Thoughts vol.2

At Prince of Peace we hear an awful lot about "full, active and conscious" participation in the liturgy. What does that mean? How do we go about doing it?

In Mark Searle's book mentioned in the last post, "Called to Participate" he submits for consideration:

Full, conscious, and active participation is not merely external, it is also internal, in fact, even more so.

He goes on to identify three levels of "FCA":

1. External - the demands of our rites (hymn singing, responses, going through the motions, etc...)
2. Internal - experiencing the mystery of the Pasch, the liturgy of Christ, who became obedient, even to dying on the cross, having lowered himself to the form of a servant. (Philippians)
3. Life of God that becomes sanctifying grace. We have become transformed and are actually offering ourselves as that same model of sacrifice, sharing ourselves without hesitation or thought, with the rest of the world, helping to bring them into the life of Christ.

Liturgy is to be transformative in our lives. Think about the bread (wafer) that we eat for that meal. It started as a seed, that had to fight its way through the earth, growing into a plant that was then cut down and ground into flour. It then was forced into a dough, baked, then ground again when we received it at the Eucharist, then went through the digestive process. These are all very brutal, and difficult transformations that that wheat seed has undergone.

While it was being transformed in an earthly form, it was also transformed into the Body of Christ. When we ate it it changed us both spiritually and physically, for not only did it give us protein and sustenance to continue on with our daily life, it changed us spiritually (and physically) into the body of Christ. We then leave the Church community and then share that life with others.

Without trying to sound "holy" and "hyper-pious" I want to challenge you to contemplate on how your participation in the Paschal mystery has changed you and how you have changed others you have encountered.

What does this have to do with us as musicians making music? When we make music, we are making the music of the Gospel and are giving voice to Christ as well as the community. We can never lose sight of what we have become, so that we can be a "little Christ"or "Christian to every one we meet.

Thoughts vol.1

Just so you know it's a misty 68 degrees this July 1, 2009 at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, IN. I start classes today and have been immersed in reading. My desk in my dorm room has about 15 books stacked on it that I have to get through this summer!

I will be posting thoughts and reflections as well as some ideas that might be of interest to you, and will leave them for you to ponder. I hope that they challenge you to discuss with me. Some of this will work its way into rehearsals starting this Fall.

I am in the midst of reading Mark Searle's manifesto on the liturgy entitled: "Called to Participate: Theological, Ritual and Social Perspectives." One quote that jumped out at me is:
"We do not own the liturgy. Rather it is the liturgy of the whole Church that is given us by Christ as the means whereby we may enter into his liturgy..." and

Human worship that has any hope of being acceptable to God has to be the worship not of lips but of obedience: an offering of one's whole self, with and in Christ, to God. That is our participation in the paschal mystery of Christ's obedience unto death. Without that, we might as well stay in bed on Sunday morning; without that, all the praying and singing in the world is beside the point." (p. 28)

Do we act like we "own" the liturgy? Do we offer an acceptable offering unto God? I don't know the answers to these questions, but it does cause one to pause and think. I invite you into that same conversation and reflection.

Peace.