2008-01-30 - 9:34 p.m.
I sang a hymn at evensong tonight. Yes, yes, I know. EvenSONG- don't we always sing? Well, actually, no. I guess properly speaking it should be evening prayer, and I don't really know why it's called evensong. But to start the story at the beginning....
The Cathedral has evensong every day at 5:15 (except Friday, which is a Eucharist, and Sunday, when it's at 4:30). For a few months now I've been leading some of these services, one a week, but not every week. I often take Wednesdays, and the liturgy we use on Wednesday is an alternate form of the BAS. It's a really nice service, and I've gotten quite comfortable with it. One day, a few weeks ago, we were talking after the service, and one of the ladies said that she thought that it ended sort of funny, a bit abruptly. Elaine pointed out that the reason was because there was supposed to be a closing hymn sung, but we didn't do that.
"Oh," I said "it's too bad that the Cathedral doesn't have hymns in these services."
Then Elaine tells me that they used to, under the former Dean, who had a strong voice, there would be at least one hymn in morning prayer and evensong every day. Since then though, it's gone out of practise.
"Well, could I introduce a hymn?" I asked innocently
Well, not only was I allowed, but they all seemed somewhat enthusiastic. I don't think they expected it to go any where. I like singing though, and I kept the thought in my head. Today was the next day that I was on for that service, and I checked with the clergy, and the music director, and decided that I would do a hymn.
At the noon Eucharist I was talking to one of the evensong ladies, and I told her about the hymn. She was really not impressed, and tried her best to convince me that we should say the hymn, not sing it. She was pretty forceful, and I began to have second thoughts. After all, no one else has hymns at evensong- maybe I should leave well enough alone. I was thinking like that until she called me later that afternoon, wondering if in addition to saying the hymn, if we could be seated. This was the last straw. To say the hymn and remain seated would be to ignore the point of the hymn, which is to sing it. We already say a psalm while seated,and I didn't want to do the same with a hymn. I had a good one in mind ( I heard the voice of Jesus say) and I determined to sing it.
At evensong, we had a new person come in, a young Australian woman. Guests are rare at evensong, and guests under 30 doubly so. I cheerfully explained to her that she had just happened to pick the night of the reintroduction of the hymn, and handed her a copy of the words.
When the time came to sing, I was pretty nervous. It's a big Cathedral, and it was pretty empty. Very empty. Lots of space for a voice to get lost in. I've always been told that I'm (put charitably) not a strong singer. I know this, and believe me, I was thinking when I opened my mouth. But, it went well. Nearly every one sang along (save the lady who wanted to say it) and after, everyone said that it had been good. Even the "say it" lady was nice to me. It was very exciting, I think I just changed things for the better around the Cathedral, if only a little!
