Trick or treat

This morning was an easy, one-anthem Sunday. I wore black wool trousers, a black cotton cardigan, a white shirt, and my black and white spider and skull Halloween tie, and carried (out of necessity!) my black umbrella. I'm still wearing it! I was probably the only person handing out candy tonight in a tie. Back to church.....we sang Durufle's "Ubi Caritas" for the offertory and the organist did an improvisation on that during communion. All Saints' is tomorrow, and we aren't doing a high Mass. That's a bit of a surprise, cause I think that all of the holy days of obligation should have a proper sung Mass. I'd like to go to Trinity tomorrow night, but I have to teach tomorrow night. Alas.

En Français

Mass was annoying this morning. The assistant priest was going it alone this morning and had his usual too-long sermon (sometimes I think he thinks he's at a Baptist church!) at the 9:30, which delayed the organist/choirmaster getting into rehearsal even longer than usual. Meanwhile whilst I hold down the fort, I was having to find the music to rehearse, since no one had bothered to put today's music into my folder. Hymns were ok....more of the old standard Protestant tunes with weird Catholic words....and we did Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine for the offertory and John Rutter's God Be in My Head for communion. I was busy reviewing my French for the anthem during the sermon, so I can't comment on the quality of the priest's long chat. :-)

Emergence

Yea! Finally done with the Butterfly run. Sold out house this afternoon, standing ovation (of course), and Cio Cio San and Pinkerton both interpolated extra high notes.

Church went ok this morning. We did the Slumber Snot Song ("He watching over Israel" from Mendelssohn's Elijah) for the offertory and the Byrd "Ave Verum Corpus" during communion. The hymns were all easy....my only complication was that the descant on the processional was on another page from the accompaniment music.

Ennui

I needed to practice today, but by the time I got in the mood to go, it was going to put me right on top of confessions and the vigil Mass, so I decided to punt. I don't know what I have to play tomorrow morning. Twill be an adventure.

Welcome to The Sensible Christian!

I'm just a common, simple Indian living in the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma (yes, we have indoor plumbing, and no, we don't live in a teepee).  A long time ago, my ancestors—Kickapoos, Pottawattomies, Seminoles, and Wyandottes—were evangelized by Anglican and Catholic missionaries, and most of them ended up Anglican/Episcopalian, though some are Catholic and some (like me) are caught in the middle.

I've always gone to church.  I can't ever remember a time when we didn't go.  Since I was about six- or seven-years-old, I've sung in church choirs, and right now, I'm a professional cantor (think worship leader or music minister) and assistant organist for a major Catholic church here in Tulsa when I'm not doing my regular day job as a college professor or my other part-time job as an opera singer.  I've also sung professionally for several Episcopal churches and cathedrals, and I've even sung for high holy days services for a Jewish temple.

My favorite class to teach is ancient and medieval humanities, and unlike many of my colleagues who teach it as an art history course, I prefer to base the study around the development and evolution of religion.  It seems to me that all of the arts—painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance, philosophy, architecture, law—evolved to support and to respond to religion.  In order to understand modern Western society, we have to understand our history and how we got to where we are today.

I used to think I wanted to be a minister.  There was a little problem, though.  While I certainly believe in God or a "supreme being," I don't agree 100% with denominational religion.  Denominations and churches have a problem with that.  Maybe I've just studied and learned too much about our history and religious/cultural evolution, but I just can't buy the official party line of the various denominations without a lot of asterisks.

Most every major world religion has some good points, ideas, and concepts.  Within Christianity, most denominations have some nice thoughts and traditions.  I would never be so arrogant, though, to assert that my denomination or my personal thoughts are the correct and only answer as to the Mystery that is God.  That doesn't make me any less a Christian or any less a believer in God; I just happen to prefer to think for myself.

Now, those of you who are Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants should be forewarned:  I do not think the Bible is a fixed, static, personally-dictated-by-God-to-King-James piece of literature.  I believe that it cannot be taken strictly and literally, that the Bible has a lot of instances where it contradicts itself, and that the historical record shows how various parts of the Bible were written or amended for then-contemporary political purposes (not to mention the politics in voting on which books to include and which to exclude).  That does not mean that the Bible might not have been divinely inspired.  That does not mean that the midrashic (I'll write on the Aramaic tradition of midrash later) stories in the Bible did not have some basis in fact.  I certainly respect the Bible as a cornerstone of morality and faith.  But, I have to look at the Bible in its cultural context based upon those times and cultures when and where the passages were written.  Yes, some of you will have a problem with that, but when I discuss things, I will try to explain the culture and the language that underpins Biblical passages under discussion.

Because 70% of my family is Episcopalian, 20% is Catholic, and the remaining 10% is some flavor of non-liturgical Protestant or still adhering to traditional tribal religion, I grew up Episcopalian and I most closely identify with the conservative, Anglo-Catholic branch of the Episcopal Church.  The music, liturgy, prayers, and ceremonial are familiar to me, and I like them.  That doesn't mean I won't argue finer points of music and liturgy with the clergy, or that I agree with the politics of the Church.

Lately, since I'm the professional cantor at the Catholic parish where I spend my Sundays, I've been going to Catholic Mass the vast majority of the time.  I find that I know more about Catholic music and liturgy than most priests, and often have to argue and cite the General Instructions to the Roman Missal (GIRM) to them to prove my points to the clueless clerics.  I also have a personal mission to save American Catholicism from the really, really bad contemporary Catholic music that sprang out of the post-Vatican II St. Louis Jesuits movement and that now sadly pollutes much of the American church.

So, you know a little bit about me.  This is my blog to talk about religion, faith, church politics, church music, worship, prayer, and anything that seems related.  Obviously, they are my observations, experiences, thoughts, and beliefs.  I hope you'll enjoy my perspective.

If you have comments or opinions, please post them!  I love calm, intelligent, sensible discussion of issues.  No flames, please, and, there's no need to write me a long witness statement, try to convert me to your religious belief or viewpoint, or try to tell me why Catholics or Episcopalians are bad or not "real" Christians—I'll just delete those kinds of posts.  I don't want to stiffle debate, but we're not here to argue in a negative and unchristian way.

Oh, and here's the all the standard disclaimer and legal language.  The thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone in my individual capacity. They do not necessarily reflect my official position as an employee of any church or the opinions or views of any of my church or non-church employers past or present.  I also reserve the right to change my opinions at any time without notice.  All original thoughts, opinions, ideas, words, or other intellectual property of mine expressed or published herein are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws, and may not be copied in any way or form without express prior written permission.