my brother-in-law, who lives in the same town as my wife and i, is one of the organists at the church to which we belong. under normal circumstances, he plays on alternate months, with another musician playing during the months in which he does not play. the other organist has had major surgery, so my brother-in-law is having to play every sunday until she recovers. because of the pandemic, the church no longer sings congregational hymns. the only music in the service is a prelude before the service begins and a postlude at the end. few people listen to either, as the congregation talks through his prelude music and leaves during his postlude, talking as they exit the building. he spends hours preparing these two pieces of music, and it seems insulting that few people pay much attention to his playing.
in contrast, in the church for which i have been playing twice a month for several months now, a typical service has continued through the pandemic. the congregation sings hymns and responses through their masks. i find it worrying that they have continued to sing together, since we've been told by the health experts that communal singing is one way the covid virus is easily spread. the congregation is spaced out in the large room in which we worship, and no one in this congregation has been infected with the virus. the service begins before the prelude is played, and the congregation is invited to listen to the prelude music as a way of preparing for worshiping together. the hymns seem to have been carefully selected to emphasize the content of the scripture lessons that are read in the service. it is obvious that the people of the church find the musical content of the service to be important to them, as they relish the music that we make together. to my surprise, last sunday the liturgist who was leading the service invited the congregation to sit and listen to the postlude after the benediction before exiting the room. most people did as she requested, and i felt that the music i provided was valued by those who were present.
the different approaches to music in the church that is represented in the actions of these two congregations has caused me to spend some time thinking about the role of music in worship. in the first church, a great deal of time is spent with various people speaking. there are two homilies delivered by lay leaders, one which introduces the offering and one which leads up to communion. there are announcements made by another layperson. the minister preaches a sermon which is often rather lengthy, as well as leading a long pastoral prayer and several shorter prayers at various points in the service. in normal times, there would be music during the collection of the offering and during the serving of communion, but because of health concerns, offering plates and communion plates are not distributed, eliminating the the need for music at those points in the service. the singing of hymns had already been minimized, with only three included in the service and those were shortened by the omission of some of the stanzas. since covid struck, hymns have been eliminated altogether. because there is no choir during the pandemic, there is no anthem as there would normally have been. instead a soloist will sometimes sing a piece of "special music." no one who participates in this church's services seems to have missed the elimination of most of the music in the service. i suspect that the role of music in the normal services had been so curtailed even before the pandemic that the congregation is largely insensitive to the beauty and meaning that well-chosen music could bring to their worship.
in the church for which i have been playing, the congregation regards the singing of hymns, responses, and other songs as essential to worship. they listen attentively to the prelude music and ask that i play a piece of music at the point in the service where the choir would have sung an anthem in pre-covid times. most people continue listening during the postlude, even when they are not requested to do so. after the service, several people inevitably come to tell me how much they appreciate the music that i have played. i always leave feeling that my role in the service is vital to the congregation's experience of worship. there is a careful balance between individual leadership as the congregation listens and congregational participation in corporate acts of worship, including singing and reading various portions of the service aloud together. the elements of the service have been carefully planned so that the message of the scripture lessons is reflected in all aspects of the service. there is never a sense that those who worship together as simply "going through the motions."
because music is so important to my own experience of worship, i am reluctant to return to my own church's services. the diminished role of music, especially regarding the hymns, before covid was disturbing to me, and now it seems that the place of music in the service is even more curtailed. i have suggested to my brother-in-law that hymns could be played at the appropriate points in the service as the congregation reads the words even if the church leaders believe that it is unsafe to sing aloud, but he says there is not enough time in the service since those who speak have lengthened what they are saying to such an extent during the modified service. perhaps my wife and i will attend the church for which i now play when we return to every-sunday worship since music seems to be so much more important to that congregation.
may we be careful to find balance in all that we do, including how we worship. may we recognize the power of music to express what would otherwise be inexpressible. may the appreciation of beauty be important to us in our daily lives, and may we express ourselves through whatever artistic media is within our capabilities. shalom.
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