Helen Cipolla: Cantor                     Douglas West: Organist   O be joyful in the LORD, all ye lands: serve the LORD with gladness, and come before his presence with a song.  --Psalm 100                                                                          He who sings, prays twice. --St. Augustine of Hippo                 Music has ever been the accompaniment and handmaiden of the worship of God, an expression of its higher reaches.  Virtually since the time of Jubal, “the father of all those who play the lyre and harp” (Gen. 4:12), through the psaltry of David and the “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” of the apostolic age to the music of Gregory the Great, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Restoration and the Anglican Revival to the present, the sung praise of God has lifted heart and mind to the glorious presence of the throne of God.   Music is an important part of our worship at Saint John’s, not English Church Music alone, as distinguished a heritage as that is, but also the wider tradition: Roman Catholic, Lutheran and beyond.  Plainsong, Anglican Chant, fine English Anthems, great settings of the Mass and of the Canticles of Matins and Evensong resound from the walls of our sanctuary in praise of the triune God.