Having absolutely nothing to do with the liturgy or music today at Mass, I went and talked to people beforehand, sat in the pews and sang along, went to Eucharist and stayed behind to talk some more.
The music was provided by a pianist doing an extra spot, filling in for someone who was away. The singers who led us were about ten strong and were led by an enthusiastic lady. They have no pretentions for choral excellence but sing in normal voices that blend with the assembly. We stumbled our way through the new version the Mass of Creation (and the responses for that matter) and we sang new songs and old songs.
…and the Spirit was there as much as any Cathedral and survived the lack of pretension (and incence) and was recognisably Catholic and there was a suitably short, apposite and to the point homily bringing the gospel into our lives from the Priest. None of this is extraordinary and I’m sure it goes on all the time, but, for example, we used a Haugen recessional, “Bring Forth the Kingdom” without traumatising anyone noticeably. We sang a reverant new song by Amanda McKenna, “Jesus, Bread of Life” that was picked up (the chorus anyway) by the pew sitters and sung.
We also sang Ruach, an old Hebrew melody according to the music:
Choir
Spirit, Spirit, Spirit of God
Descant
Not by might or power,
But by the Spirit of God.
None of this is to say that what happens in the Cathedral can’t be a work of the Spirit, although the anonymity of it all must make it a struggle, just to say that we have no power in the suburbs, we are the anawin of God, but the Spirit moves nonetheless and we shall see where it goes.