Now here's a thing. Take a small pisky church, inconveniently if picturesquely sited on a small hill at the very back of a seaside town (you've had this description before, but I need to re-emphasise certain features of the situation). Take a small but stable/growing slightly congregation which is in the limbo (known as interregnum by the optimistic and vacancy by the rest) caused by the translation of the former incumbent (not dead, merely departed). Take the gradual metamorphosis of some members of that congregation from pew-fodder to worship leader ...
So far so good. We like to see thoughtful and committed church folk taking responsibility for their patch, growing where they're planted and all that. But when the robed ones who on any one day are planted firmly in the holy end (Larkin's phrase, not mine) turn out to be two thirds of the people who actually (a) know the hymns and (b) can be heard behind the proverbial bus ticket ...
You get the picture. Today I felt I was a lone voice, singing away - and was, in actual fact, a lone voice in the post-communion hymn, despite the twenty or so folk behind me. But I enjoyed preaching about angels - maybe some of them had a wee song too.
Hmm! If the robed are the majority who know the hymns, you need to think a bit about what hymms you pick. Possibly.
ReplyDeleteI think I would never go back again if we stuck to the hymns everyone seems to know - because there are about enough for one service! Maybe if everyone turned up as regularly as the robed they'd get to know more of them - we've done every single one of them several times. Girn, girn.
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, what was the post-communion hymn, and what tune were you singing it to?
ReplyDeleteRobin
It was "Within our darkest night" - a Taize hymn, so not rocket science. And with the weather we've been having, and the depression of people all around, it seemed very appropriate! And yes, we've sung it several times in the past.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I didn't know that one, but I've just checked the relevant Taize book, and I shouldn't have thought the tune would be terribly hard to pick up by ear after a few repetitions.
ReplyDeleteRobin