A timely piece . . .
Although not Anglican, and certainly never having been a hostage in Beirut, I find a certain sympathy with what Terry Waite has to say in this artice.
Just last week I was . . . lamenting to my roommates about my problems with the Easter Vigil Mass as it's been carried out these past few years.
As the mass has gotten longer and longer, more and more complicated, more and more involved, and less and less contemplative. . .the past few years, I've sat in the choir loft wanting to shoot myself when we were only 1/3 of the way through (just over an hour!). One shouldn't feel that way at Easter Vigil.
It's really a case of overstimulation. The vigil Mass has enough extra going on as it is. The lighting of the Pascal candle, reading half the bible before the procession, baptisms. . . all in addition to the mass proper. Ok, that's fine. Great, in fact. I do love a bit of Ritual with my religion, so no problems. The problems come ni when the liturgist goes crazy with the "We must have everyone invilved at all times!" meme.
Like, having the choir (with brass) and the folkgroups and a contor. The choir also has to sing the next morning, and since I'm a member, I know no one actually wants to be there for this travesty. There is a song for friggin' everything, and the congregation is constantly doing. Doing, doing, doing. . . with no time for silence, for reflection, for meditation.
After last year, my mother swore she'd never sing another Easter Vigil. Since I had to sing two masses on Sunday, I begged out of Vigil. My father went, though. And told us about how during the initial readings (of half the bible), the folkgroup was neither a) silent, b) playing a soft instrumental or c) humming softly. No, they went with option WTF) Sing a song at regular volume while the reading is read.
Oh, the Lameness!
So glad I didn't go, I woulda been infuriated. There would have been plastic bottles of water slung from the choir loft. [Our conductor greeted me the next morning by saying "We missed you, but you didn't miss anything." Ouch.]
If I thought I'd be saying things like this 5-7 years ago, I'd have said you were nutters. But too many liturgists equate silence and repose as nothing, or lack of participation. This is completely wrong-- every moment of silence is a chance for personal prayer, a moment of mediation, or reflection, or listening to God.
This arises from a misunderstanding of the very Mass itself, something that I have only come to realize in my post college-years, which I should have learned long before that. The sacrifice of the Mass (the Eucharist) is not a thing done for the priest, or even really by him. It is a gift, from God--not just to the priest, or even just to the community, but to the entire world. The people in the church building itself are a microcosm of what's going on in a cosmic scale. The priest, in persona christi, is the channel for the giving while the community, in persona mundi (bad latin, I know. I'm guessing), are the channel for reception. God--> priest--> community--> entire world. The role of the community, simply by existing, is no less than that of the priest. Both are links in the chain. In the old days, when the priest faced the other way, this was, I think, more apparent--> but I wouldn't change that back now, because not seeing the priest's face would likely drive me batty. To assume that the passive role is less is completely wrong. True, the congregation isn't "on stage" in the church. . . but they are the moment they step out of the church, back onto the world stage.
The emphasis on the congragation doing during the mass is wrong. Yes, the congregation should be involved, but silent prayer and mediation is no less involved than singing, spoken prayer, lectoring . . . Prayer, ritual. . .everything we do should be a conversation with God. Yes, we lay our our issues before him, or give thanks, or whatever. . . but that's only half of it. We also need to know when to shut up about ourselves already and listen.
The result of this problem with "over-involvement" is that it ends up being nothing but "me, me, me!" and "we, we, we!" We say we want God to talk to us, but we never shut up long enough for Him to get a word in edgewise. There is a reason we say that "Silence is a virtue."
more thoughts later.. .
Just last week I was . . . lamenting to my roommates about my problems with the Easter Vigil Mass as it's been carried out these past few years.
As the mass has gotten longer and longer, more and more complicated, more and more involved, and less and less contemplative. . .the past few years, I've sat in the choir loft wanting to shoot myself when we were only 1/3 of the way through (just over an hour!). One shouldn't feel that way at Easter Vigil.
It's really a case of overstimulation. The vigil Mass has enough extra going on as it is. The lighting of the Pascal candle, reading half the bible before the procession, baptisms. . . all in addition to the mass proper. Ok, that's fine. Great, in fact. I do love a bit of Ritual with my religion, so no problems. The problems come ni when the liturgist goes crazy with the "We must have everyone invilved at all times!" meme.
Like, having the choir (with brass) and the folkgroups and a contor. The choir also has to sing the next morning, and since I'm a member, I know no one actually wants to be there for this travesty. There is a song for friggin' everything, and the congregation is constantly doing. Doing, doing, doing. . . with no time for silence, for reflection, for meditation.
After last year, my mother swore she'd never sing another Easter Vigil. Since I had to sing two masses on Sunday, I begged out of Vigil. My father went, though. And told us about how during the initial readings (of half the bible), the folkgroup was neither a) silent, b) playing a soft instrumental or c) humming softly. No, they went with option WTF) Sing a song at regular volume while the reading is read.
Oh, the Lameness!
So glad I didn't go, I woulda been infuriated. There would have been plastic bottles of water slung from the choir loft. [Our conductor greeted me the next morning by saying "We missed you, but you didn't miss anything." Ouch.]
If I thought I'd be saying things like this 5-7 years ago, I'd have said you were nutters. But too many liturgists equate silence and repose as nothing, or lack of participation. This is completely wrong-- every moment of silence is a chance for personal prayer, a moment of mediation, or reflection, or listening to God.
This arises from a misunderstanding of the very Mass itself, something that I have only come to realize in my post college-years, which I should have learned long before that. The sacrifice of the Mass (the Eucharist) is not a thing done for the priest, or even really by him. It is a gift, from God--not just to the priest, or even just to the community, but to the entire world. The people in the church building itself are a microcosm of what's going on in a cosmic scale. The priest, in persona christi, is the channel for the giving while the community, in persona mundi (bad latin, I know. I'm guessing), are the channel for reception. God--> priest--> community--> entire world. The role of the community, simply by existing, is no less than that of the priest. Both are links in the chain. In the old days, when the priest faced the other way, this was, I think, more apparent--> but I wouldn't change that back now, because not seeing the priest's face would likely drive me batty. To assume that the passive role is less is completely wrong. True, the congregation isn't "on stage" in the church. . . but they are the moment they step out of the church, back onto the world stage.
The emphasis on the congragation doing during the mass is wrong. Yes, the congregation should be involved, but silent prayer and mediation is no less involved than singing, spoken prayer, lectoring . . . Prayer, ritual. . .everything we do should be a conversation with God. Yes, we lay our our issues before him, or give thanks, or whatever. . . but that's only half of it. We also need to know when to shut up about ourselves already and listen.
The result of this problem with "over-involvement" is that it ends up being nothing but "me, me, me!" and "we, we, we!" We say we want God to talk to us, but we never shut up long enough for Him to get a word in edgewise. There is a reason we say that "Silence is a virtue."
more thoughts later.. .