And With Your Spirit

I went 4/5 at Mass today.

Got all the way through the hour and the last one got me. When Father Reid said the final, "The Lord be with you." I responded, "And also with yooooour spirit." Eh, close. No need to be perfect. What's the challenge in getting it right the first time?

My Episcopalian friends are probably giggling at all the discussion, angst and drama as Roman Catholics take a more literal run at the English translation of the Mass. Take a look at their Book of Common Prayer and you'll find a lot of the very words that sounded so odd to our ears this first morning of Advent.

There's a lot of griping among my fellow musicians at our bishop's decision to use only a chant setting for the sung Mass parts - the Gloria, Sanctus, Lamb of God, etc. It seems like the next year will be monotonous. I get his point though. We need to get the words down before we add the flourishes.

Oh, we love our flourishes! We like to show God just how we've developed these talents He gave us. We like to make a polyphonic noise unto the Lord!

But there's another reason everyone in our diocese is learning the same stuff. When we get together as the central Missouri community of faith to celebrate the Mass, we'll all, literally, be singing from the same hymnbook. One community sharing in one song. A spirit of unity.

I like the sound of that. Almost, I'd bet, as I'd love the sound of the first graders practicing the word "consubstantial"!