Marriage Vows

I am playing for a wedding again today although they have recorded music to go out to.

I am no longer married but it has always struck me - when times were hard for me - that it was a nonsense to oblige young people to utter the words "for better or for worse". How can young people (who think they have life experience but actually do not) make such a vow and stick to it? Many people do stick to it, of course, and find a way to manage; but the church is not being very realistic when it makes people say such words. Yes, it is a good aspiration but people change and relationships deteriorate.

Typically of the church, it dangles the notion that life will unfold in a certain way only to allow people to discover that life can be a bitch.

The marriage vows have changed a little I have noticed ('obey' was under debate even in 1983 when I tied the knot) so I shall listen today to hear what is promised.

Reliving my youth

I enjoyed Evensong yesterday. It reminded me of my early days as a youthful organist. I still have to concentrate very hard on the pointing of the psalms. This is because

1. When I was a chorister we used the Oxford Psalter, not the Parish Psalter
2. As a chorister I sang mainly Evening psalms (including the whole of the 15th evening) so Morning pslams are rather unfamilar to me
   
3. The chants in the Parish Psalter are not always the best

I willingly joined in with the prayers because I know them so well and they are like friends to me. I can still hear the voice of my aunt saying the General Confession and of the bass lay clerk, Mr Lloyd, saying the Creed as I stood near to him.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the holy Ghost, Born of the virgin Mary, Suffered vnder Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell, The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the holy ghost, The holy Catholic Church, The Com̄union of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, The resurrection of the body, And the life everlasting. Amen.

And we'll have none of this, 'he descended to the dead' stuff which the C of E seems to have stuck in.

Actual Teaching

So, the sermon on Sunday was about prayer as I've mentioned.

It was given at a church where there are several lady priests so, after the service, I approached the one I thought had spoken (I cannot see the pulpit from the organ console). she told me that it was a lay reader who had spoken so I went over to congratulate her.

The thing is that this sermon was thoughfully delivered and actually - I mean actually - contained some advice which would be helpful for those wanting to get closer to God. In short, the advice was to say the Lord's Prayer every day and that it didn't matter how or where one says it. Sitting, walking, slowly, line by line, with music playing, in silence, in bed, loudly, softly, morning or evening. There were more possibilites but you get the idea.

There were some points I felt were scooted over. For example "Why do bad things happen?". "Why does the person I've been praying for for weeks, months or years still die of the illness?" was the example she used. Her answer came from a book she recommended. Sometimes the answer to prayer is God himself. I felt this was not really an answer but she was brave to address the issue.

So many sermons I've heard have simply been about telling the story of a reading over again. Useful to place it in the context of biblical times but of little practical value.

This sermon was pretty good. So, it can be done. Vicars please note.

Prayer in Services #2

It seems to me that many people have an image of God as one of the following:

• A celestial aircraft pilot
• A celestial computer operator
  
• A celestial magician
• A celestial surgeon
• A celestial mechanic
• A celestial ______ (fill in the blank)

Taking the first two of these: imagine an airlcraft pilot sitting in a huge cockpit. He is confronted by numerous buttons, levers and dials. Each control does something. Or anyone using a piece of software - Microsoft Word or Excel have far more menus and options than I am ever going to use.

What people do when they pray is to expect God to listen and then push the appropriate button or click on the correct formatting/function command. Very often a prayer will contain the words "Make us X, Y or Z..." which requires a response from God the pilot. "Help us to change course in life" so God moves the joystick or whatever it is called on a large plane.

The sermon on Sunday was about prayer and I will write about it later in the week For now I am leaving this link here about the Lord's Prayer.

Prayer in services #1

Church services always include prayers which are led either by the vicar or a member of the congregation. I am not thinking here of formal prayers in the BCP such as the General Confession. Intercessions are often spoken by a lay person and such people have usually looked at the news to see what they should pray for.

Now, one school of thought says that God does not intervene in our lives so prayer could be a bit pointless. Also Jesus said that God knows what we want before we ask for it.

It seemed to me to be a bit odd, in the recent heatwave the UK has had (weather warnings issued), to ask God to make sure that people drank enough water.

Which art in heaven

The Radio 4 morning service today was from St George's Chapel, Windsor and was a service of Matins. Matins is not as common these days as it once was so it was good to hear it done well.

I particularly liked the old language of the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The C of E needs to hold onto the traditions of the past. I doubt that other faiths have updated their prayers for years!

Prayer

Does God answer prayer(s)? This is a debate I shall touch on now and then.

There are several churches without organists this morning according to Organistsonline, and I wonder if the people at each of them prayed for God to supply one.

Does the infinite go in for fulfilling the items on a prayer 'shopping list'? If prayers are not answered, what is the point? Is it just wishing? It has always puzzled me.

Virtual Vespers

Hot on the heels of my post Time for God I have discovered Virtual Vespers which is an oasis of calm in my life. This is an initiative from James Flores on his channel.

For me, these videos 'hit the spot' and it must be that organ music speaks to me of the Divine as much as the spoken word: the mix of the two is well-judged. Also, I am discovering attractive new organ repertoire which I may actually be able to play even with my fingers starting to show signs of arthritis.

I also quite like the MP3s from Pray as you go which I linked to the other day but they keep telling me my browser it out of date, no matter which browser I use.

Once again, I think I enjoy these types of media because they get on with the job in hand - worship and meditation - without the chatty "let's all be friends" emphasis I find in church these days when real spirituality and single-mindedness gets pushed aside.

If the church wants to encourage people to spend quality time with God then services need to ignore the world outside (notices, announcements and meaningless long sermons) and get on with reaching the inner core of peoples' souls.

Time for God

"Vicars only work on Sundays" is a thought which passes the minds of many people. It is not true: if fact most have one day off a week. The Sunday schedule of the incumbent who took yesterday's services was exhausting. When I arrived at St. John's at 08:40 she was already in the church having had an 08:00 Communion. She stayed on for the 09:30 Sung Eucharist, we went to the next village for the 11:15 service and I knew she had a baptism at 13:00. Later the same day there was an Evensong (18:30) back at St. John's. How she filled her afternoon I am not sure.

The sermon was about finding time for God each day: just 15 minutes. "Even I can do that" she said which is not to say that is all the time she finds in a day for the deity. The introduction to the sermon concerned those who have lost their faith and she postulated that people lose their faith because they do not maintain a relationship with God. This is certainly true in my case following my dalliance with an Evangelical church and a few major life issues.

The congregation was encouraged to find ways of engaging with God through private prayer and/or Bible reading. There was an A4 handout to take home with a list of low-tech and higher-tech methods. Here are a few.

• https://www.brfonline.org.uk/collections/our-notes
• https://content.scriptureunion.org.uk/bible-reading-guides
• www.thegoodbook.co.uk/daily-bible-reading/ 

Then there are the apps and websites

• https://www.sacredspace.ie/
• https://www.prayermate.net/app
• https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/
• https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/centering-prayer-mobile-app/
• https://pray-as-you-go.org/ie.php

This is the first time I have taken away from a church something to investigate in my own time. I have attended many services which have been only perfunctory.

 

At the name of Jesus

When I was a chorister we used to bow our heads on three main occasions.

1. When crossing from one side of the cathedral to the other (North to South or vice versa) when we had to stop, face the altar and bow either from the waist or just the head. This was especially done when we crossed on, say, an errand near the choir stalls. If we were right at the West end or in the nave it didn't seem to matter.
   
   
2. As we entered or departed from the choir stalls in procession. We would bow in pairs (Dec. and Can.) as we entered, pausing for half a second (or the next pair would bump into you). On the way out we did rather a clever move: we got out of our respective stalls and joined the growing procession but, for a brief time, we walked backwards as we bowed and then did a 180 degree turn and continued to process in a dignified manner.
   
   That's what I recall anyway. Many choirs you see these days do a corporate bow - if memory serves, we only did this on Sundays when the crucifer was present. Obviously, we did not bow when singing about Jesus!
   
   
3. During the Apostles' Creed, in Evensong, when we got to the name of Jesus. We were bang on with our bows just as the syllable 'Je-' left our lips. I knew it was coming, I would get ready and be keen not to miss it.
   

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost... (people do not like ghosts these days and Spirit is used, as well as Creator not Maker. In fact, I am disgusted with the C of E for the text on that page)

I do not see '3' happening these days. Certainly '1' does not (although it may do in places I have not been to). I always found it difficult if there were visitors about, as I felt they would not understand. When I first became an organist my then vicar would actually stop and genuflect when walking around the church.

I have to say I miss bowing: I did it this morning - automatically - in the Nicene Creed which we say rather than sing. I was the only one.

I miss saying the Creed in Evensong in a choir and it is one of my strongest boyhood memories, as I often stood near one of the bass lay clerks, Bill, who joined in with a quiet confidence I sought to emulate. It was team action; a programmed response; the right thing to do; "a sign [which] lifted us all from the mundane and served as a convenient reminder that there are lofty realities that transcend and beckon us." (I have quoted from HERE)

Church today has been the usual disappointingly casual affair. Noise during my pre- and post-service voluntaries: not just chatter [in the vestry which is adjacent to the organ] but loud, excessive chatter.

I'm not sure I want to bother much more. Nobody else does.