Stewardship Overload?

After reading the title of this article, you might be saying to yourself (or more probably, hear others around you saying), “Now hold on just a minute!  Not another piece on Stewardship!  Haven’t we heard enough already?  We get it!  We are not giving enough, and the Church wants us to give more!  If I hear the word ‘Stewardship’ one more time, I’m going to go crazy!  All this Stewardship talk is starting to turn me off!  I just want to come to Church and hear something positive that will help me grow spiritually!”  How did I do?  (Scary, isn’t it?)

After all this time, if you think that Stewardship is just a new way for the Church to get more of your money, then I’m afraid you have misunderstood entirely.  Stewardship is not a gimmick, or a way to trick you out of your money, or even a tool to make you feel guilty.  It’s technically not a program, or even a philosophy.  I wouldn’t even say that it is a way of life, but rather, that it is the only way to live!  Stewardship is the Authentic Orthodox Christian Lifestyle, and as such, it is both spiritual and positive!  This understanding is reflected quite clearly during the period called the Triodion, which we enter into this month.

The Triodion is a ten-week block of time that leads us up to, and prepares us for, the greatest Feast in the Orthodox Christian Calendar, that of Holy Pascha.  For those of you who are thinking, “Hey, isn’t Great Lent only 40 days?” – You are not mistaken, but that is only a part of the Triodion period of preparation.  The Triodion begins with three weeks of Pre-Lent (22 days actually), that include the Sundays of The Publican and Pharisee, The Prodigal Son, Meatfare (Judgment), and Cheesfare (Forgiveness).  Then we enter into Great Lent proper on Clean Monday, which lasts for exactly 40 days.  The Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday are not technically part of either Great Lent or Holy Week, but serve as a bridge between the two.  The Great and Holy Week of our Lord’s Passion runs from Monday through Holy Saturday, so add another six days.  That brings the total time of our preparation for Pascha to 70 days (22+40+2+6=70)!  This means that almost 20% of our Liturgical Year is spent preparing for this Great Feast.  Compare that to the roughly 10% of the year spent in preparation for the Nativity.

Length of time is not the only difference between these two great periods of preparation.  The Triodion also places a greater emphasis on prayer and fasting, with many additional services and a very specific fasting regimen.  In terms of fasting, the Church does not hit us with its full force from the beginning, like a 2×4 upside the head; but rather eases us into the practice, like cooking a lobster, as it slowly turns up the heat.  The first week of the Triodion is entirely fast free (no fasting even on Wednesday & Friday).  The second week is a normal fasting week (i.e. fasting on Wednesday & Friday).  The third week, following Meatfare Sunday, is when we say goodbye to all meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, etc.), but everything else (especially dairy) is still allowed.  After Cheesefare Sunday, we begin our strict regimen of fasting, and add dairy products, fish, and oil & wine to the prohibited list.  The Church does relax the Fast (a little) on Saturdays & Sundays (allowing oil & wine), as well as certain Feastdays (fish on Annunciation & Palm Sunday).  It is important to consult your Spiritual Father before beginning any fasting regimen, to determine what is best for you!  What does any of this have to do with Stewardship?  Ah, that mystery will be revealed in Part II next week, but for now, that’s My Two Cents!

We have all seen the prolific “Coexist” bumper sticker with the Star of David, a Cross, and various other religious/belief system symbols, and I guess most of us would agree that coexisting with others is a good thing. However, FEAR THE FALSE WISDOM OF THE BUMPER STICKER!

Coexist? That means that you are only existing with others doing only the same. Existing is just being, neither going forward or backward, and so to coexist is to co-be. What a simple and trite solution. Christ did not say “Coexist,” he said “Love thy neighbor,” asking us not to just live in a flat state of being, but to love our neighbor as ourselves. Funny how this higher calling doesn’t get on bumpers as much…

In the United States, the Liturgical music tradition seems to be almost unanimous in that there are Western choirs and Byzantine chanters. Only in rare cases are there slight deviations. Both groups are usually anemic or at most they are average musical groups, although there are a rare few who are good. Don’t be offended. It’s ok your choir does not sound like the three tenors, or a Catholic boys choir. Most communities don’t, but that’s not what is important here.

In the communities I have been in or visited, I have seen a very common theme throughout: There are choir people and there are chanter people. There is coexisting and nothing more all around the county. Why this has come to be is another completely different post, but the way to deal with it is simple. You must encourage one another with love. Sure, one side from the other is different. Sure, some may prefer to sing with only one group or the other, but you must do more than coexist or your groups will be doomed to the wisdom of the bumper sticker. Drop your ego, encourage and love your neighbor, and realize that we can do more and can do better than a bumper sticker.

Thank you for reading! As always, you can find me on facebook (please message me and let me know you found me here), twitter, or by email at david@ecclesiasticalconsulting.com

If you have been following the church calendar and have been looking ahead, you may notice we only have one more Sunday until the Triodion. It sets up one of the most intense and sometimes most difficult time of the year: Great Lent. The Triodion, with the tiered fasting and Biblical lessons, allows us to pull the great fast into focus. Yet for church musicians, part of our focus in the fast is on the various musical/liturgical challenges throughout lent and Holy week.

My lesson today is simple: it is time to prepare! The triodion itself should be prepared for, and the variability of hymns including the exhausting-ness of Holy Week, are in our sights. Your weekly rehearsals (you’re having weekly rehearsals right?) should start focusing more and more on the coming months. Chipping away at it slowly over weeks is the only way to be successful. So this week, work on whatever you usually work on, but budget a significant amount of time to The Triodion and Great Lent. You, your priest, and your community will be so thankful and more spiritually enriched. Well-performed Lenten music can be some of the most spiritually edifying of the year.

Thank you again for reading! As always, you can find me on facebook (please message me and let me know you found me here), twitter, or by email at david@ecclesiasticalconsulting.com

Barriers to Spiritual Growth

I have never been much of a runner.  Although I played Big Ten College-Level Rugby at the University of Iowa, I was never into running for enjoyment, it was always a fitness thing.  Even today, when I exercise, I prefer the Elliptical Trainer to the Treadmill.  My daughters on the other hand, have both been runners at various points in their young lives.  Mainly they ran Cross-Country, but they also had to participate in the Track Meet distance events as well, and I would go and watch.  The Hurdle Events always held a special fascination for me.  I cannot recall one single Track Meet, where at least one runner didn’t bite the dust, by spectacularly colliding with a hurdle.  It was painful to watch!  On the other hand, with the sprinters running non-hurdle events, I can only recall ever seeing just one girl take a tumble, by basically tripping over her own feet (not my daughter).  My conclusion: you are much less likely to stumble, fall, or have a crowd-horrifying catastrophe, and actually finish the race, if you are running without those pesky waist-high hurdles in your way!  Brilliant, I know.  What does this jog down memory lane have to do with Stewardship?

Well, as we should know by now, Stewardship is essentially the physical expression of our spiritual lives.  Our use of Time, Talent, and Treasure in the world is the manifestation of our Faith through material means.  It is nothing less than Salvation given living flesh, because after all, we are the Body of Christ.  As essentially a spiritual manifestation in the world, our Stewardship is also subject to sin.  As psycho-somatic beings, we understand that sin plagues not only the spiritual self, but the physical as well.  Therefore, in order to obtain the maximum spiritual benefit from our considerable Stewardship efforts, we need to remove all those barriers that keep us from reaping God’s considerable rewards.

This is why our Stewardship should be considered, and dealt with, within the Sacrament of Confession.  That’s right!  Not only asking for forgiveness for not using our material means for our benefit and the glory of God (sins of omission, as well as commission), but seeking guidance from our Spiritual Father as how to overcome those barriers that hold us back.  Sins like greed, covetousness, laziness, anger, and idolatry are like well placed hurdles around the track of our spiritual lives, just waiting to try and trip us up as we run our holy race.  It is only a matter of time before we lose focus for just a moment, catch the toe of our cleat on the hurdle we thought we had easily cleared, and go down with a sickening thud.  One other thing that I’ve noticed from watching hurdles events, is that when a runner goes down hard, they usually don’t finish the race.

It is much easier, and safer, to take the time, and expend the effort, to remove those hurdles from our lane before we are confronted with them in the middle of the race.  Remember, we are not racing against our fellow runners in this case.  The race is with ourselves, and the goal is to finish!  A crown of glory awaits each and every one of us when we arrive, from the hand of the Savior Himself.  By doing our best to remove the obstacles of sin from our path, we can then focus on improving our personal best, as we hit our stride.  Stewardship is not the warm-up lap, but the race itself.  Let us therefore run the race in a way that is not only ultimately successful, but that glorifies God.  We might even find that we can enjoy this spiritual running thing after all.  Happy running!  That’s My Two Cents!

Newness & Renewal

For us as human beings, something “new” always brings with it a certain amount of excitement.  A new technology, a new gadget, a new car, a new home, a new job, even a new diet, all get us jazzed-up.  In the modern world, we have become newness junkies, always craving the next new thing.  The problems begin when the newness starts to wear off.  Suddenly, without any warning, new becomes old right before our very eyes.  This problem of perpetually discarding the used for the new is becoming prevalent in other areas of our life as well.  We create cycles of constantly starting over, feeding our newness addiction, and accomplishing nothing of substance.  In short, we have by and large lost the capacity to follow through on our commitments.  Our new beginnings become a perpetual cycle of dead ends, resulting in a slew of unfinished projects and unfulfilled commitments.

Make no mistake, new beginnings are important, if not essential, for us as human beings, particularly as spiritual people.  We see this most readily in the Sacrament of Confession, where we walk away from the Priest with a clean slate and a renewed commitment to Christ.  The power of this process however, is fully realized in the follow through to our Spiritual Father’s advice.  It is our concerted, consistent action that brings about profound changes and spiritual growth, not just listening to the Priest.  The same experience is felt by those who make a resolution to pray or read Scripture consistently every day, as we should be doing.  Once the newness wears off, how difficult it becomes to consistently follow through.  Our once rock-solid resolve crumbles into a sea of distractions, and we are left with another failed resolution, and all the feelings of guilt associated with such a disaster.

This of course, has profound implications for our Stewardship, financial and otherwise.  How we use our God-given Time, Talent, and Treasure is not immune from this newness phenomenon.  How often do we start off with great aspirations to attend Worship more frequently, and on time; get involved with an important ministry in our Parish; or give sacrificially on a weekly basis; but then after a very short period of time our enthusiasm wanes?  Stewardship, by its very nature, is meant to be a consistent and constant process.  Staying focused and committed however in today’s world of the all-powerful new is, to say the least, challenging.  Is it any wonder that so many people’s “stewardship” is simply a one-time offering?

A life of true Stewardship has the capacity to “renew,” not just be new, an important distinction.  This is why the commitment is so important up front.  Without a solid commitment, all hope is lost for the anticipated follow through!  The battle is over before it is even begun.  This is also why we as Orthodox Christians continually recommit ourselves to Christ.  We were Baptized once, but everything else the Church offers us is intended to either help us recommit, or follow through on that commitment.  This is why the Church asks us to recommit ourselves in terms of our Stewardship every year.  It is for our benefit, so that we may get the most out of our commitment, by being able to follow through with whatever God is calling us to do.  By doing so, we not only renew our commitment to Christ, but He renews our spiritual lives as well.  My sincere prayer is that as this New Year unfolds, you will renew your Stewardship commitment to Christ and His Church, and experience a newness of life, like never before!  Happy Renewal Year!  That’s My Two Cents!

This week, I started a new beginners’ class at our church. We had a decent turn-out and at the end of the class, I had the students hold ison (the moveable “drone” of chant) to a few hymns (Doxolgy in tone 1 and Agios o Theos in mode 2) and it got me thinking. Most parishioners, and even some clergy (and dare I say chanters!?) do not understand the immense importance or role of the ison (isokratema). I thought I would tell you, the EC reader, briefly about its importance to us as Orthodox Christians. It may be more interesting than you think.

The basic idea/theory of Ison is simple, although its further intricacies can become more complex. Yet, the general idea is that you hold the note the tone starts on, and only change it when the melody moves a specifc way (this is tetrachordal movement, but for the sake of the novice, I’m going to gloss over all of this). So why is this held note so important?

Historically, it is because the very first type of Christian services, which came from the Jewish tradition, consisted of reciting psalms, which became increasingly complex, however the idea of singing one or only a few notes close to each other is extremely old.

Theologically, the isokratema is said to represent the unwavering nature (“one in two persons”) of Christ. It is also appropriate that Byzantine chant has two voices, one melody (melos), and one bass (ison) to show the 100% importance of both unwavering natures of Christ.

Modernly in America, the ison is the key to sounding Byzantine. Sure, there are microtonal demands in true Byzantine scales, but having perfect Byzantine intervals is not the key to sounding Byzantine in my opinion. It’s the ison! True intervals of certain Byzantine modes are extremely difficult to train on and can take an American even longer since our music is so freakishly equal temperament that we can’t get by one day without hearing something auto-tuned.

So, use isokratema. It’s important. Your icons are Byzantine right? So how about your music? Saint Anthony’s music in WESTERN NOTATION writes in these ison notes. They understand just how valuable they are.

Thank you for reading! As always, you can find me on facebook (please message me and let me know you found me here), twitter, or by email at david@ecclesiasticalconsulting.com

Our Orthodox Christian Tradition

Let me start by saying that what most of us consider Stewardship is really NOT!  The truth is, we don’t understand Stewardship, because we haven’t been taught.  The Church simply hasn’t taken the time, or made the effort, to explain this essential part of Her Tradition.  That is about to change!  WARNING – By continuing to read this article, you will certainly be challenged by it, and it just may change your life!

When most Orthodox Christians hear the word “Stewardship,” they think of the “financial system” that the Church has instituted in order to fund itself.  Like the “dues” of yesteryear, “stewardship” has become some amount of money that we must pay in order to participate in the life of the Church.  How often have families who have not been members for years, coughed up some quick cash, and labeled it “stewardship” so they can have their child Baptized?  This is NOT Stewardship, but rather “dues ala Priceline,” where you can name your own price for Sacraments!

Consistent members of the Church think of stewardship as their “regular” contributions to the Parish.  In most cases, this is NOT real Stewardship
either!  These Parishioners are simply making donations to a tax-deductible charity, in order to receive some sort of “religious” benefit.  It may sound harsh, but what is there to distinguish their contributions made to the Red Cross from those made to Holy Cross?  Those contributions made once (or twice) a year, from our excess income, tiny when compared to our other expenditures, devoid of God’s guidance and input, can in
NO way be considered true Christian Stewardship!

What is Authentic Orthodox Christian Stewardship?  First and foremost, it is the understanding and firm belief that everything, and I mean everything, belongs solely to God.  That’s right!  We own nothing!  You came into this world with nothing, and you will leave it the same way.  What you have in your possession right now will be in someone else’s hands when you’re gone.  In all my years in the Priesthood I have never seen a U-Haul trailer attached to a hearse!  No matter how much you accumulate in this life, you can’t take it with you.  Only God, the Creator of the world, and everything in it, is the One Who truly possesses anything.  Like it or not, this is the truth, the eternal reality.  If you can’t come to accept this you might as well stop reading right now, because the rest of this article won’t make any sense to you.

Now that you have chosen to accept reality, a second question emerges.  What about us?  If everything belongs to God, what is our role within creation?  God has created us to be caretakers, or Stewards, of His creation, which includes the material world.  He has placed the whole world in our hands and given us a sacred responsibility.  As His trusted servants, we are to be accountable to Him, but we will also be rewarded for our service.  The more worthy we are found to be, the greater the reward, and the greater the responsibility.  With your Baptism and/or Chrismation, like it or not, you were enrolled in service to Christ as a Steward.  Now you have a job to do!  The good news is that it’s never too late to start.

You may be asking yourself, “What are my specific responsibilities?”  God has given you a Stewardship over three specific areas in your life – Time, Talent, & Treasure.  All three are gifts from God.  He has first of all given you a certain amount of time on this earth.  You did not determine when you were born, no more than you can determine when you will draw your last natural breath.  Each of us is a unique creation, endowed with particular gifts and talents, specifically geared toward helping us accomplish our mission in life.  All of us have been given, yes given, a certain amount of God’s material resources in order to sustain us in this materialistic world.  Whether you slave away just to get by, inherited a bundle from your wealthy family, or find yourself somewhere in between, there is no doubt that the opportunities present in your life to make money come directly from God.  Be thankful that you are not living on less than a dollar a day like much of the developing world!

After giving us these three abundant blessings, God only has two expectations of His Stewards (3 for 2 – not a bad deal).  First, that we use our gifts wisely, not wasting our Time, Talent, & Treasure.  Second, that we give a portion of those gifts back to Him.  The first expectation is
usually understood fairly easily.  The second however, seems to draw some confusion and cause quite a bit of stumbling in our effort to be good Stewards.

Once you realize that what you “have” really doesn’t belong to you in the first place, that you are just the caretaker of someone else’s goods (namely God), it becomes absurdly easy to give some of it back to Him!  He was even kind enough to give us the Church for that very purpose!  We therefore have a vehicle, in the Church, to offer back to God, in concrete ways, a portion of what He has blessed us with.  For those who have traveled the road this far, the question in your mind right now is, “but how much?”  How much are we called to return to God?

Like most Orthodox Christian Theological and Spiritual issues, the answer is – it depends.  Yes, that’s right; Stewardship is both a theological and a spiritual issue!  We have covered the theological aspect, that part pertaining to God.  The spiritual part has to do with you!  How much is your salvation worth?  How much do you really love God?  Where is the evidence in your lifestyle?  I think all of us would agree that our eternal salvation is priceless by any worldly measure.  Thankfully, that’s God’s free gift to us (no payment necessary).  Our thanksgiving gifts to Him, for all that He has done, and continues to do, have everything to do with our spiritual maturity.

What we return to God in terms of our Time, Talent, & Treasure is the single greatest indicator of not only our Faith, but our faithfulness as well!
Our Stewardship is the evidence of Christ in our life!  Now it is time for you, the reader, to put this into perspective in your own life.  How much time out of each day do you devote to God?  What ministries are you invested in?  How much of your annual income do you contribute to the Church?  Examine the balance sheet of your life in all three areas, and determine if there are things you are placing before God.  Are we unwittingly worshipping temporal idols instead of the One True God?

Authentic Orthodox Christian Stewardship means putting God first.  Putting God first takes sacrifice.  Sacrificially offering back to God a portion of His blessings is our responsibility as Stewards of the Faith.  Take this opportunity to take a fresh look at your Faith, your life, and your Stewardship!  That’s My Two Cents!

This weekend, the Metropolitan visited my church for several days. He came for the feast day of Saint John the Baptist and presided over two Vespers services and two Liturgies. Given that I have only lead the chanting with a presiding hierarch once at another mission church, it was quite a learning experience. I thought I would share what I learned from it and see what you think.

First, His Eminence’s grace and patience with services was fully appreciated. As you may or may not know, in Vespers some things are read by the Bishop instead of the Priest, Deacon, or Head chanter. When these times came up, the Metropolitan was calm and graceful about either reading or not reading these texts. I felt completely relaxed and unafraid of a possible slip-up.  Having a Hierarch that is relaxed at services, and understand their possible stress is awesome!

Second, and on that note, we prepared quite a bit to avoid any slip-ups! If you are a chanter or choir director, you must-must-must clarify with your priest, all that is going on, and what happens when. Hosting a hierarch can be stressful and the last thing you want is for something Liturgically to go awry in front of the congregation and add to that stress.  Prepare, prepare, prepare, and then relax.

Thirdly, I was reminded that you can never know too much. Given the heavy amount of festal hymning, this weekend was a reminder, similar to Holy Week, at the density of hymnology in the church, and the amazing gaps that still exist in English. Thank God for Saint Anthony Monastery’s Theophany hymns, as they made the services possible. Hymnology in other languages has had a couple hundred (or a thousand) years start on America, but thanks to these efforts, the situation is getting better.  The point being, never ever stop learning or pursuing a way to make it better.

So those are my three somewhat generic conclusions that may help you in a time of a Hierarchical service.  I’ll repeat them for added clarity.

Having a Hierarch that is relaxed at services, and understand their possible stress is awesome!

Prepare, prepare, prepare, and then relax.

Never ever stop learning or pursuing a way to make it better.

That’s it. Tell me what you think about these observations!

Thank you for reading! As always, you can find me on facebook (please message me and let me know you found me here), twitter, or by email at david@ecclesiasticalconsulting.com

There is a Difference!

When it comes to Stewardship (like so many other Christian Practices), people often confuse principles with methodologies.  There is a clear difference.  Principles refer to those timeless, unchangeable tenets of our Faith, that apply to every time and place throughout the Church’s history.  Methodologies on the other hand, refer to the practices of the Church that reflect It’s concrete principles, but are entirely moldable and utterly changeable.  Principles are part of the timeless foundation of the Church, whereas methodologies are the tools which the Church uses to make those timeless truths relevant to each and every generation.  How does this then apply to Stewardship?

Principles

The Principles of Christian Stewardship are part of the Orthodox Church’s timeless and eternal nature.  Because they deal with our fundamental relationship with God Himself, and the world that He has created, they are not up for debate or dispute.  They simply are.  The following three examples are by no means exhaustive, but will give you a solid understanding of what I mean.  First, everything belongs to God.  God Himself is the Creator, and we are part of His creation.  We come into this world with nothing, and we will leave it the same way.  We truly own nothing, and that leads us to principle number two.  We are simply caretakers of God’s estate.  He has given each of us a job to do according to our ability.  He places portions of His property into our hands for us to manage.  This is in fact our primary responsibility as Orthodox Christian Stewards.  We are called to be good and faithful Stewards of everything that God provides us with, leading finally to principle number three.  We have a responsibility to return a portion of what God has given us in thanksgiving to Him, for His magnificent generosity.  God gives us so much, and all He asks is that we give Him His fruit in due season, that we remember Him and His great love for us.  These three examples of Stewardship Principles have applied, and will continue to apply, to every generation of Orthodox Christian, until Christ returns to the earth and inaugurates the fullness of His Heavenly Kingdom.  How these principles are expressed in each particular Parish Community however, may vary widely.  Let’s look at some methodologies.

Methodologies

Like the Principles enumerated above, all methodologies must reflect the timeless truths of the Church.  Unlike the aforementioned Principles, that reflection can be expressed in an infinite number of ways, as long as it remains true to the Principle.  You can think of it in terms of Faith and Praxis.  Our Orthodox Faith is unchanging and unchangeable, forever the true expression of God’s revelation.  Our Orthodox Praxis on the other hand, is constantly growing and developing to meet the needs of the faithful.  One only has to look closely at the development of our Orthodox Worship to see the truth in this.  How does this then apply to Stewardship?  The following are three examples of good Orthodox Stewardship Methodologies for this generation, that while differing from past methodologies, still remain true to their principles.  The first, is the message that Stewardship is primarily a spiritual exercise, and can lead to greater spiritual growth.  In past generations, Stewardship was seen as an obligation of belonging to a Parish.  While that may have been effective in the past, it simply doesn’t work for this particular generation.  Using Stewardship as a catalyst for Spiritual Growth has shown to be particularly effective in this modern consumeristic world.  Second, giving Stewards the freedom to be generous.  In the past, Parishioners were told how much to give (ala dues) in order to belong to the Church.  Today, true Stewardship allows for the faithful to decide not only how much to give, but when, how often, and in what form.  This freedom has been demonstrated empirically to have spurred a greater generosity than was ever believed possible, thus benefitting both the Church and the cheerful giver.  Finally, maximizing the use of technology.  As more and more people routinely pay their bills online, using not only their computers, but their tablets and smartphones as well, the Church should take advantage of these trends.  On my own Parish website, you can not only fill out your Stewardship Card electronically, but also contribute toward your commitment, by setting up recurring payments in any amount, at any interval.  And this is only the beginning!

Conclusion

As you can see, it is important to understand the distinction between Principles and Methodologies.  This critical understanding will enable you to consistently develop Stewardship Methodologies that not only reflect their true Principles, but will be considerably more effective in meeting the needs of both the Church and It’s people.  The freedom to be creative in expressing our Faith, while remaining within the bounds of the Body of Christ, has been one of the greatest features of the Orthodox Church throughout It’s long history.  As part of that living history, we are called to continue to grow the Church, expand It’s ministries, and continually develop new methodologies to reach the world for Christ, who perhaps today more than ever, desperately needs to hear and accept His message of love and salvation.  May the Lord bless all of you with a spiritually rewarding New Year, and for the first time in 2012, that’s My Two Cents!

Happy New Year!

With two minutes remaining before the ball dropped in Times Square, Cee Lo Green, the artist whose hijacked motown style in his hit song “F**K you!” has swept the nation, sang a sentimental song as a prelude to the ball drop initiated by Lady Gaga and Mayor Bloomberg. It sure was a sight to see.

The song for bringing in the new year: “Imagine” by John Lennon. With its first words, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” the song continues, even with Cee Lo’s breaching change of the lyrics, to display an atheist view of the world. Now I am not saying something ridiculous like there should have been a rendition of Axion Estin or similar Orthodox hymn, but why was “Imagine” even chosen? Why not a song about love, or New York, or new beginnings? The choice to sing a song who’s first words negate the entire purpose of Christianity, or even the fact that a song was chosen that is even remotely religious, is distressing to say the least. America was created for separation of church and state, not the tearing-down of religion or the state (both of which “Imagine” does by the way). Without doubt, it was a tremendous display of American popularism.

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I have been writing with Father Michael for a little while now, and what can I say, a little bit of his ideas have rubbed off on me. We talk so much in our church about stewardship, in which I usually speak of talent, and time.  I usually stay away from treasure because it is not related to my music consulting. Or is it?

Most people are drawn to activities or events like sports that they enjoy because of the experience they have while they are there. This element of human nature is not so different for Orthodox Christians. Simply put, cradle and convert are both drawn to the church because of the Orthodox experience in their lives, and there is no bigger part to the Orthodox lifestyle than the Liturgy. We Christians come for communion, prayer, and the hymns of saints as a way to experience the trueness of God’s nature, love, and sacrifice. In Holy Week on Great Thursday, the priest carries the cross around the entire church. This is not just thinly practiced symbolism, but a true experience by the priest, who is to emulate Christ the most in our church. So, the question now arises… what kind of experience do you have established at your church?

I bet you would care more if you thought it brought in more capital.

To be painfully blunt, the better the music is, the more your financial situation at your church will improve. The more people are drawn to the experience to the church, the more people will be there to donate their treasure. Don’t get me wrong, Liturgical music is not a production or a show, but when the music is appropriately chosen, rehearsed, and performed, it adds to the Liturgical experience. Contrite and holy music that is appropriate to the prayer of the text can permeate our being, and it can add a crucial element to your church that keeps people coming back. If we come to Liturgy to experience Christ and his church, why would you surround that experience with poorly performed, rehearsed, composed music?  Of course, the music is not the most important element to the Divine Liturgy, but even my grandmother (a presvytera) admits to the importance of music in church, and its aid in retention of members.

So, what we know is this: The world revels in its ability to force out any concept of the church, or at the very least, makes you feel like something is wrong with you for being a believer. The liturgical experience is enhanced by appropriate and contrite music, which brings and keeps more people in the church. It sounds to me that we all should realize the important necessity of Orthodox Christian music in our churches and in the world. May the new year be filled with the singing of our blessed hymnology!

Thank you for reading! As always, you can find me on facebook (please message me and let me know you found me here), twitter, or by email at david@ecclesiasticalconsulting.com