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(This post was written prior to 2016, in a blog entitled “Jubal’s Jottings.”)
Jubilate! An Ancient-Future Concert Mass is now past tense. It was a nice evening, and I’m so proud of the group of student singers who worked so hard to engage with the texts and music in just 5 weeks! The looks on their faces showed that many made a connection with the richly profound texts. Just so proud of them!
On a personal level, I have 2 brief thoughts: 1) I wish there was a way to connect the lyrics of the standard mass to evangelical, free-church worship. We sing many of those texts in certain contexts, but we usually don’t connect them into a meaningful form. They are used randomly here and there but not connectedly. I wonder if that could be done…and maybe more importantly, would it be accepted? Hmmm…? I think my Baptist roots came up a little short on this account! 2) Observing this concert and the process leading up to it, I have become even more convinced that there is a lack of emotional engagement in much of our music-making, and perhaps even more specifically, in our worship-making. I know that some people’s DNA won’t allow them to connect so well emotionally, but they are not the only people in the world. I know that in many circles there is a fear of emotional expression, but there are people in the world who will only get the message, whether art or worship, if they can feel, smell, see… If we fail to engage on the level of heart and soul we miss connecting with a large number of people. I’m even convinced that emotional expression has an impact on those who are more cerebrally based as well. There must be a dissertation in there for someone…not me!
Jubal, it was a great evening for me to be involved with others in making music together. I hope it was good, unique art, but also that it reached out of my soul into the souls of others! Sorry you couldn’t be there!