By the Rev. Edmund Harris, Priest & Organizer for CBW
The first thing that happened was that we started singing! I
mean, really singing. Of course, we've been singing at CBW since we
first got started. But all along, I've sensed that we had a lot more potential
in us. Music, for those of you who've had the experience of singing in a choir
might know, has an amazing capacity to bring people together and to build
community. Throughout this year, I've wondered, how might music at CBW both
give glory to God and also build up our little corner of Christ's Body? How
might music make us more authentically the community God is calling us to
become?
Thankfully, I found someone who was willing to ask these
questions alongside me. Since late summer, our Music Consultant and Animator
Waylon Whitely has been hard at work brainstorming with me about how to create
a music repertoire at CBW that would invite us to claim our voice. Last Saturday,
it was finally time to put everything into action. After a music workshop in
the park at which Waylon led us in practicing new songs accompanied by our
"shruti box", it was time to worship!
We sang! The shruti box-which makes what I can only describe
as an other-worldly, drone-like sound-provided the perfect canvas for our
voices. As we sang, I watched as more and more people joined in and offered the
gift of their voices. Although we might not be invited to sing at Westminster
Abbey based on our first week of singing, more importantly, I could already see
glimpses of the leavening effect I'd hoped and prayed that music might have in
our community. Thanks be to God.
The second thing that happened took place during the reading
of the Gospel. As many of you know, one of our biggest worship challenges comes
from the ambient noise in and around the park. Between the car engines, sirens,
music emanating from the skating rink, cell phones and chatter, it's can sometimes be
darn near impossible to hear the service. Nowhere is the noise more
overpowering than during the reading of the Gospel.
On a whim, last week I decided to print the Gospel story in
the handout. I hoped that people could at least follow along while Deacon Ricky
was proclaiming it even it they couldn't hear it. Lo and behold, as Ricky read
the Gospel, people started reading it out loud along with her. Suddenly,
because so many of us were proclaiming the Gospel, we could hear it loud and
clear! It reminded me of the "mic checks" people used when making
announcements during Occupy Providence two years ago. And like that movement,
this one emerged quite organically out of the desire among people in our
community to hear and proclaim the words of Jesus themselves. So it seems we
might just have a new tradition on our hands, proclaiming the Gospel together!
Thanks be to God.
Will you come and be part of this tradition on Saturday?
Will you claim your voice? Will you join your brothers and sisters in
proclaiming the Gospel and preaching it? Will you come give thanks to
God?
