January 02, 2006

Gratuitous Musickal Posting (TM) - Part One

Yesterday morning at church, we were compelled to sing "Go Tell It On The Mountain". This was the third time in the past couple weeks it has appeared in the service. To make matters worse, the assistant rector - who is one of the sweetest and most well-intentioned women I know - suggested that congregants might sway or even shout out if moved by the Spirit.

Needless to say, there was neither swaying nor shouting.

I tell you truly that there is nothing so aesthetically absurd as Episcopalians, accompanied by a full-sized pipe organ, singing spirituals. We just don't have that swing. It just doesn't work.

There is also something tacky about it, especially in Virginia of all places, smacking as it does either of historical amnesia or else limousine-liberal condescension, I'm not totally sure which. When we first got to this area, we attended a church in Reston that made no bones about its with-it progressiveness. A young seminarian from Kenya came to visit one Sunday. Apparently in an effort to Say The Right Thing, the program contained a number of spirituals, including - I distinctly remember - "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Every time we sang one, I noticed members of the congregation smiling at the seminarian and making encouraging little body language signals to show that They Understood.

The poor seminarian, for her part, really had no clue as to why this was happening. She managed, nevertheless, to maintain a polite if puzzled smile throughout, for which she gained a tremendous amount of respect from me.

Posted by Robert at January 2, 2006 11:30 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Oh come on, Robert, they were just waiting for you to cut loose! I SAY!! Lemme hear a RIGHTEOUS chorus!

The Swing Low Sweet Chariot story is priceless. Give me that rector's number, I'm going to suggest Ole Man River for next week

Posted by: beautifulatrocities at January 2, 2006 12:14 PM

We who are in the kiddie pool of the Episcopal Church are also damned by the wishes of our church leaders who omit some of the very ingredients that make the church appealing in the first place. The church service is one of the opportunities to make a visible sign of thanks to the Allmighty, and there are significant symbols of incorporation of everyone into both the service and into the communicants' lives. I learned that a great level and common ground should be found in the church, it's services and prayer book, and in the lives of it's varied membership.

But then came the sensitive and soft-palmed. Lately it seems that it's either the "We are staid white-folk but we really REALLY want to be liked by the commie-libs who have all the money" approach, or "I KNOW looking inward and humbling oneself before the forgiveness of Jesus and all that are important but come on, that is really HARD to do. So let's all chant and sing-song during those parts so no one will understand what we're supposed to be doing". Neither is very effective, nor impressive.

So we soldier on and go the the Rite One services, try to smile and endure when the associate pastor's mention "Greedy Corporations" and "Illegal War", and find the good among the tepid.

Dan Patterson

Posted by: Dan Patterson at January 2, 2006 03:02 PM

Wow Robert - I'll file this one under "Cringe-Worthy Moments in Christ." Your description is so on target it makes me embarrassed in absentia.

Posted by: Chai-rista at January 2, 2006 03:10 PM

You could always come to SF & go to Glide Memorial, or as it was satirized in Tales of the City, Glib Memorial. It's where all the guilty white libs hang out. I used to work with a bunch of black women who were APPALLED when I told them a friend had dragged me to Glide.

It was an excruciating experience: at one point the Glide Memorial Dance Troupe got up to perform, & it was like your worst nightmare of really baaaaaaaaad modern dance, a bunch of white idiots leaping around yelling APARTHEID! SOWETO! etc. I was there with my well-meaning friend Judy, & at that moment we had this psychic connection where we KNEW not to look at each other, or it would be all over....

Posted by: beautifulatrocities at January 2, 2006 03:50 PM

Why don't you suggest Kumbaya (or however the hell it's spelled) to the assistant rector. Make the descent complete.

Posted by: rbj at January 3, 2006 08:36 AM

You know what's next, don't you? Liturgical Dance.

You haven't been subjected to the full gamut of the "spiritual experience" until you've sat through the teenagers doing some sort of modern interpretive flitting-among-the-pews to choral numbers, waving hankies and floating by in gauzy outfits that are all too reminiscent of Salome.

I happen to love "Go Tell It on the Mountain," sans the Bic-waving and hand-holding. We didn't sing it once this year, even at the Carol Sing.

Posted by: tee bee at January 3, 2006 03:42 PM