(Sunday service)
by Melissa Allen
Photograph by Ian Britton
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Sunday service
between hymns
tuning out
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Red Dragonfly
haiku. poetry.
Photograph by Ian Britton
.
Sunday service
between hymns
tuning out
.
.
a pond leaf in and out of twilight
Lots of great poetry in the hymns! Nice post.
Maybe your tuning out was tuning in…. That’s the paradox of life, isn’t it?
I’ve never understood why there aren’t church services consisting of an hour of singing hymns. And maybe reading from the more poetic sections of the King James Bible. I would go to those. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten anything out of a sermon or prayer in my life, but both music and poetry feel transcendent to me.
Hi, Melissa, I guess I was brought up in the Episcopal church and there’s been a long history of good writing – poetry in much of our liturgies… and even in a small church like the one I’m a parishioner of, that no longer can afford an organ or even a piano, ended up with a guitar choir from the love of music of its members. I guess it depends upon the church you go to … And I suspect that the role of religion no longer has a compelling hold on our lives as it once did. Yet, I’ve enjoyed writing pieces for our newsletter etc. bringing some of the wonder of our faith into every day life…and the use of poetry is exceedingly important in that relationship. So sing, and write and bring poetry to your place of worship and make it live. Sharing the wonder of life … the sheer amazement of it all must be welcome there and I can’t imagine a better person to do it than you!
Well… I have to confess that I have not actually regularly (or even really irregularly) attended any worship service for over 20 years, being congenitally inclined to disbelief… this is drawn from my childhood/adolescent experience in church. But I have always thought that if for some reason I were to take up churchgoing again it would be to an Episcopal church for exactly the reasons you cite. I bought the 1623 Book of Common Prayer for myself a few years ago just so I could read that language. And I do miss regular hymn-singing (although I tend to sing them around the house, probably to the irritation of everyone I live with…).
Hi, Melissa, Even in the modern prayer books the language, even though updated, seems to have a core that remains. The Complain service in the evening is one of the most beautiful I think. Of course you have to understand that we Episcopalians come in all stripes. Each Church you go to will be so different from any other since it takes on the personality of its parishioners. This is fine until you get to the General Convention when all the different views battle it out and a lot of feelings are hurt when regulations are passed that some don’t appreciate. But we’re pretty tollerant and if you don’t like one church you can find another.
But I wouldn’t worry too much about getting “to Church”… GOD calls us to worship GOD in “Spirit and Truth”… and if Church is good for you… you’ll feel called to go. But it would be great to get some poetic types to understand the true meaning of the Church to strengthen and comfort. It’s a calling that I feel would enrich both Church and Poetry….
I’d say, sing whatever you wish to sing! I think Emily Dickinson wrote her amazing poetry/changing poetry to the hymns.