VERYONE who has done music in a church probably has a number of wedding or funeral stories. Sometimes when church musicians gather at a coffee shop (or more likely a bar) to shoot the breeze, such stories can come up. Recently I played organ for a funeral at a church I had never been to. Like a good Catholic boy, I arrived 45 min. before the funeral. I spoke to a Deacon about how we could turn on the sound system. The chat went something like this:
“Hello Deacon Jim, do you know how to turn on the sound system?”
“I have no idea”
“How long have you been a deacon here?”
“27 years.”
“…OK”
I thought that it would be a great idea to speak to the priest about whether the Responsorial Psalm would be sung by us, whether the Ordinary parts of the Mass would be sung etc. – this little “details” the neglect of which, can bode confusion. Only… the priest was nowhere to be found. As a matter of fact, at the time the funeral was to begin, there was not a living soul in the church. (and no other as well…) About a half an hour after the “starting time” of the funeral, a few folks started to wander in. Finally about 45 min. later, I got to talk to the priest for a bit. Nobody seemed in the least concerned that the funeral started over an hour later. Oh Well. When you are thinking of eternity, what’s the hurry?
Anyway…a lot of what we do in serving our communities is rather unglamorous. I suppose that all of us would like to be performing in flashy concerts or conducting world-famous choirs or… you fill in the blank. However, the thought for today is: let’s render unto others the gift of our music as we would render to Christ. As St. Mother Theresa said: “do little things with great love.”
