Yesterday, the pastor of one of the churches of which I am a member called to ask a favor. More accurately, he called to ask that I be ready to deliver a favor.
Several years ago, I sang in the choir at this church. There were and are several excellent singers in the choir. I left the choir because several members developed the attitude that Mass was just a sidelight to the concerts they presented every Sunday morning. Not once was the focus on making music that would encourage the congregation to sing. Why should people in the congregation sing when there was such a wonderful choir?
This past summer, a new liturgist and music director took over at this church. After several months of trying to work with this choir, the director submitted his resignation on the day after Christmas.
The pastor that called yesterday asked me to pray for a good resolution to the situation and to consider filling in as a temporary musician in the event that the pastor could not convince the current liturgist/music director to stay.
The situation reminds me of the U.S. basketball team that competed in the Olympics several years ago. The team was made up of the best players from the NBA (this was just after professionals were allowed to compete). Virtually everyone predicted that the U.S. team would easily win the gold medal. The Dream Team was fortunate to win a bronze medal. While the U.S. team was made up of the best players, other countries had players that made up the best teams.
Back to the situation at my church...As a musician, it is very frustrating to see so many talented singers fail to focus on the goal of making music that encourages other people to sing at Mass. I have been to many other parishes where singers and musicians with less abilities were much more effective in encouraging parishioners to actively participate in Mass by singing.
I once saw a tombstone that read "He Never Had a Solo, But He Always Carried the Section".
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