I love playing for Mass because I love offering myself to the Lord through music (which is an avenue of great, deep, and beautiful intimacy), AND because I love to, at least in some small way, aid others in their worship, in their hearts and minds, and all of us together as Christ's Body, Christ's Bride.
One of my favorite experiences in accompanying the Cantor when singing the Psalms is when I hear the congregation respond w/ one voice, one healthy and whole voice. By "healthy and whole" I don't mean that we don't have our troubles, but that I can hear in the people's voice together an authentic giving of the Self to the Lord. I can hear individual voices and I can hear the blending of the voices. I can hear each singer choosing to lift their voice to the Lord. And when we're at our best, it seems to me to also convey our willingness to do this meeting-the-Lord WITH each other. Too often I hear critics of Catholic liturgy bemoaning the fact that we don't do enough harmonizing. Growing up Mennonite, I certainly treasure traditional 4-part hymn-singing, and hearing a group sing together who can at will make these harmonies is a special delight. However, those who can't perceive the beauty (both physical and spiritual) of varied (and sometimes untrained) voices bringing themselves into unison are missing something profound.
In my little parish, there are voices that sound like angels singing, and there are voices that struggle to find and keep a pitch. There are voices that are smooth and float like a flute; there are some that are complex and pierce the fabric of our listening much like an oboe in an orchestra (which to me is a beautiful thing!). There are old voices, baby voices, and everything in-between. There are male voices and female voices, and low and high voices of both genders. There are voices that when singing sound raspy, or husky, or mellow, or so deep it's more of a rhythmic sensation than a tonal one. Some voices aren't even singing. Usually those voices are babies cooing or squealing or babbling or rather precociously nearly meeting pitch but hanging on to their highest or loudest newly-found-favorite-sound too long! Each voice has it's own color and timbre. Each voice tells me something about that person. But each voice heard is one that is heard because the singer has chosen to sing! It sounds so simple, but to me it is significant.
It's true that not everyone chooses to sing. And frankly, I think that's okay. There are all kinds of reasons why a person might choose not to sing at any given time. Those of us in ministry should never take this personally, and we should never assume it is a type of rebellion or resistance to some aspect of our corporate worship, even if that might be true from time-to-time w/ one or another individual. I won't go further into my thoughts, in this post, about all the reasons we might choose to not sing, but being aware that those reasons exist helps me also to perceive, understand, and value more profoundly all the reasons we choose to sing when we do so choose!
This past Sunday we sang from Psalm 40. The response began w/ "Here I am, Lord, here I am..." Every time the people came in w/ the "Here I am," I was filled w/ bliss! We were so Together! And we were so Given to the Lord, Our Lord! Praise be Jesus!
One of my favorite experiences in accompanying the Cantor when singing the Psalms is when I hear the congregation respond w/ one voice, one healthy and whole voice. By "healthy and whole" I don't mean that we don't have our troubles, but that I can hear in the people's voice together an authentic giving of the Self to the Lord. I can hear individual voices and I can hear the blending of the voices. I can hear each singer choosing to lift their voice to the Lord. And when we're at our best, it seems to me to also convey our willingness to do this meeting-the-Lord WITH each other. Too often I hear critics of Catholic liturgy bemoaning the fact that we don't do enough harmonizing. Growing up Mennonite, I certainly treasure traditional 4-part hymn-singing, and hearing a group sing together who can at will make these harmonies is a special delight. However, those who can't perceive the beauty (both physical and spiritual) of varied (and sometimes untrained) voices bringing themselves into unison are missing something profound.
In my little parish, there are voices that sound like angels singing, and there are voices that struggle to find and keep a pitch. There are voices that are smooth and float like a flute; there are some that are complex and pierce the fabric of our listening much like an oboe in an orchestra (which to me is a beautiful thing!). There are old voices, baby voices, and everything in-between. There are male voices and female voices, and low and high voices of both genders. There are voices that when singing sound raspy, or husky, or mellow, or so deep it's more of a rhythmic sensation than a tonal one. Some voices aren't even singing. Usually those voices are babies cooing or squealing or babbling or rather precociously nearly meeting pitch but hanging on to their highest or loudest newly-found-favorite-sound too long! Each voice has it's own color and timbre. Each voice tells me something about that person. But each voice heard is one that is heard because the singer has chosen to sing! It sounds so simple, but to me it is significant.
It's true that not everyone chooses to sing. And frankly, I think that's okay. There are all kinds of reasons why a person might choose not to sing at any given time. Those of us in ministry should never take this personally, and we should never assume it is a type of rebellion or resistance to some aspect of our corporate worship, even if that might be true from time-to-time w/ one or another individual. I won't go further into my thoughts, in this post, about all the reasons we might choose to not sing, but being aware that those reasons exist helps me also to perceive, understand, and value more profoundly all the reasons we choose to sing when we do so choose!
This past Sunday we sang from Psalm 40. The response began w/ "Here I am, Lord, here I am..." Every time the people came in w/ the "Here I am," I was filled w/ bliss! We were so Together! And we were so Given to the Lord, Our Lord! Praise be Jesus!
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