The serious and sometimes satirical reflections of a priest, poet, and pilgrim — who knowing he has not obtained the goal, presses on in a Godward direction.
February 4, 2011
Playing our Song
The Instruments of Communion provide background music for the real life of the Anglican Communion.
Erik Satie once said that dinner music should never interfere with the sounds of knives and forks. We need more of what he called "furniture music" from the Instruments.
Perhaps, to be a bit more au courant, we may speak of the music that you hear between punching numbers into your phone while awaiting something that's called "Customer Service", which provides little service except for finger exercise or voice exercise in shouting answers to to a disembodied voice.
...thus taking your thread a tad off topic. Sorry, Tobias.
I was thinking of a band continuing to play long after the dancers have sat down to dinner.
The real and vibrant life of the Communion, diminished as it is to the extent some have chosen to walk apart, continues to go on, whether primates meet, Lambeth confers, the Anglican council consults, or Canterbury focuses unity. And if the communion continues to exist in spite of the instruments, then they aren't really instrumental except as backup players...
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Good one.
ReplyDeleteBut the bigger question is, who is playing the instruments of communion?
Pardon me, Tobias, but sometimes the sound is more like cacophony than music. :-)
ReplyDeleteErik Satie once said that dinner music should never interfere with the sounds of knives and forks. We need more of what he called "furniture music" from the Instruments.
ReplyDeleteFurniture music is better than elevator music.
ReplyDeleteBill, you stole my Muzak line.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, to be a bit more au courant, we may speak of the music that you hear between punching numbers into your phone while awaiting something that's called "Customer Service", which provides little service except for finger exercise or voice exercise in shouting answers to to a disembodied voice.
...thus taking your thread a tad off topic. Sorry, Tobias.
I was thinking of a band continuing to play long after the dancers have sat down to dinner.
ReplyDeleteThe real and vibrant life of the Communion, diminished as it is to the extent some have chosen to walk apart, continues to go on, whether primates meet, Lambeth confers, the Anglican council consults, or Canterbury focuses unity. And if the communion continues to exist in spite of the instruments, then they aren't really instrumental except as backup players...
An ensemble is reported to have played the final hours of the Titanic.
ReplyDeleteDah-veed -- Yes, actually the phrase "rearranging the deck chairs" had crossed my mind!
ReplyDeleteThe instruments are badly out of tune, and the music hardly fits the scene.
ReplyDelete