by Fred Moleck
The Judgment Seat
Church musicians are in a good position to make judgment calls on what they hear as homilies in the course of a weekend—judgment in evaluating what they heard and comparing it to what they expected.The judgment seat could be the organ console or the piano bench or any of the chairs used by the instrumental ensemble.
Many of us are equipped to make these judgments since many of us have taken degrees in liturgical music, which included courses in Scripture. You are probably one of them.
Most of us have been exposed to a variety of styles of homiletics. Many of us have been surprised by what we’ve heard, especially since we used the same Scripture to select the music for the weekend Masses.
Sometimes there is a disconnect. What remains true, however, is that the parish musician has heard it all . . . and then some.
After all, most liturgies at which the instrumental leadership is the organ do not have a separate organist for each Mass. In some places the organist could very well be in place to listen to four or five homilies in the four or five Masses of the parish schedule.
Back in the exuberant and hope-filled days of post–Vatican II, every parish I served had at least four Masses on the weekend: Saturday night vigil Mass, two Masses on Sunday in the morning, plus an evening Mass.
I was exhilarated, but by the time I came to the organ console for the Sunday 6:30 evening Mass, both my faith and my body were tuckered out.
I do see us as an informed source of information as to the success of the preaching. For example, did the “good news” of the gospel successfully get across to the assembly? Did the homily bring the gospel message home into the lives of the assembly? I’m sure you could list several of your own guidelines for success.
Someone has. John G., music director in a southern California church, offers this list:
Top Ten Things NOT TO DO While Preaching a Homily
10. Use sophisticated theological language. (Nobody is impressed, just bored.) 9. Preach for more than ten minutes. (The longer one talks, the less is heard.) 8. Preach on all four readings. (Too much for the assembly to digest.) 7. Begin with “Good morning, everyone.” (It’s a homily, not a game show.) 6. Preach on a different Scripture passage than what was proclaimed that day. (Was the Scripture passage that was proclaimed not good enough?) 5. Tell jokes. (It’s a homily, not a standup act.) 4. End the homily with a prayer or blessing. (Don’t we already have one of these at the end of Mass?) 3. Tell high school football stories. (Nobody cares.) 2. Tell stories about Uncle Fred, Aunt Sally, etc. (Again, nobody cares.) 1. Use the word I. (It’s not about you.)
You could probably add to the list from your observations.
Two weeks after this week, I want to construct another list that comments on the musician(s) with germane criticisms by another observer—the presider, sitting at the presider’s chair . . . which is also a “seat of judgment.”
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@comcast.net