When I came to my first Easter at my current parish, I devoted many hours to compiling the Psalmody for the Vigil into a blue folder for the choristers, using the fine resource of plainsong Gradual Psalms then published by the Episcopal Church Publishing House and based on the Lectionary printed in the Book of Common Prayer. I thought that this would keep the choir from having to shuffle loose pages while holding a candle, and save confusion for years to come. I have called this resource the Blue Psalm Book.
We used these books for perhaps two years until a new Rector was hired, who replaced most of the Psalmody with hymns. We were permitted to sing one Psalm at the Vigil, no more, and the Nine Lessons were reduced to five.
He has now retired. The Interim Priest, a thoroughly fine clergyman, has encouraged me to restore the Psalmody to the Vigil, and we are reading seven Lessons as a step toward the proper Nine.
But I learned this week – after distributing the Blue Psalm Book on Wednesday and explaining to the choir what we planned for the Vigil – that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has other ideas.
They have, with the blessing of General Convention, replaced the BCP Lectionary with the Revised Common Lectionary. It was optional for some years and became mandatory as of Advent 2010. But they did not tie up the loose end of rewriting the Holy Week services elsewhere in the Prayerbook. The SCLM now “recommends” that we use the RCL lessons for the services of Holy Week, with the clear intent that this will become mandatory as soon as possible, pursuant to Resolution A-059 at the 2012 Convention, noted in the linked media release.
Most of the Lessons are essentially the same, but several of the Psalms have changed entirely. When I sat down this afternoon to work on the bulletin for the Great Vigil and encountered this, it was a hard moment. I do not have to start from scratch, for there is a resource available with the RCL Gradual Psalms, prepared by Bruce E. Ford and published on CD-ROM by Church Publishing. I thought about printing only the Psalms that have changed and having the choristers slip them into place in their books. Then I thought about one of our older altos, and how confused she would become over this.
There is no way around it; we must scrap the old Blue Psalm Books and start over. This evening after I finished the bulletin (a five-hour job), I printed twenty-five copies of the sixteen pages of Psalmody from the CD-ROM.
I am sad about this. I am worried, too. In the Sunday Eucharistic propers, the RCL often includes lengthy selections from the Psalter. In my opinion, this is not appropriate for the Eucharist. And for the Vigil? We now have to do all of Psalm 19 after one of the Lessons, and Psalms 42 and 43 combined after another, and most of Psalm 136 after another (I am glad that they at least skipped over the part about Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan). Sixteen pages of Psalmody. I worry that the choir will balk; I worry that the congregation will balk, especially in this first year when we are attempting to restore the Liturgy to the manner in which it is outlined in the Book of Common Prayer. Do they not consider that people are actually going to sing all of this stuff, and how long it will take? Perhaps not; I do not think that many Episcopal choirs still sing the Psalms at the Eucharist, or at the Great Vigil.
But obedience to the duly constituted Authority of the Church (I hesitate to call the SCLM a “magisterium”) is part of my Duty. Murmuring and backbiting are Not Appropriate.
This afternoon and evening have thus been a Hill of Difficulty for me (I have been reading The Pilgrim's Progress this fortnight). But I must consider two things: First, our work as choir and clergy and congregation this Easter is akin to that of godly Hezekiah and the Levites in his charge, who cleansed the Temple of filth and observed the Passover: “for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem” (II Chronicles 30:26). One of the mottos I hang by my computer is II Chronicles 29:11 – “My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him [Hebrew: “before his Face”], to serve him [“to perform the service of the Sanctuary”], and that ye should minister unto him [I would translate perhaps as “belong to him as ministers”] and burn incense [i.e., the offering of Prayer and Song].” Today is a day when I need that admonition, and the reminder of what an honor it is to participate in the restoration of the Great Vigil, the most important liturgy of the year (to say nothing of the ongoing Levitical ministry of Music in the House of the Lord to which the Lord has called me). I must not shy away from the work this involves.
The second thing: our Music this morning was good. The youth choir sang at the early service – most of them arriving on time at 8:00 am on the morning of Time Change, a dark and rainy morning no less. The 8:45 congregation sang the Taize song “Jesus, remember me” with a beautiful light transparent sound. And at the late service, the adult choir did a splendid job on the Psalm appointed, a long passage from Psalm 32.
I have not been playing Preludes during Lent. But today the adult discussion group met in the Church, and (as is their custom) ran over time, almost up to the 11:00 service time. There were a few worshippers in the church, trying to focus and pray and prepare, while the last people from the discussion group (most of whom had attended the earlier 8:45 service) stood around continuing their discussions. I sensed that I had to play something to give them a hint to move their discussion outside to the Narthex, and help provide a gateway into the upcoming Eucharist for the little handful of worshippers. Thus, I improvised, partly on our Anthem (see below), and partly on the opening hymn, “God of the Sparrow.” It turned out better than it should have, as I had not prepared.
For a postlude, I played the Bach Fugue on a Theme of Corelli, BWV 579. It is a remarkable piece, which I think fit the quiet sense of this Fourth Sunday in Lent and its Lessons very well. I am linking to a performance of this by Ton Koopman, a fine organist, but I played it in a much quieter manner, and disagree with his more outgoing interpretation. Still, Mr. Koopman's performance can give you a sense of the piece.
But the best part of the morning was the choir's singing of the Vaughan Williams song “He that is down need fear no fall.” Again, I cannot find a YouTube version that does justice to it, so I will close simply by giving the text from John Bunyan, which (in the Pilgrim's Progress) the Shepherd Boy sings in the Valley of Humiliation.
He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble, ever shall
Have God to be his Guide.
I am content with what I have,
Little be it or much;
And, Lord, contentment still I crave,
Because Thou savest such.
Fullness to such a burden is,
That go on pilgrimage;
Here little, and hereafter bliss,
Is best from age to age.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment