This Music Is Brought to You By…..Part II

What is this place where we are meeting?

Only a house, the earth its floor.

Walls and a roof sheltering people,

windows for light, an open door.

Yet it becomes a body that lives

when we are gathered here,

and know our God is near.

                                     “What is This Place”- Huub Oosterhuis, b. 1933.

Yesterday I praised the temples. I praised the mission of the church as a place, a place that can house beautiful music. I do not intend here to undermine that praise or that mission, but I need to offer a counterpoint.

We speak of the church as the body of Christ and as a body, it breathes, moves, and sings. For a very large gathering of worshippers or for a concert setting, a cathedral can be exactly what is needed to promote our singing. Fine acousticians have planned it that way. But the reality is that in many contexts, the large room with people spread out, all facing forward may not promote our singing. If you compound this with a musical leader that is not properly tuned into the singing body, the music falls flat. We sing quieter. We are discouraged. We stop singing and then blame style or format when in fact the situation is much more complex than hymnals versus screens.

Music is brought to you by the breath, by pulse, by listening. It is nurtured by compassion and courage. In a culture that tends to see music as something you consume, it can be truly ear opening to experience music—particularly singing—as a truly communal, participatory event. The musical spaces that support the fine concerts can also support fine singing by a community, but it will take a different set of skills. Music that Makes Community changed my perception of singing together as church. Click on the site and learn about this venture that opens us to new/old ways of being a singing body.

As with so much of faith and life, it is not either/or but both/and. Beautiful worship spaces are a mission of the church, but singing together, like everything else, is death and resurrection. What needs to die so that singing together flourishes? What needs to be raised up? Every space and people will have different answers and questions, but we trust that as the Spirit works, we will be that living, singing body.