A musical evening at Table Talk - a few thoughts.
It felt like a packed house at this month's Table Talk gathering at St Hugh's where numbers continue to grow. A real buzz in the air and once again there was an abundance of food to keep us going. The focus was John Rutter's music. So with a couple of John Rutter clips speaking about how he felt music has an ability to create community, we then listened to and attempted to sing some pieces he had written. We had in our minds and conversation how important music was to our well being, our spiritual journey, our faith.
Now I may be no singer, and when I have been leading worship, someone close to me has said "mime" I always remind myself that John Bell of the Iona Community would never have it that someone cannot sing, "We all have the voice of an angel"! I do enjoy music, hymns and songs, and words are very important to me. While I understood where John Rutter was coming from, and that music can enable community, I equally know that in Church life it can be one of the most divisive things. Often at the end of a service comments made at the door about the worship will hinge on the choice of music. Pick too many modern songs and you get grumbles. Pick too many older hymns and you get grumbles. One of the blessings of the pandemic as a worship leader was I could select music from a much wider variety of sources and not all overtly religious. I still got a grumble as someone didn't like me playing Lindisfarne's "I must stop going to parties" to end one service which was on line and in person. Was it the song not being "religious?" or it's hint at those in high office who misbehaved?
Sometimes the moan is not about the words but because you didn't select the right tune. I do wonder if it's more the tune people are concerned about than the words. Then of course there is the pace at which something is played which can kill any song/hymn. Often a Wesley hymn can feel a bit heavy or a dirge, and many do need a good size congregation to make it come alive.
I recall my first experience of leading worship in Ghana. It was at a church in Asebu a small village community outside Cape Coast. The reverence for their Wesleyan heritage meant we processed into the building to a Charles Wesley hymn played so slowly that I thought this is going to be a heavy service. But then when they came to sing a modern indigenous song the building erupted with volume, pace, drums, keyboard, dancing, and you would hardly believe it was the same group of people. It was a strange mix of old and new, but what was clear, be it old or new, they sang what they believed and it was authentic.
In most churches singing is the one thing that a whole congregation does together. Therein lies its potential to knit people together. Personally I think people do need a core of hymns and songs that they are truly familiar with. If not you are always having to learn something new which can prevent the worshipper getting behind the words and so adding their experience as they sing. But without a willingness to draw upon new material from all sources we grow stale and don't develop a relationship with God or enable others to speak a language that makes sense for them. Choosing what to sing is fraught with dangers.
Some hymns and songs need to be left behind to history as they are no longer relevant having come out of a world view we no longer hold with. Some maybe were fun for a period but really have no ability to pass on the Good News from generation to generation.
There are those hymns which are greater than both tune and words as they somehow enable one generation to pass onto the next the Gospel/Good News. Some are unique to a church tradition/denomination. As a Methodist attending the annual Methodist Conference you get caught up in the opening hymn "And are we yet alive' sung at each conference down the decades, but even more powerfully the closing hymn sung unaccompanied 'Captain of Israel's host and guide".
of all who seek the land above,
beneath your shadow we abide,
Its power to move may be peculiar to some Methodists and when sung stirs up memories, but I guess for many it will not have this effect. I well recall singing it at the funeral of one of my former chairs of district Revd Vernon Marsh a wonderful man, so supportive, insightful and wise. This of course hints at why music has the power to move because it can evoke memories, good and bad. There can be a down side without realising it. I selected a hymn for my mum's funeral which I love and felt appropriate not realising that the next time I chose it in worship I would find myself choked up and unable to sing. I had to stop using it for a while. Perhaps that was why when dad died I chose to have played a piece of music as we left the church from his favourite musical "Salad days". Not that I would ever regard him as one for music. When listening to the radio it was always radio 4, always words and in particular the weather forecast. Perhaps we should have played that!!!
Hymns/songs do have this ability to link memory and emotions which enable people to relive something important and at every time of singing another layer of experience of life is added. It happens without noticing but becomes part of who you are.
I only dare speak for Methodists, but I suspect it is true for many people of Christian faith, that knowledge of scripture owes a large part to the hymns sung rather than the scriptures read. It's as if the words enter the heart and mind at another level which assists in retaining the story. Attending our former neighbours sons being made 'Hafiz' highlights this for me. They had both learnt the Koran by heart. As part of the ceremony they had to recite part of their sacred scripture. As they did so it sounded beautiful. They chanted the words not quite singing and yet it was, and the rhythm enabled the remembrance. This capacity to allow words tied to a tune to sink deep into the memory is why it's so important that what we sing is authentic, carefully crafted and does not seek to knowingly act as propaganda for one particular theology.
I know that many ministers would confirm with me, that when they have led worship in the context of older people in a residential home its good to play something from their past. Suddenly the words come to their lips even when they barely can say hello to you. This too is a reminder to me of what John Bell teaches 'make sure what you sing today can feed you for decades.If the theology is poor then what you feed off in a song will not enable you to flourish.
There is of course the place to sit and listen to others singing, be that a Cathedral choir, church band or small choral groups. They have the potential to allow others to be moved and so worship in another way. Yes there is always the danger it becomes a performance but its worth the risk of having such diversity in church worship. We are all so different and at varying stages of our lives we can still encounter God in a way we never did before. Music and singing has that potential.
So back to our John Rutter focussed Table Talk. Fred who was leading was really enthusiastic about this subject and so it encouraged others. It was a great evening and I would encourage people to come along to this monthly gathering for they are enriching.
So a final thought. Yes singing can enable community to happen. For me it needs to speak in words that wrestle with our relationship with God, admitting our partial knowledge of God, allows for error, does not claim it has the answer but rather expands our view of God and what community means. It needs to disturb. One of my favourite Iona songs " Enemy of Apathy" does this so well.
Hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day;
She sighs and she sings, mothering creation,
Waiting to give birth to all the Word will say.
She wings over earth, resting where she wishes,
Lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies;
She nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder,
Nourishing potential hidden to our eyes.
She dances in fire, startling her spectators,
Waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned;
She weans and inspires all whose hearts are open,
Nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained.
For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence,
Gifted by the Saviour in eternal love;
She is the key opening the scriptures,
Enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.
Words and Music (c) 1988 The Iona Community
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