Skip to main content

Forget Sermons, Music is Hip // Jackson Riddle

After reading about the Roman liturgy and the practices of the monks and nuns, I was honestly quite surprised. I had always pictured monks as humble hermits that focused on the upkeep of their monasteries, solemn men with limited speech, but singing? Nope. Never considered it. I found it particularly interesting that their services (the Offices,) typically focused solely on music and often did not involve sermons. "The Offices include neither preaching nor Holy Communion" and "The first part, the teaching service or Fore-Mass, concludes after the sermon, if there is one". Normally when we think of a church service we picture a worship band doing two or three songs followed by a pastor giving a 30-45 minute sermon, and that's the entirety of the service. In Roman liturgy, they considered the music to be an integral part in the church service, and as the Establishment of Catholic Tradition file says, "The monks dedicated themselves not only to charitable work but also to a career of worship." 

So maybe modern day churches should follow the practice of the nuns and the monks and just do all music all the time. Who needs sermons, anyway?

PS I commented on Emma Kate and Abbie's posts.

Comments

  1. Micah PowersFebruary 9, 2021 at 9:08 AM

    I don't know if you know about the visitation monastery on dauphin street but it is something my aunt is very involved with. It isn't a closed off monastery as we often think of, but they hold events and have fellowship with other christians throughout the mobile area. one of the things that my aunt would organize every year but this past one was carols at the visitation monastery. During this time we would sing carols with the nuns and it often turned into a great time of worship. It is amazing to see how dedicated they are to worship and how much it bleeds over into that time. It is one of those things that makes me think if there were either a non denominational or baptist monks I would very much enjoy that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Logan TurnerFebruary 9, 2021 at 9:12 AM

    Yeah, I agree with you there. I never really thought of monks as the kind to talk at all, much less sing. For some reason, the image of monks singing just conflicts in my mind. I never would have thought that their services would have been music-oriented as opposed to sermons.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oedipus’ Children/Siblings—Lily Caswell

Ok, so Oedipus is a bit of a train wreck to say the least. I love the fact that even after Oedipus found out about his less-than-appealing relationship with his mother, he still tried to look after his children/siblings. After he gouged his eyes out, his children came to him at which point Oedipus talked about how that when they were old enough to marry, no one would want them due to them being products of incest. He said for the people not to condemn them based on what their father had done. Even after he knew what he had done and what his children were, he still wanted the best for them. I commented on Logan’s and Ian’s posts.
3 comments
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more

One shall stand, One shall fall // Ian Blair

      I usually have a little introduction into my thoughts about the reading for this week before I start with the actual blog part of my post, but I can't help but think about the bone-chilling realization that awaits us in Book VIII, so my introduction this time will be brief. It is my personal opinion that if people are imperfect, then we are only capable of imperfect systems and societies consequentially. However, this does not mean that we must not aim for the closest system to perfect that we can achieve.      The realization I wrote of earlier is the suggestion by Socrates that tyranny stems from the system we know as democracy. At first I disagreed, it is anarchism that causes  tyrannical reign as a byproduct of fulfilling its purpose of overthrowing the current power and not establishing another system. All anarchism does is create a power vacuum for another power to take over and the cycle repeats itself, right? ...Right? Quic...
1 comment
Read more