December 10, 2007
That's Still Sorta My Church!
Yesterday was the Christmas Pageant over at St. Loony-Up-The-Cream-Bun-and-Jam. In a monumental piece of miscasting, the youngest Llama-ette played an angel this year. (The other two had a conflicting piano recital and could not attend.)
I walked in expecting to simply sit and watch to make sure the Llama-ette refrained from stage-diving off the altar. (She had been speaking ominously earlier on about using her wings to "fly".) Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was marked down in the program to usher the durn thing. It turns out that my general resignation from all offices connected with St. LUTCBAJ never quite made it to the Usher's Guild.
Well, I wasn't going to be churlish about it, so dutifully donned my usher's badge, passed out programs and took up the collection plates. Hopefull, B-16 will understand. I certainly got some odd looks from some of the congregation who were In The Know, however.
As far as the Pageant itself, everything went fine. The key question every year is whether or not the baby tagged to play Jesus is going to put up a fuss. This year's entrant remained docile throughout, so everyone was free to mumble and stumble their way through their lines without distraction as family members snaked up and down the aisle taking pictures. (I saw exactly two people in the congregation who were not directly related by blood to one or more of the cast members.) The Llama-ette managed to control herself, too, perhaps because of my severe warning that if she didn't behave then she'd get not a single sniff of the cocoa, cookies or candycanes in the hall after the performance. I would expect that among the actual cherubim and the seraphim, virtue is probably not a matter of either threat or bribary. In her case, however, I'll use whatever tools are available to me.
BTB, among the carols and hymns sung was "Go Tell It On The Mountain". We sing this every. single. year. And it drives me absolutely batty every. single. year. There are few things more aesthetically ridiculous if not downright patronizing than a gang of well-heeled Episcopalian WASPs trying to sing spirituals. I do wish they would cut it out.
Posted by Robert at December 10, 2007 10:20 AM | TrackBackHmmn...coincidences abound...Mr. P and I because of our good looks and overwhelming charm had been determined by those in the know and with the connections to be made of official "Greeters" for our former parish. This meant on Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve, Mr. P was given a gardeenia for his button hole and I a matching corsage and we had stand at the in the vestibule greeting people who came to Church those two days only per year...
When we handed in our resignation, the lady in charge of assigning the Greeters wouldn't accept that two nice young people like us could do such a stupid thing as become Catholic so she kept us on the Greeters list...I wrote her twice on my stationary too. So when the card came notifying us that we had recieved the highest greeting honor of the entire Church year : the Midnight Service on Christmas Eve, I looked at it for what it was - a bribe for our return. I threw it in the dustbin and never even called for a substitute...
To think, they thought the honor of being a greeter on Christmas Eve was worth the fires of Hell...
The implication is that poorly singing a spiritual will redeem us from racial prejudice. Have you ever actually read the intro to the Lift Every Voice and Sing hymnal (usually just called LEVAS) found in many Episcopal churches? It is appallingly condescending, arrogant, and offensive. (That sermon must have been really dull for me to read the hymnal intro.)
Posted by: AKL at December 10, 2007 01:42 PMMy Catholic parish also sings GTIOTM every year. Plus some of the congregation and parish leadership have decided that we should clap during some songs and versions of the gospel alleluia even tho fewer than half the congregation can identify the beat. I call this the "aren't we white" Mass setting. It's really embarrassing
Posted by: Terentia at December 10, 2007 02:32 PMGTIOTM was sung by blacks and whites alike where I grew up (Leesburg / Harper's Ferry). But if y'all did not grow up in the Appalachians, you have no business singing it. Every church up here in the North East does the spiritual thing, too, no matter what the denomination. It really grates on my nerves because my parents and I were the only white folks in our church when I was a kid, so I know how the stuff is supposed to sound, and for a white boy, I can make it sound pretty authentic when I sing it. Just not when the organist is playing the music at about 2/3s the proper tempo.
I blame you Yankee transplants down in Maryland and Virginia for this brand of nonsense.
Posted by: John at December 11, 2007 01:35 PMWell, I wasn't a white person at a black church, but I heard GTIOTM and many other spirituals from [WAIT FOR IT!!] our maid Lena, who sang alto in her Baptist church choir. She sang all the time while she worked, and her music was as much a part of my life as, say, Frank Sinatra. Sadly, even with that experience, I still can't carry a tune, but boy do I know all the words. I agree that the clapping, etc. is bad manners. If it doesn't come naturally it's a rude copy of someone else's true feelings and shouldn't be done. But Robbo, just the fact that we're white or 'upper middle class' doesn't mean we can't enjoy (and sing) the music that's part of our heritage.
Posted by: pnutqueen at December 13, 2007 09:52 PM
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