{"id":1602,"date":"2010-05-26T05:49:14","date_gmt":"2010-05-26T05:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1602"},"modified":"2010-05-26T05:49:14","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T05:49:14","slug":"credo_trite_music_blocks_our_e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1602","title":{"rendered":"Credo: Trite music blocks our ears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This from The Very Rev Dr John Shepherd is Dean of Perth, Australia, in the <a class=\"zem_slink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/\" title=\"The Times\" rel=\"homepage\">TimesOnline<\/a> (UK).  In an article entitled, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/faith\/article7106502.ece\">Credo: Trite music blocks our ears to the divine in the liturgy<\/a>,&#8221;&nbsp; Dean Shepherd writes about the importance of art, and not just are but good art, within the Church, particularly when it comes to our music in the liturgy.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is in the liturgy that we are able to enter into another consciousness, probe a deeper reality, strive for a sense of transcendence which lifts us above the mundane, and in the words of psalmist, sets us on a rock that is higher than ourselves. Our worship enables us to enter another time and another dimension &#8212; a realm of experience beyond our ordinary human experience, beyond all our known thoughts and understandings.<\/p>\n<p>In monastic terms, the liturgy is the path towards an exalted &#8220;ecstasy&#8221;, a flight into the cloud of unknowing, the place where God is, and where the true contemplation of the creative stillness of God is possible.<\/p>\n<p>And this is a reality which is beyond the ability of historians, theologians, linguists, biblical scholars or even pastoral liturgists to express. Their contributions may even hinder rather than help. The intensity and intangibility of this experience can only be expressed through the arts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The whole article is good to read!<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\" class=\"zemanta-pixie\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" href=\"http:\/\/reblog.zemanta.com\/zemified\/cc7e096b-8324-45a1-8b98-e213c4bcdc71\/\" title=\"Reblog this post [with Zemanta]\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: medium none; float: right;\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/reblog_e.png?x-id=cc7e096b-8324-45a1-8b98-e213c4bcdc71\" alt=\"Reblog this post [with Zemanta]\" \/><\/a><span class=\"zem-script more-related pretty-attribution\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.zemanta.com\/readside\/loader.js\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/span><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"small color-666\">\nApril 23, 2010<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/faith\/article7106502.ece\"><br \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/faith\/article7106502.ece\">Credo: Trite music blocks our ears to the divine in<br \/>\nthe liturgy<\/a><\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"sub-heading padding-top-5 padding-bottom-15\">Our worship<br \/>\nenables us to enter another time and another dimension &#8211; a realm of<br \/>\nexperience beyond our ordinary human experience<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">John Shepherd<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\nHow can we come to an experience of God? It&#8217;s a challenge, because no<br \/>\nmatter<br \/>\nhow much we read the Bible, study theology, formulate creeds, devise<br \/>\nsystems<br \/>\nof belief and draw up rules for best Christian practice, all these<br \/>\nefforts<br \/>\nare only partial, tentative explorations into a dimension that lies<br \/>\nbeyond<br \/>\nany definitive grid we could ever hope to impose.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhich brings us to the worship of the liturgy, for it is in worship that<br \/>\nwe<br \/>\nare immersed in the experience of God. It is here that we engage with<br \/>\nthe<br \/>\nliving God.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIt is in the liturgy that we are able to enter into another<br \/>\nconsciousness,<br \/>\nprobe a deeper reality, strive for a sense of transcendence which lifts<br \/>\nus<br \/>\nabove the mundane, and in the words of psalmist, sets us on a rock that<br \/>\nis<br \/>\nhigher than ourselves. Our worship enables us to enter another time and<br \/>\nanother dimension &#8212; a realm of experience beyond our ordinary human<br \/>\nexperience, beyond all our known thoughts and understandings.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIn monastic terms, the liturgy is the path towards an exalted &#8220;ecstasy&#8221;,<br \/>\na<br \/>\nflight into the cloud of unknowing, the place where God is, and where<br \/>\nthe<br \/>\ntrue contemplation of the creative stillness of God is possible.\n<\/p>\n<p><!--#include file=\"m63-article-related-attachements.html\"--><br \/>\n<!-- Call Wide Article Attachment Module --><br \/>\n<!--TEMPLATE:call file=\"wideArticleAttachment.jsp\" \/--><\/p>\n<p>\nAnd this is a reality which is beyond the ability of historians,<br \/>\ntheologians,<br \/>\nlinguists, biblical scholars or even pastoral liturgists to express.<br \/>\nTheir<br \/>\ncontributions may even hinder rather than help. The intensity and<br \/>\nintangibility of this experience can only be expressed through the arts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThis is why music of quality is a critical element within the life of<br \/>\nthe<br \/>\nChurch. It is a necessity, not a luxury. It is neither a frivolous<br \/>\nconfection nor an elitist distraction from the real business of faith.<br \/>\nMusic<br \/>\nof quality, in the context of worship, does not entertain or divert. It<br \/>\nreveals.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nBy means of evolving harmonies, rhythms, textures, modulations,<br \/>\norchestrations, melodies, counterpoints, imitations, this rich art form<br \/>\nhas<br \/>\nthe potential to create an aural environment which enables us to<br \/>\ncontemplate<br \/>\nthe mystery of God.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMusic of this calibre draws us into an engagement so profound that its<br \/>\nsense<br \/>\ncan never be exhausted. Any work of art, be it sculpture, painting,<br \/>\nliterature, poetry or music, whose implications are immediately obvious<br \/>\nand<br \/>\ncan instantly be grasped can never enlist our imagination, and so cannot<br \/>\nequip us for mystery; and what cannot equip us for mystery cannot equip<br \/>\nus<br \/>\nfor God.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThis is why the Church should have no truck with banality. Yet, sadly,<br \/>\nthis is<br \/>\nnot universally the case. Too often, in a quaintly deluded attempt to<br \/>\nachieve so-called relevance with a largely unidentified and notional<br \/>\nconstituency, the words of worship are denuded both of intellectual<br \/>\nchallenge and poetic imagery, and the music of worship is reduced to the<br \/>\nmost basic and arid of formulae. This toxic combination has achieved<br \/>\nwhat<br \/>\nmany thought impossible. The emptying of our churches of those with<br \/>\nminds to<br \/>\nthink, and emotions to inspire.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe power of liturgy was unerringly expressed by the prophet Job (iv,<br \/>\n15): &#8220;A<br \/>\nspirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.&#8221; Yet this<br \/>\npower<br \/>\ncan all too easily be surrendered in favour of pedestrian prose and<br \/>\nincompetent music. Badly constructed melodies and harmonies can only<br \/>\never be<br \/>\ntransitory simply because they are musically inept. Rhythmic patterns<br \/>\ndevoid<br \/>\nof subtlety, trite words incapable of stimulating any kind of imagery<br \/>\nconstitute some of the most powerful impediments to the possibility of<br \/>\nencountering the divine within the context of the liturgy.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nNot only does this behaviour testify to technical deficiency (an odd<br \/>\nconcept<br \/>\nin itself for the Church of God to endorse), it offers nothing but<br \/>\nspiritual<br \/>\nimpoverishment to a world clamouring for spiritual fulfilment.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd it goes without saying that the last refuge for those who deny the<br \/>\npossibility of a depth of experience of this dimension will always be<br \/>\nthe<br \/>\naccusation of elitism.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nTrue art transcends the ordinary. It invites us to contemplate a<br \/>\npresence<br \/>\nbeyond itself. It entangles us in the divine web of ultimate reality,<br \/>\nand so<br \/>\ncreates an aural environment in which we can experience, in the words of<br \/>\nAnselm of Bec, the presence of &#8220;that than which nothing greater can be<br \/>\nthought&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<i>The Very Rev Dr John Shepherd is Dean of Perth, Australia<\/i>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This from The Very Rev Dr John Shepherd is Dean of Perth, Australia, in the TimesOnline (UK). In an article entitled, &#8220;Credo: Trite music blocks our ears to the divine in the liturgy,&#8221;&nbsp; Dean Shepherd writes about the importance of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1602\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglican","category-faith","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}