2008 Mississippi Conference on Church Music and Liturgy: Transforming Your World as Performer

I was asked to write a blogpost for a conference I attended last week. I'm double dipping by posting it here as well, so that you guys can know what I've been up to.



Although it was the last full day of the Conference, the day opened just as the others had begun. The morning people bouncing into the dining hall at seven-thirty on the dot for breakfast; the rest of us tearing ourselves reluctantly from our beds and sluggishly joining them in a steady stream in search of sustenance and coffee. We made our way to Gray Chapel for Morning Prayer, the last of the daily offices we’d share this week and prepared for another hard day of work.

Let no one fool you. The Mississippi Conference is hard work. The days are long and joyful and filled with challenge. In our ongoing discussion of the roles we play as musicians and liturgists, today we examined our call to be performers. Here was a discussion in which everyone had two cents to add to the pot. Some accept the title of performer reluctantly, a word used in the world of entertainment where the relationship exists between performer and audience and leaves no room for God. Others feel quite strongly that performer is a right and correct word for their role in worship, but stress that the performance is for God and not for the gathered. All agreed, I think, that the performance of worship is the group effort of all those present and active in worship, such that when the appreciative parishioner says to the soloist on Sunday morning, “I really enjoyed your performance,” the sincere reply may come, “Thank you. I enjoyed yours too.”

One outstanding question lingered after our spirited conversation: What is the definition of perform? I admit I looked it up; I have an ongoing love affair with words. According to Merriam-Webster, the etymology of the word comes to modern English from Middle English via Anglo-French which derives from the Latin per (thoroughly) + furnir (to complete or equip). I suspect the contemporary usage of performer as presenter-- that is one who merely gives a rendition rather than as one who wholly fulfills the act of worship-- is where we find our divergent responses to the word. Whether we view sacred performance as the full completion of liturgical acts, or as the thorough equipping of God’s people for their call to transform the world, or both, I’m left believing that the role and title of performer is one we must each embrace wholeheartedly.

I suspect that it was with deliberate intent that the morning’s exchange of ideas regarding performance was the precursor to the evening’s cabaret. The Rose Hill Cabaret (Back from exile!) is a much loved and highly anticipated penultimate act of the Conference. All of the conferees, staff, and faculty are invited to supply a bit of entertainment. Not everyone chooses to perform, but no one chooses to miss the cabaret; it is simply too much fun. This year’s cabaret was exceptional. What is normally a hilarious and raucous event was also this year a testament to the phenomenal talent working in small, rural parishes. Our breath was stolen from us in equal measure by laughter and stunned appreciation of the gifts and talents we had only begun to be aware of in the course of the week. At play in performance on the final night of the Conference we had some insight into what we might achieve as sacred performers on Sunday morning.