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The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
O God, who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running to obtain thy promises, may be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21)
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The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): II Kings 17:1-18; James 3:1-13
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
II Kings 17:1-18; James 3:1-13
✛
O may we soon again renew that Song
Sermon preached for the Commissioning of Daniel Hyde as Organist & Director of Music
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The call of an Organist and Director of Music to Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue is a hugely important event in the life of our church and, today, although he has been with us for several weeks already, we have chosen our first Sunday Choral Evensong for the Commissioning of Daniel Stephen Hyde.
In choosing an ordinary Sunday, however, we have no control over the lectionary and I wondered if the readings would inspire Mr. Hyde as he began his ministry with us. The Old Testament lesson seemed somewhat alarming – with people hardening their necks and making their children walk through fire! The only hardening of necks in this church, of course, will be the cricked necks of the congregation as they look up to Dan, and the fire that the choristers will experience we hope will be fire in the belly, when Mr. Hyde inspires them in their singing.
So, I turned to the second lesson in the hope of further inspiration. Perhaps this would be apposite for the commissioning of a new Director of Music: but, no, fresh fear: “the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:8). Was this a prophecy about the behavior of the gentlemen of the choir? I began to wonder what Daniel would take away from him after this service! In 1330, Bishop John Grandisson made a visitation to his Cathedral and wrote to his Dean and Canons at complaining that the gentlemen were ‘cackling’ in the choir and causing merriment. The Canons were no better for, he wrote, they “knowingly and purposely throwing drippings or snuffings from their candles upon the heads of the choirboys in the stalls below ‘with the purpose of exciting laughter.”
Well, my hope is that, unlike the Director of Music of Exeter Cathedral in 1330, Daniel will indeed tame the tongues of the choir for their voice coaching is an integral part of their training and, I happen to know, that since he was a chorister at Durham Cathedral 23 years ago, Dan has continued to have singing lessons himself – he will, clearly, practice what he preaches.
Daniel, it is good to have you with us today in our midst and we all have high hopes for the coming years. Humor aside, there is a line in the epistle reading, which I give you to ponder:
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” (James 3:13)
The way we have commissioned Daniel reflects that sentiment. The ceremony was quite short and, in fact, if you blinked you might have missed it! But significantly, Mr. Hyde was presented and questioned in exactly the same way that our boy choristers are presented and questioned when they join the choir. Then, taken by the hand, again like the choristers, I simply admitted him into his role. And there you have it – all done and dusted! The Magnificat was sung and I went to sit in my stall.
The ‘ordinariness’ of this celebration is, however, quite fitting, for it is the daily round of prayer and praise that will be the ‘bread and butter’ of Daniel’s life here in New York. Of course, Saint Thomas Church is renowned for glorious liturgy with complicated processions and equally complicated ceremonial but at the heart of it all, is the offering of prayer and praise through the celebration of the mass and the daily office.
I think I have pointed out on another occasion that this church is built in traditional Gothic style and in a traditional gothic manner and, like the great medieval churches and cathedrals of Europe is built in ‘layers’ – the Nave arcading- the triforium– the clerestory – these vertical layers of the building are extremely common in Europe and then, as the eye moves through the building there are steps and thresholds over which one must cross in order to move through the Church. And what is it that connects these vertical and horizontal layers of the building?
Music.
The music connects everything together – our words, our feelings, our symbolic actions, and even the building itself. I was recently reading a letter written by the current Bishop of Exeter in which he was thanking the musicians, and he said these beautiful words which resonated with me: “There is an architectural quality to cathedral liturgy: the building demands it. ‘Thou hast set my feet in a large room,’ says the psalmist (Psalm 31.8). How do we encourage a new generation to explore the salons and attics of God’s mansion?”
Our music making in this place, similarly, inspires those who set foot in this sacred space. The Daily office – and especially the singing of the psalms at evensong – appropriate the paschal mystery celebrated in the mass each day to the hours of the day, sanctifying time and the seasons with rhythm, melody and texture.
From the Poem ‘Easter’ by George Herbert, we read of the connection between the power of the incarnation and the transformative nature of making music:
“Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The crosse taught all wood to resound his name,
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.”
To that end it is important to remember that the Director of Music, the Associate Organist, and the choir, but most especially the boy choristers, are not simply performers. They are ministers, who are charged to help lift our prayers and praises to God. Their voices blend with ours and sometimes instead of ours so that we can truly offer our best to God. In a few minutes they will sing the anthem “Sing joyfully to God our strength; sing loud unto the God of Jacob!” Though, as Mr. Hyde said recently, “never louder than lovely.”
So, Daniel, we welcome you and we begin the great round of worship that will take us through all times, all seasons, all emotions, all hope and, sometimes, even fears. Help all of us with our music making so that we not only glimpse heaven but also are changed through our participation in it.
“O may we soon again renew that Song,
And keep in tune with Heaven, till ere long
To his celestial consort us unite,
To live with him, and sing in endless morn of light.”
(John Milton – ‘At a Solemn Music’)
