Re: Is Jesus honored when people make a lie in His honor?

                              Wednesday, the 26th of November, 2003

Brandon writes:
    If I am singing a hymn, I expect the words to be doctrinally true.
    When I hit a verse of a hymn that I believe to be doctrinally wrong,
    I will not say it, or I will change it.

As a chorister, I find this fascinating behaviour. In particular, I
sing in the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. The organization is
the one which sings choral masterworks with the Indianapolis
Symphony, and we have our own concerts as well.

Umm, choral masterworks tend to be sacred. I can
think of only a few that aren't ("Carmina Burana",
Thompson's "Frostiana", Adams "Harmonium", the Ninth
Symphony, the occasional opera or operetta or broadway
chorus, and some secular cantatas). I am as well approximately
atheist. So, there tends to be not a text we sing that I don't
have problems with, some objections to. Any Requiem, any
Mass, the Messiah, Elijah, The Dream of Gerontius, various
Glorias, Te Deums, Vespers, the Creation, Balshazzar's Feast,
Sacred Cantatas, Motets, Oratorios, and so on.

I guess what I have worked out with myself is that I am there
as an artist to make a performance, which performance brings to
life a work of art that was made by this composer with this text in mind.
I may not believe in God, or heaven or hell, but I can understand
those who do, and I can find something good in their beliefs, something
worth translating faithfully from the composer to the audience through the
medium of a live performance.

Anyway, I sure hope that this behaviour on my
part is not taken by any audience to mean: That guy right
there in the tenor section believes whatever it is he is singing.
Any more than, say, an actor who portrays Othello is
taken by the audience to really be jealous of his wife.

I'm just wondering, Brandon, if you see a problem here,
or I guess maybe if this "I shall not sing a doctrinally wrong hymn"
extends to other performance possibilities. Would you be willing
to act a part in a Passion Play, for example? Would it matter to
you if the part be that of Jesus or Judas or Peter?

My first concert (out of 4 for this Christmas season) is
called "A Festival of Carols". Many of the pieces we are doing
are traditional Christmas carols. But, there's some more
modern stuff as well. One of the texts I have the biggest problem with
is titled "The Dream Isaiah Saw". It's a lovely text, all about the lion
laying down with the lamb. And that of course is a metaphor for peace
that is biblical in origin. But, I have real problems with the idea that
animals which are carnivorous are somehow "wrong" in the same
sense that human evildoers are wrong. And then, there is a line about
God cleansing the violence that lies hidden in the heart---"and in systems
of gain". I take that as an inappropriate dig, given that the composition
of this piece is post Sept. 11, and that it is dedicated to the victims of
the Sept. 11 attack. Well, anyway, I don't know if I'll make peace with
this piece or no. The wish for peace is a fine thing in its own right,
I guess, and why not express it at Christmas? I certainly wouldn't
censor this piece, even were I given the power to do so.
Censorship I'd reserve for only one piece we are doing---"Night
of Silence" by Daniel Kantor:
        "Cold are the people, winter of life,
         We tremble in shadows this cold endless night,
          Frozen in the snow lie roses sleeping,
          Flowers that will echo the sunrise.
          Fire of hope is our only warmth.
          Weary, its flame will be dying soon.

          Voice in the distance, call in the night,
          On wind you enfold us, you speak of the light.
          Gentle on the ear you whisper softly,
          Rumors of a dawn so embracing,
          Breathless love awaits darkened souls,
          Soon will we know of the morning.

          Spirit among us, shine like the star,
          Your light that guides shepherds and kings from afar.
          Shimmer in the sky so empty, lonely,
          Rising in the warmth of your Son's love,
          Star unknowing of night and day,
          Spirit we wait for your loving Son."


This is three verses sung to a countermelody to "Silent Night".
We do the first two verses alone and then we do the third
while the congregation/audience sings Silent Night. We've used
it every year of my 7 years in this choir at the close of this
concert, so it is kind of traditional. There is absolutely nothing
it says that I particularly object to in the same sense that I
do object to "The Dream Isaiah Saw", it's just...well, it's just
it's bad poetry. It's like a Hallmark Greeting Card---
take a jumble of words like "light", "darkness", "cold",
"warmth", "hope", "love", "candle", "dawn", "rose", "snow"
and stick them together in no compelling order, and you get something
I have to go and re-memorize every year because it's all
fluff and no word has any compelling reason to be where it
is. It's bad art. Besides, Silent Night should be kept simple,
or if any one person gets licensed to mess with it, that person
is Dr. John.

                          Mike Morris
               ([EMAIL PROTECTED])