Easter 2 - Hymn Festival, WA/DC

Washington DC (er, Springfield, VA, actually)
The weekend of Easter 2 was spent at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Springfield VA with Susan, providing a workshop all day Saturday, and a Hymn Festival Sunday afternoon. Again, these are important. The choir and the music leaders form a very active facet of this congregation's life - and these events are always a good shot in the arm for things that are so meaningful and important to them. The workshop Saturday was about choral vowels, rehearsing music for the hymn festival, accompanying hymns of varying styles, and Susan led a workshop on poetry and hymn texts. They had tremendous participation all day - a very high number from their own choir, and also area church musicians. Their own pastors attended as well, which was really nice to see.

The three music staff people there are very hard working (I'm guessing way beyond their "employment status") and committed. They were very involved all day as learners themselves as well as coordinators.

What really struck me about this place was their recent journey. (As in the past five years or so). Susan and I have been to this parish before - in fact, twice before offering hymn festivals. They have always been a place which made use of a good variety of musical style, but predominately "traditional" liturgically and musically - and were excited about that. They had, for example, put in a very good pipe organ in the past 15 years and were extremely happy with this and all it represented. A few years ago, however, a "consultant" from the ELCA came and spent one weekend with them and told them they needed to change everything by offering a contemporary service at the prime hour (11 am), and hold simultaneous Sunday School and worship. Being eagerly faithful, they took the advice to heart, implemented it, and just about destroyed the congregation. They had always been excited about high quality music and liturgy and this process sent many of their long-time members OUT THE DOOR, looking for depth in liturgy and music, feeling wounded about all the years of effort, energy, money and pieces of their heart being sent out the door with them. In the end, the "contemporary service" fizzled out and was very recently abandoned. Things are slowly coming back to life, but may never return to the fervor that was. This is more than tragic. It seems criminal.

What bothers me about this is the notion that the people there (and their journey, their contribution to what goes on there) are not of significance as they consider how to live as God's people. There may indeed be places where the recommended schedule of offerings connects with additional folks, but it's obviously not the case in places like this. And I continue to grow stronger with the feelings that: WHAT WILL DRAW THE VENERATED "VISITOR" IN will not so much be the style of what is done, but the witness of the depth and meaningfulness of those doing it. As Eric Routley said: "People won't leave saying 'what great music (or preaching) this congregation has," but rather "What a great God these people have!"

Memory is a critical part of a community's life. It needs to be in balance with vision. Take memory away and what remains is a congregation with Alzheimer's: bodies with increasingly empty souls as the memory fades. Church music can never be like the radio - because it refuses to be boxed in, delegated to an electronic speaker with participation limited to dialing until we find what we as individuals uniquely prefer, then using our ears only. We get to use our voices, with others. And the voices sing memory - the collective song. The songs of the church are people's faith journey, adopted by a the entire community.

This parish is testament to how this is true: the song will not disappear. Even after an assault, it returns to life and will bring new shoots from the old roots.