by Fred Moleck
I've Never Done It This Way Before
A very wise Episcopal bishop had a banner emblazoned on the wall directly behind his desk. It read: "The seven last words of the church-We've always done it this way before."
After four decades of liturgical reform with the inevitable music and worship wars, that phrase bounced from parish to school, from monastery to cathedrals, from chanceries to pastors' offices. It was the immediate response to any type of innovation or repertorial change.
In the past weeks, I found myself cursing and muttering another interpretation of rock-solid conviction. Here are three instances.
The first was generated by Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion. He and a soprano were performing their version of Sarah Adam's "Nearer My God to Thee," but they were singing it with a bluegrass ensemble with an upbeat rhythm. (More and more I am disliking the word upbeat.)
Gasp! How could they trash such a model of nineteenth-century hymnody in such a manner that caused me to weep?
Well, not exactly weep, but I was so upset.
Did they not know of Newman's conversion to Catholicism? Had they never seen Leonardo DiCaprio nearly drown in the sinking of the Titanic. while the band played "Nearer My God to Thee?"
I never would have done it that way.
The second time is when I heard my new parish's folk ensemble perform Father Waddell's "Jesus Took a Towel" sing and play with guitars, tambourines, drums and bongos in a style unmistakably "upbeat." (There is that word again!) When I had performed it with my ensemble in my parish, we did it quietly, unaccompanied to insure a reflective mood.
I certainly would never have done it that way.
Just last week at a funeral of a friend, the song of farewell was replaced with "Jesus, Remember Me" while the coffin was incensed. "Why?" I muttered. The ritual text of "Come to his/her aid" is so powerful that its absence weakened the ritual moment.
I definitely never would have even think to do it this way.
Then the light of self-accusation blinded me.
Here I was sitting at worship passing judgment over other approaches to repertory I thought I owned. I quickly discovered-finally, it took a long time for this realization-that I don't own Adam's texts, Chrysogonus Waddell's "Jesus Took a Towel," and Taize's lovely mantra.
After so many years of getting the folks out of Tridentine death lock and trying to expand their understanding of pluformity, I found myself neck-deep in concrete as I criticized the performers. I learned nothing from what I was teaching.
I froze repertory into my way or the highway. How wrong.
I suggest that the morning prayer and the evening prayer of pastorals should be:
Lord, let me sing and pray in many ways.
Let me try all of them.
Let me minister in a way that everyone can see
that we have always done it many ways.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net