Sunday, January 28, 2007

church bulletin article

I think it's about time for another bulletin article, about six months after the first. (When I was hired.)
But I'm not quite sure what I want to say.
The beginnings of my thought process have something to do with how important singing is. In my first article I quoted St. Augustine's thing about "when we sing we pray twice," so I think I'm thinking something along that line.

For the choir mass this weekend, I announced that for the opening song, "The men will sing the first verse alone, the women will sing the second verse alone and everyone will sing verse three." (It was Love Divine, so no one can claim they don't know it...) I think it went really well, and I'm going to try it next weekend at maybe the other two Masses. I was a little reluctant to try it, because I didn't want to ever tell anyone to NOT sing, so that's why I changed the wording to more of a, "You will sing..." And I think it went great. (Like I just said.) Especially when the men all sang. It's like...suddenly they're like, "Hey, they need me!" Men love being needed.

But back to my original question. I started turning the idea for a bulletin article around in my head when I thought about how I often hear people say, "Oh, I can't sing..."
And what I want to say is something along the lines of, "That doesn't matter! When you're singing with the whole congregation, no one can HEAR you! I mean, I'm not asking you to join the choir, (although if you CAN carry a tune-even 'Happy Birthday,' you would be most welcome!) But what matters is that through your singing you are giving glory to God! And isn't that one of the reasons why we come to church?" And then something about how I really do very carefully choose the music for Mass with a significant amount of thought given to the text of the music...
So that's about the extent of my thought process.
I know I need to temper it a little, because my lack of tact regularly gets me into trouble...

Any further ideas? Edits? Great quotes?

2 comments:

Mara Joy said...

I'm reading a lot online, here's a start:
"Liturgy is not something we watch, like an audience; it is something we do. Liturgy in Greek means "public work." It is hard work; it is not entertainment. We do not go to it, as we go to a play or an opera or a football game. It is not something we turn on, like a radio or TV program."
http://www.canticanova.com/articles/liturgy/art912.htm

Mara Joy said...

here's another for myself:
"One need not be a great public speaker to say a prayer or an accomplished musician to sing a hymn. Mediocrity might even be considered an aid to liturgical prayer. The common denominator in art or music appeals to the most people....As Mother Teresa says, "we do not have to be successful; we have to be faithful."
http://www.canticanova.com/articles/liturgy/art971.htm

hm, I'm not sure if I like this one. The article as a whole explained it better than a single quote can.