By way of an opening prayer please turn to Hymn 618 in Common Praise. Choir sing verses 1 & 2 A Vision for Music at St Mary s. First a bit about myself. I can t remember a world without music. My very first Christian experiences as a junior member of this church and choir boy when Walter was in charge were in a context where most parts of the service were set to music. It seems strange now, when sung liturgy has become the exception, but I don t remember minding it at all and often found the bits that we didn t sing to be quite frankly, a bit dull. At school, first in Camberley and later in Farnborough, the day always started with a Christian assembly and the singing of a hymn or two from a scruffy, linen bound, copy of Hymns, Ancient & Modern. Whilst at school I learnt to play the trombone, taught myself to play the piano and, through mixing regularly with others more musically talented than myself, became a reasonably competent all-round musician. I studied maths and music at university and after several false career starts, eventually joined the Royal Navy. Although the Navy has no musicians of its own it was far from being either a Christianity or music free zone and gave me a) plenty of opportunity to maintain my working relationship with God which I didn t always take - and b) regular musical opportunities such as playing in the band for church services on the quarter deck of HMS Ark Royal. After getting married, leaving the Navy, and moving to Dorset I joined a church choir in the Piddle Valley under the musical direction of a particularly feisty female organist who was, by the way a firmly committed humanist! Thinking of her definitely calls to mind a joke I heard recently which goes something like: What s the difference between an organist and a terrorist? Answer: You can negotiate with a terrorist. When we moved on from Dorset I quickly found roles as Instrumental Music Group Leader at St Mary s Church, Ticehurst (E Sussex) in the early 1990s, and Sunday School Music Leader at our local Church of Scotland Parish Church, after moving again to the wee county of Clackmannanshire. Following that I became a sort of associate member of the Salvation Army, for whom I played my trombone at the Stirling Citadel in Central Scotland. So, when we finally moved back to Eversley in 2006 it seemed only natural to join the church choir, once again; to volunteer to take over from Walter as Family Services organist; and then to deputise for Sally Moon. Not quite sure where PCC Treasurer slipped in though.
I ll be honest with you. Whilst music of one form or another has always had a high profile presence in my life, my Christian faith has not been such a constant. There have been periods when I have let myself become distanced from God I wasn t talking to Him and He didn t seem to be trying to get in touch with me. I have always returned though and God, who never left my side, has stuck around also. Through all my doubts and dodgy moments I have always maintained my musical links to the Christian faith, and in recent years my faith has developed to the point where I am now happy to describe myself as: A committed and active Christian; regular churchgoer; Alpha Course graduate; Home Group member; PCC Treasurer and, of course, Director of Music. Time for more cards on the table. When I say music I confess that whilst my musical tastes are wide and my abilities, though limited, are broad based, they owe more to the classical tradition than the pop music tradition. This means, for example, that when it comes to that well known hymn tune Slane, I prefer the (original) 3/4 version to the (contemporary) 4/4 one. To quote CS Lewis, if our singing and music making have been helpful and edified anyone, then the fact they set my teeth on edge is infinitely unimportant. We are all followers of Jesus Christ and that is the most important thing. There is plenty of modern worship music that derives from the classical tradition though and which probably feels more comfortable and engageable with to old fogies like myself. How about the instantly recognisable sound of John Rutter whose music I know our choir loves to sing? Anyone remember The Lord is My Shepherd from last month s Candlelit Carols concert? The powerful combination of the words of the Psalm, Rutter s harmonies played on the organ and sung by the choir, and overlaid with the plaintive tones of the oboe, were impossible to resist. Which brings me to the critical question for this vision thing: Why do we use music in worship? I believe there are five key reasons, and they also define my vision for music here at St Mary s. They are: 1. To shine a spotlight on significant moments whether liturgical, calendar based, or simply part of our weekly ritual. Eg We still sing the Gloria and we always use music to help prepare us for prayer and intercession. Music plays a key role in our celebration of Christian festivals such as Christmas or Easter
2. Music unites us in one voice when we meet as a group and we do that through organised congregational singing 3. Music helps us talk to God Music has the ability to enhance the meaning of the words it accompanies and can help us to express our feelings and emotions in ways that simply saying the words cannot. For example let s say together the first verse of CP191. On the count of 2 (it s in 3) let s sing it. Now let s have a note and some accompaniment. What a difference! 4. Music inspires and supports us Music can preach beyond our minds and penetrate direct to our hearts. Last September the choir sang John Rutter s composition Look to the Day during Holy Communion. This piece was written at the request of Cancer Research UK and the words contain a strong message of hope. However the music alone clearly managed to convey the message very powerfully and we received several messages of appreciation for it both during and after the service 5. Music, hymns in particular, is part of our Christian heritage. It is a worship resource and the hymns are ours. They connect us with our Christian past and we should not take them for granted. Look how the singing of psalms has all but disappeared. Singing congregationally is not optional therefore, but whilst I would be the first to admit that I love singing, playing and now conducting church music, I am always mindful that it is not an end in itself. Its primary purpose is to help us connect with God in all the ways I ve just described, and to inspire and support us as we do so. If we are pleased with an aspect of the music itself then all well and good and it probably means that we have connected with God just that little bit better but that should be a happy consequence of the music rather than its objective. And why not just put on a pre-recorded CD backing or accompaniment and sing along to that? Well, apart from thinking that, as a musician, this is aesthetically questionable and as a Christian an entirely unsatisfactory way of practicing my faith, there is also a link here back to what Mike was preaching last week. Do you remember Paul s words in Romans 12 (p1139) which encourage us to offer our bodies and the gifts we have been blessed with as living sacrifices? Well our gifts (choir, organists, instrumentalists) are musical and we offer them as our sacrifices ( This our sacrifice of praise (CP253)). It is our talent. We have a duty to use it and we do so with joy and love in our hearts mostly. The congregation is the primary music group in church let s be clear about that but the choir and organ have primary leadership roles - to lead the congregation and help them connect with God. And when we sing
an anthem or play a piece of organ music we offer it as a gift to God on behalf of the congregation. The vision My vision is that at St Mary s Eversley we will achieve the 5 purposes of music in worship that I have just described. Our music will, therefore: 1. Shine a spotlight on significant moments 2. Unite us in one voice when we meet to worship as a group 3. Help us talk to God 4. Inspire and support us 5. Continue to connect us with our Christian heritage. How? For me the output of the PCC Vision Day on 28 April last year has really helped to inform the task of determining how that vision will be achieved. The gist of that output was threefold: 1. A clear desire for more support for congregational singing 2. Our worship music should be planned and delivered more effectively 3. Find new ways of using musical resources to support worship. And this is what we have been doing since my appointment in September I ll start with the basics. I firmly believe that if we get the basics right support, leadership, structure and strategy - the realisation of the vision will follow. We now have a Music committee to oversee musical output, work with the PCC / other committees, choose our hymns and songs, maintain our musical fabric and allocate resources. We also have a Choir Management Group which wasn t there before to look after the critical tasks of recruitment, choir musical development and even, shock horror, a bit of spiritual development also. And then back to the 3 outcomes from the PCC Vision Day: They wanted more support for congregational singing. I believe that the givens of congregational singing at St Marys are: i) organ and choir remain at the core, ii) we will maintain a balance of the traditional and contemporary. Around that: - we are actively looking at adding the 3 rd Sunday of the month to the choir s current 2 nd and 4 th Sundays commitment - to maximise the value of what we sing we are now regularly introducing the congregation to new or unfamiliar songs and asking the choir to sing through them first The PCC wanted us to plan and deliver our worship music more effectively. Our hymns are now chosen with the prayers and the themes of the day firmly in mind. Now that we have a DoM we also the PCC, Worship Committee, Music Committee talk to each other so that the
worship planning takes place alongside the music planning and left and right hands have a fair chance of knowing what the other is doing. They wanted us to find new ways of using our musical resources. For a start there is clearly more scope to involve children and youth groups in church music. For the first time ever in my recollection, CKS choir will sing with the church choir this year - a Palm Sunday anthem. In addition we will be looking at putting on a Summer fund raising concert with them. We need to explore a Sunday School tie up also although the bureaucracy around working with children these days presents quite a challenge. Plans for a new contemporary service are well developed now and some of our musicians will be playing an important role in that. The choir at 3 rd Sundays also opens up the possibility of a new approach to the music for that service. If you attended Candlelit Carols you will have noticed a slight shift away from the ancient to the modern, from the heavy to the light. This was deliberate. As I ve said already we re not about to abandon our Christian musical heritage but we do need to reflect the age we live in and, to some extent at least, the tastes of those who share this world with us. It s about striking a balance. What else? People. Most important. As I indicated earlier the choir is part of the leadership of the church. As a sort of quasi Home Group it has an important outreach role as a route into the church for new members and in October Jane Pickup organised a Choir open Evening from which we gained 7 new members 6 of whom have stayed (and yes, 3 of them are members of the Thomas family!). We still need some more men though. Please include this in your prayers. I think you will agree with me though that the average age of the church choir has reduced considerably in recent months! Organists. We have a vacancy and I am actively recruiting for another one to join the team and am very optimistic that we will have good news on that front soon! It s not just about numbers, either. The RSCM offers a variety of resources for developing musicians. Its 'Voice for Life' scheme for training and developing choir members is now being actively explored. Historically we haven t really used the RSCM enough and I intend to change that. Finally This is the plan for delivering the strategy: Colossians 3:16 (P1184) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Choir sing CP618 vs 3 to 5