Singing the Gospel

A strange kind of morning I had. The Beaker People had decided it was time for a rain dance, as a kind of Pentecostal celebration. I pointed out that the rain was already happening, and they said that was the point.

So, for once, I left them to it and went off in search of somewhere that would be burning incense. But remembered that where incense is burned, often the Gospel is sung.

So what's that all about? I mean, I can see that the Gospels are kind of special, in that they tell of the earthly life of our Lord, but then the rest of the New Testament tells of the Church's working out of that life into its own life. You could be converted by a passage from Romans as easily as from the Gospel of St Mark, and the Book of Nahum is as much a part of God's message to his earth as the Gospel of Luke.

And there are bits of the Bible I could understand singing - the Psalms, or the psalm-like parts of the Prophets, or the Magnificat or Nunc or the Benedictus. But the Gospels? We don't have any evidence that Jesus, whenever anyone approached him, burst into song - nor that it was a mono-tonal song where he went up a bit or down a bit at the end of each line. And since the Gospel shows Jesus having everyday conversations with people - and even arguments - it just seems a bit kind of odd.

So I don't get it. I reckon if you're going to read the Gospel, read the Gospel. And put some expression into it. And don't sound all posh. Make it sound like it's really happening, now, to real people. But if you want to sing it - then feel free. I respect your right to. Even when I can't understand it. But you seem to me to be distancing people from it. Although a wise woman (not a wise-woman, which is something else) has pointed out to me that in a big cathedral, before they invented amplifiers, singing would make sense. But then it would make sense with the New and Old Testament readings, and the notices as well.

I see it's still raining. So the dance must have worked. Shame the rest of the Folk aren't able to enjoy it. They've all mysteriously gone down with colds.