The choir being on holiday there was no Evensong in the cathedral at Lincoln, only evening prayer. But in a sense it was more beautiful. In this vast, empty space, the sole voice of the priest rose up in plainchant – ‘Come down oh God from Heaven’. Thus hundreds of years ago, the monks must have sung the same thing. As the sound rose, did God indeed come down to meet it halfway? In our minds, yes. In reality, we hope.