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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.

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  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.

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