Church House carol service

It was the turn of the Buildings Department to plan and put on the annual Carol Service for Church House staff yesterday. The liturgical highlight was a nativity play - or was it a pantomime? It was a joy to see that the staff involved don't take themselves too seriously, and that worship can be fun, as well as meaningful.

I was very tickled by the wry comment at the end that there needed to be a retiring collection - for the organ. It had groaned and wheezed it's way through the service, despite being ably played - but it did sound as if it needed to be permanently retired!

On a serious note, and only tangentially relating to the service yesterday, how is the mission of the church furthered by things like ancient and decrepit organs? And are we so attached to our customs and practices that we can't see how strange they appear to the people we are trying to reach? What is such an instrument to a person who doesn't usually go to church but a distraction or a source of humour? Someone will be bound to want to defend organs, but as a cultural practice of the church, are they not, in fact, simply part of the structure of a distinct subculture, with very little connection to the wider culture within which we are trying to communicate the gospel?

A further thought, what is so scary for a congregation about a capella singing? At another service I attended recently, the unaccompanied singing of O come, O come Emmanuel was hauntingly beautiful.