A recent prayer-circular from some former Christian Union members includes two unconnected entries with a similar concern. For an Anglican friend who has just moved house and church, 'to sing lots of proper hymns again is absolutely fantastic - all that doctrine, all those good tunes!' A former Baptist church secretary reports having to resign his post then leave altogether, 'because, in the absence of a minister, the services were hijacked by a group of musicians playing a variety of loud instruments and singers singing shallow, self-centred songs'. Did you ever hear anything like it?
Well, yes. The very same week, I read in print what I have long suspected: that some musicians of the hijacking school see themselves as a new Levitical priesthood raised up by God to take charge of his church. When years ago, I first aired such thoughts, some musicians were self-effacingly quick to deny any such thing. Now, one of them has come clean. Ten years back, I read that God was 'restoring worship to his church' (that is, there were a lot of new songs around); now it seems it is only in the last five that God has actually been at work. This column will be out of date before you read it.
New priest, new popery
My impression of this new 'priesthood' arose from the extraordinary prominence given to music in so much current 'worship'. The playing and singing were squeezing out preaching, praying and the public reading of Scripture. Just as both Jewish priests and Roman Catholic ones saw themselves as vital to the whole show, including our very access to God himself, so now the music comes to dominate our gatherings, our listening and our budget. The musicians speak, dress and pose accordingly. Music becomes the new way to God's real presence; no wonder the apostles made such a hash of things. Well, here it is in print with a cluster of spuriously-applied Scriptures to back it up. These are the 'creative people', different from the rest; for a church to neglect their gifts is to risk wounding them deeply and thus opposing God.
To give the context, here is an author who says: 'We put a high value on lying on the floor - when God puts us there - and we like to lie there as long as we can.' Preferably, it seems, in hysterics. At least, that was where it was at last year. Where it will be next Sunday is anybody's guess. Or perhaps the writer's, since he knows more than most about archangels, demons and the future.
All right, you say, the man is potty. Alternatively, you see him as a new prophet, priest and coming king. The sad thing for me is that he seems to be a true believer with some valid points to make. We cannot yet write him off as a dangerous cult-leader. But he is certainly leading younger or more gullible new Christians off into his musical dreamland.
To crown the same week as I was digesting all this, came a snippet of local news. A nearby fellowship of disaffected Christians, who have renounced the trappings of denominations, traditions, liturgies and rituals, wanted to have a carol service at Christmas. I am not sure why, but that's another story. Their usual hired premises lacked a certain something; where should they go instead? Simple: they asked the highest Anglo-catholic church around. Gothic arches, stained glass, statues, icons, candles, prayer-shrines and incense would all provide the proper atmosphere.
We Christians are a funny lot. What a good job this could never happen in your church!
