A Traditional Choir

Dear Friends,

My son was 4 or so when I realized he'd spent a lot of time, maybe too much time, in a seminary community. We had visited my parents' church one Sunday morning to hear my dad preach. He's a good preacher and he gave a good sermon.

The music was also good, but very different than what the kids were used to. I asked them what they thought about the music on the way home, and Fritz responded, "Well, that band was good, but I just prefer a traditional choir." I promise that's not a made-up story. My 4-year-old said that.

We all have our preferences around church and music and things like that. It's one of the things that makes worship kind of hard. Even in the best of situations, things are never perfect, and not just when new air conditioning units don't quite cooperate! And there are, of course, all of those other people and their preferences to deal with! There's no way around it. Worship is, even at its very best, our struggling toward God's goodness and love together in the midst of our personal preferences.

There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with our preferences--preferring a traditional choir, for instance--as long as we realize they aren't the point of worship. This summer, I've been thinking a bit about my preferences. A podcast run by an Episcopal priest and a church musician has been running a tournament-style competition about favorite hymns on Twitter. Every day, two great hymns face-off against one another, and everyone is invited to vote on the one they like the most.

It's really hard for me, but "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" has emerged as my very favorite hymn. But so many are wonderful, beautiful, and bring me, through their music and poetry, into a deeper recognition of God's presence in the world.

What about you? What is your favorite hymn or song? What is your favorite part of worship? I'd love to hear more about what it is that speaks the loudest word of God's goodness to you.

God bless,

Fr. Quinn+

Photo by Michael Maasen on Unsplash