The Rev. Eric Williams, Rector     St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Jamestown

I recently put a note in put a note in our parish newsletter about our worship committee considering choir chairs. It generated a lot of response from members of the congregation, including:

• "Why do we need them?"
• "The choir can stand being uncomfortable for an hour, can't they?" 
• "Don't turn my church into a TV studio."
• "Over my dead body." (My personal favorite)

It reminded me of this joke:

How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb?
Change!?!  

Most concerns articulated the deep value that we place on the beauty and dignity of our sanctuary.
Some of the comments also ranged into critiques of worship and music generally. Some of our members would really like more upbeat, contemporary music. some would like more traditional music, but there is no consensus about what kind of traditional music.

Our director of Music, Ron McEntire, is really committed to exploring the great richness of the Episcopal tradition of music—from Gregorian chant, through the great history of hymns and anthems, and including the best of Gospel, Taizé, modern-era classical and even contemporary praise music. He has commented that a unique strength of our parish is our willingness to embrace all of that music and to strive to make it both the best quality and a sincere expression of our faith.

And that is really the point, isn't it? In the end, our discussions about worship and music need to be about more than what I like or what you like. Arguments based on taste are doomed from the start and lead to the kind of "worship wars" that have divided churches. Our worship and music are meant to be first and foremost about lifting our hearts to God and praising God. We can do that in any and every musical style, in the spoken word and in silence.

Let's strive to be a church with a generosity of spirit where we all seek to please God first, one another second and ourselves last. A place where the old rejoice in singing new songs to please the young, and the young rejoice in singing old songs to please their elders. A place where our worship is designed not just to please ourselves, but also to reach out to those beyond our walls who are hungry to know God, but who haven't the foggiest idea what "Episcopalian" means. This does not mean that we need to throw out our tradition, but it does mean a different spirit as we continue to try old and new forms in an effort to praise God and bring others into a relationship with God.