and population. There has only been one country in this conflict guilty of escalation, and that is Russia, which has, effectively, declared war against the West. Ukraine has lost huge numbers of its fighting troops and remains heavily outnumbered and outgunned. At this time when Russia has effectively declared war against the West, Ukraine faces intense danger as this dedicated foe, who has learnt from his mistakes and is numerically far stronger than a year ago, intensifies its military push. Let’s pray for Ukraine to have both the skill and the resources with which to survive, and then one day to rise again and resume its place as the breadbasket of the world. The matter of being prepared to send the advanced weaponry that Ukraine is manifestly in need of is also a test of each nation’s commitment (and bravery). The West has been upping its response in terms of its willingness to provide Ukraine with what it needs to survive, but there are massive logistical challenges in this – not least in that the West has been sharing what it can spare, and drawing from a dwindling pool of resources, being neither able nor willing to restock at the pace at which these weapons are either being used or destroyed. In that sense the longer the conflict goes on the more it benefits Russia, who, so far from being completely defeated by the severe sanctions targeted against it has harnessed its industrial resources to massively increase weapons production, as well as obtaining supplies from similarly-minded nations. Pray too for those serving in the British Armed Forces, which have long been pared to the bone, as well as for effective supplies and resources. The music, the 1st movement of Manuel de Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto, was written just before the outbreak of the horrifyingly bloodthirsty Spanish civil war in the 1930. It is a difficult piece to listen to, because it resounds with the menace and tumult of both that time and our own. We chose this music deliberately because times are hard for so many and what is happening in China is of extreme importance to the whole world. The musicians were Justin, playing the virtuoso harpsichord part, Nicola Gerrard , Amy Roberts, Shirley Richards, Helen Rees and Corinne Frost.