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lovely. well done. the cres. going into H in the first movement was especially gorgeous!

What a wonderful piece! My first thought was PDQ Bach, but then I listened. Well done!

I love my youtube algorithm for giving me this. Amazing work, I would love to sing this some day. Much love from germany :)

Great piece. Happy Pride '24.

listened twice, back-to-back. crying with a sense of peace and satisfaction. this is so beautiful. remarkable piano writing, and fantastic harmony. the way it drops down to the solo voice at the end - and on *that* line, that gorgeous line - is heartrending. just sublime.

Singing this song cycle currently and it is one of the most exciting things I’ve sung in a while. Beautiful, interesting, challenging, funny - it has it all. Really looking forward to performing it in June!

This was beautiful. 💙🧡

Why does it change key but not change key in the first movement

This is my favorite song now. I am relatively young, and I am bisexual (I like guys a little more), but my home is not very supportive of my sexuality. I listen to things like this and cry. It is such a beautiful story. One that I want to have. One that I crave.

I'm a queer & trans Christian. I've seen the poem before, and was so happy to hear it had been set to music. And as a pianist, singer, and choral conductor - this is absolutely gorgeous. I would love to conduct/sing in this one day 💕 Thank you. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

How moving! Thank you for writing it; thank you for sharing it.

You are such an incredible composer! I loved listening to this! Do you happen to have anything that is strictly 4-part? I'm the bass in an SATB quartet and we would like to perform more modern music and if you have anything, im sure we'd be happy to buy some copies of :)

Singing a boy and a girl right now for choir. I don't know how to feel

This was magnificent. Bravo my good sir, you have a knack for this sort of thing dont you? lol much love

Very moving. Not at all what I was expecting, and so glad I took a moment out of my day to listen to this.

So gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.

This soothes my heart at a difficult time. Thank you for sharing!

This is stunning. I started crying at the "my child" section.

gorgeous! and a lovely choir too

Some wonderful music here Stuart! Thank you for sharing :)

this is beautiful!!

This piece, along with the song I Chose For You composed by Daniel Ficarri, are the two most beautiful and powerful pieces of music about reconciling being LGBT and christian. Congrats!

Thank you

Two year Iowa All State Choir singer here, I would like to say this is one of the most moving pieces of love and inclusion I have heard and I would kill to be able to preform this someday. This beats out songs like I Am Loved by Christopher Harris, Through Love to Light by Elaine Hagenberg, and Can We Sing the Darkness to Light by Kyle Pederson, This piece deserves attention from organizations like the IHSMA.

I love the piece, I don't love the message.

I'm catholic and gay/same sex attracted (struggling with the naming issue), and while I still hold to the official catholic teaching on homosexuality (as it is stated in paragraphs 2357, 2358 and 2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church), I still found this piece very very beautiful and moving. I'm currently exploring anglicanism and other LGBT-affirming forms of Christianity. I can't say I'm fully convinced by them, but I'm open to hearing their points of view. The only issue I would have with the text of the poem itself is the phrase "there's nothing in this heart of yours that needs to be healed", because even if I were to fully agree with LGBT-affirming Christianity, obviously gay people would still have things we need to be healed by Christ, like every other people does. But I get the point of the text is to merely affirm that being gay in itself is not one of those things that would need to be healed. Anyways, this is a beautiful piece, I can feel it was composed from the heart, and I appreciate that.

Absolutely beautiful!

lovely

I’ve sung a lot of songs, but this one touched me more deeply than any other. It is the core of love one another. I am blessed by being given the chance to sing this beautiful piece. Many thanks Stuart!

*PromoSM*

Was not ready for it to go from jazzy and fun to so beautiful and loving. This is such an important message <3 Would love to cover this!

I'm a music director for a Lutheran church. Perhaps one of the most moving choral pieces of music I've encountered. I wish our choir could sing this, but it feels too technical for the choir. Would it be possible if there could be an accessible arrangement for a community choir without paid section leaders?

Uterly beautiful! Thank you. Much love from Brazil.

Intense, fluent song cycle. Congratulations! Y también bellamente interpretado 💐💐

Wonderful song 🌻

Frankly, to me, this poem and setting reflect the Jesus who sought out the ruffians and rejects of society/ The same Jesus had some very pointed remarks about people who flaunted their faith and rituals more far than they cared for others, and saw the widow who gave a few cents that she'd miss as giving a lot more than the rich people who gave a fortune they'd not miss.

interesting. i like it. maybe i’ll try playing it

This is beautiful! I especially love the out of time section.

holy shit. now i wanna be gay AND christian! Amazing work truly, congrats!

You may have seen on instagram (or possibly will soon see) the stories you've been tagged in from a KCL student, asking people to nag the chapel choir to sing this work lol, well thats me :) you're a legend, and I genuinely didn't know you were a KCL alumni when I first sent that post, which is a wild coincidence!! Another coincidence is that I saw that you were inspired by Bob Chilcott, and Chilcott is far and away my very favourite living composer, his music just speaks to me in some magical way, he is an absolute genius. I've had the privalege of singing with him at one of his 'come and sing' days and had a short conversation with him. So very humble and so incredible with amateurs, which is what a composer should be in my opinion. I actually also sung in the childrens choir of one of bob chilcott's recordings 9-10 years ago now (which i cant believe...) as a treble, that was an incredible experience, and what first got me interested in his music, and possibly composing music as a whole. It's so odd how our paths have kind of crossed many times...

stuart... man you are so fucking talented... listening to 'jesus in a gay bar' and then this, I havent had so many shivers listening to music in a long long time. wow wow wow. in awe. i'm just a young guy studying music, but it really seems like you have a very very bright future. dont stop composing just like this!! no one is composing music like this here in the UK, people here dont understand that church-like tonal soundworlds and contemporary texts can in fact work so beautifully together. you guys in north america are unique in that understanding. thank you <3

Have to agree with the other comments. I was expecting and irreverant, sarcastic parody. Instead - this is both beautiful in sentiment and in composition. Wonderful job.

This is the kind of stuff that gives me faith in humanity

This is actually stunning.

This would be nice as a piano quintet (piano plus string quartet)

Excellent performance, excellent piece, excellent understanding of human nature. Many thanks Stuart,

Beautiful choral writing.

This so majestic and delicate at the same time❤❤

After just a week, this piece has already hit 20k views! I wrote this music to affirm queer Christians with a message of unconditional love, and I'm thankful for the overwhelmingly positive feedback and heartfelt comments. 🏳‍🌈❤🏳‍⚧ If you've come here to rant about semantics and Bible quotes... you're missing the point. Queer & trans people deserve to be welcomed with open arms, full stop. If you're this desperate to justify exclusion, then I pray that you stop letting your own vanity and prejudice cloud your heart. And if I've somehow committed blasphemy, then I suppose that's between me and God. Ultimately, I'd rather be condemned for spreading love than go to heaven for spreading hate. And if you reply with more semantics and Bible quotes, I'm just going to delete them. I've already shown people more patience than was owed. 🤷

This is literally blasphemy. How dare you think that the same God who condemned Sodom and Gomorrah to flames in Genesis is now ok with this. You will be punished for this. God will not be mocked.