Spring training is underway and this baseball fan is so
looking forward to opening day. My Phillies are off to a decent start which is
a plus. Tonight, during our dish-washing conversation, my husband and I made an
interesting connection between baseball and church music. Hmmm… where could
this be going?
Church musicians are often asked to be a jack-of-all-trades:
play the organ, direct choirs, plan worship, manage a music budget, recruit
instrumentalists, and more. If you’re curious about what is asked for these
days in a full-time church musician, check out the full-time job descriptions
on the website of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians(www.alcm.org). After reading a couple of these
today, I wondered if Jesus would qualify. Indeed, I think the congregations are
seeking a savior of sorts, because so many believe (rightly so) that quality
music is key to vital congregations. But what they are looking for is one
person to bring the skills of a whole team. Which brings me back to baseball.
Very rarely do you have a baseball player who is excels in
everything, at least at the professional level. Teams shell out millions for a
good pitcher, for a home-run hitter, for a superb short stop. They will spend
what is necessary to get the right total package. Churches, on the other hand,
often want a musician to do be a dynamic people person, an excellent
keyboardist and a skilled choir director, but often with meager pay. Yet even those that have many part-time positions
miss out on having one person to oversee them, to be the “manager” with the
vision for the entire music ministry. In most places, the manager and the team
are one and the same.
The reason churches need one person to do so much is that
congregations are not financially able (willing?) to support multiple church
musicians. One is a stretch for most congregations. Many congregations are also
not able to afford a full time pastor. Which brings me to the next unlikely
partner in these thoughts, the small appliance repairman.
Today Bill came to replace a faulty valve on our fridge. He
has been a small appliance repairman for decades. He is also a preacher in a
Christian tradition that rarely has full-time pastors. Being bi-vocational has
always been the standard practice. After Bill fixed our fridge (taking a risk
on a new model he wasn’t too sure about), he started talking about family and
faith. He talked about the many homes he has been in fixing appliances and the
conversations he’s had with grieving spouses. He’s fixed things for three
generations in many instances, seeing what goes on in the homes of parents,
children and their children’s children. He talked about the need for families
to be with their children, to be home after school for them, to give them just
a few minutes of their time. He sees too little of this when he’s in people’s
homes.
Bill is not a specialist. He’s not spending his days
becoming the most-coveted, up-to-date repairman in town. This was obvious when
he looked at the back of our fridge. It said “blowing agent: cyclopentane.” He
had never seen it and seemed a little confused, so I did what we young folks
have been trained to do: I googled it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclopentane.
Once I read it, he understood and went about his work. He was successful, and
the loud screech our water filter made every time water flowed into the valve
was finally silenced (As a mom of three, any extra moment of silence is most
welcome!).
By some standards, Bill may not be the most highly rated
repairman. But he is also a pastor and I’ve always gotten the sense that he
views his small appliance business and his ministry as intrinsically linked,
his work being a way to minister and his ministry benefiting from what he encounters
everyday in his business. What I valued most was his presence. He knows who he
is what he can do. And he does so with a care for the people whose homes he’s
been entrusted to care for.
Church musicians can be like Bill, knowing what they need
to, interacting with people and honing their craft. The request on job
descriptions to work well with people could be viewed as getting people to do
stuff, even manipulation. It is this getting people busy that makes one
successful. Instead, churches need to seek out a church musician who is present
with the people, accompanying them, giving them the gift of music for their
life of faith. Ultimately such a musician cares for the health of the
congregation’s song. As Bill served generations in his work, church musicians tend
to music across the generations, being faithful to the gospel in music from
many eras. Quality music can be a sign of health in a congregation, but not at
the expense of a musician who is trying to bat, pitch, and catch at the same
time, often without a seventh-inning stretch.
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