[Magdalen] My Church

[sally.davies at gmail.com]

Not the truth that I suspect he might have preferred, unless I misread the
snarky tone...

There is plenty of precedent in the primitive Church for handing out food
and other provisions, and none at all for "music consultancy"; St Paul's
recommendation sounds more like a musical pot-luck supper than a
professional music ministry.

And then, Jesus himself handed out food on more than one occasion but
expressed no opinion on how churches should be run, nor on music apart from
complaining that people expected him to dance to their tune, and hinting
that stones might make better musicians than some hard hearted people.

Which is not to say that excellent music is a bad thing, or any of the
other multifarious activities that comprise what we think of as "local
church". I like good music and have oft bemoaned its absence on this very
list...

It's just to speculate that a church erring in the "soup kitchen" direction
is an acorn falling close to the parent tree.

Sally
On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 at 16:59 Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
> In a message dated 3/16/2015 10:14:45 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> jguthrie at pipeline.com writes:
>
> Some  object, but I think that's more a matter of the food bank being a
> "feel  good" endeavor for the participants in the congregation rather than
> a "How
> can we help as many in Need as we can?"  strategy.>>>>
>
> Not noted for his quiet diplomacy, TEC music consultant Mason Martens
> said on several occasions that it was his opinion that some Manhattan
> parishes had real difficulty deciding on whether they were a parish
> church or a soup kitchen.
>
> This is a typical, snarky comment by Martens, but he may have hit
> upon a bit of truth.
>
>
> David S.
>