Choir Sunday

Preached at St Alphege, Solihull on 18/11/07 – Second Sunday before Advent – Year C (Choir Sunday)
The sermon was preached at the 9.15 Eucharist with the boys choir interviewed and repeated at the 11am Eucharist with Girls Choir interviewed.

(Readings: Malachi 4:1-2a 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19)

Choirs Sunday gives us an opportunity for us to celebrate our different choirs and to give thanks for the contribution that they make to our worship.
And there is a lot to give thanks for here. Perhaps most obviously we can give thanks for Nigel, our Director of Music and for John, the assistant organist. We give thanks for the people who sing in the choirs themselves; the boys, the girls, the ladies and the men. Then there are the families who support the choir members. Most people who sing in the choirs can only do so because of the support and commitment of other family members. We can also give thanks for groups like the Friends of St Alphege Music and the Royal School of Church Music who in different ways support the ministry of our choirs. So there is lots to give thanks for.
But Choirs Sunday is also a good opportunity to reflect upon the role of music in our worship. Music enhances the worship. It adds breadth and depth helping us to enter into the liturgy in a more complete way. Music makes the liturgy more beautiful and more fulfilling. If we go home from church still humming the music, then this helps us to remain in the spirit of the liturgy as we set out on our week.
Now most of us appreciate music, but many of us are not great musicians. And this is where a good choir can really help us. The choir can help us by leading our singing. It can also enhance our liturgy with additional anthems and settings that are well beyond the musical ability of most people. And this is a wonderful thing, and we need to celebrate it.
But there is another aspect that we must not lose sight of. Worship is something that we do together. When we come together as a church community to celebrate the Eucharist, we come together as one body; the body of Christ (e.g. Romans 12:4-5,1 Cor12:17, Eph 1:23). When we share in the bread and wine of the Eucharist we are share together in the body of Christ; we are participating in the body of Christ (1 Cor 10:16-17). The body of Christ in the Eucharist strengthens, renews and enlivens the body of Christ which is the church. And so it is essential that this celebration of the Eucharist is something we do together.
Now saying that we must celebrate the Eucharist together, does not mean that we all do the same thing. Just as the many organs of a physical body have different roles, so we have different roles in the church, and different roles in the liturgy. But the key point is that all these different things must be done to help and support the worship of the whole congregation; they must be done on behalf of the whole community.
So if the choir sing for us the Sanctus, or a special anthem we don’t need to join in and sing with them, but we do need to own and participate in that part of the worship. And we do this by listening, by praying and by contemplating the heavenly mysteries through the singing.
Now someone might say, “I’d rather sing my own Sanctus: that way I am participating more in the service.” Well, that is a good starting point. But as we grow in the faith, and as we get better at worship, we need to move beyond an individualised worship which is all about I do and say. Each of us needs to develop an awareness of or own worship as part of the worship of the whole community. My worship is my contribution to the worship of the whole congregation; it’s my sharing in the worship of the whole congregation. And in most cases the worship of the whole congregation is going to be more beautiful, and bring us closer to God, if the Sanctus is sung by the choir.
And this places a huge responsibility on the choir. It is very easy for the choir to get caught up in the technicalities of singing, and keeping the music sheets in order, and to forget they are worshiping, that worship is the essential thing. The more than the congregation is aware of the choir worshiping, the easier the congregation will find it to entrust the signing to the choir. And our liturgy will be the more beautiful for it.
Now I would like to ask the boys choir to come forward. We have talked about sharing in worship together, and sharing becomes easier as we know each other better, so I thought we could end this sermon by taking the opportunity to get to know the boys choir a little better. So we can start off by getting a proper look at you!
[A brief interview follows]
Tell me, how often do you come to church?
How often to practice, and how often to a service?
And what are the best bits of the service? What are the bits you enjoy?
And what about the rest of the service? Do you manage to say the prayers and listen to the sermon?