God Sister Teresa
Liturgy sometimes produces battles among Christians that are completely contrary to basic standards of charity and peace. There are the clashes between the supporters of the Book of Common Prayer and the modernisers, or the fracas between the Roman Catholics who are devoted to the Latin Mass versus those who prefer it in the vernacular.
These conflicts are unedifying but inevitable, given the depth of feeling aroused when people believe with too much conviction that the ‘wrong words’ are being used for ‘their’ prayer. This has been going on for centuries and in the past often involved unspeakable bloodshed. The answer lies in sacrificing one’s own taste for a greater good.
On the whole I remain calm when faced with different renditions of the Bible – more often than not they are positively useful – giving one a broader view. The Grail version of the Psalms in the current Roman breviary is very acceptable, but once a month one line in Psalm 49 has been maddening me for decades: ‘With the harp I will solve my problem.’ (I now mentally say the King James version of that same line: ‘I will open my dark saying upon the harp.’)
I do not wish to address God in the language of television advertisements from 40 years ago, promoting fabulous powders that clean the bath without scratching. The psalmist had no such trivia in mind: he knows that, in an hour of need, when serious thinking is vital, music will give him the necessary peace in which to reach the right conclusion. He has enough musical skill to be able to find solace in playing the harp himself.
Not everyone in the Old Testament had this ability, and there are some very touching and enjoyable cross-references which involve individuals pleading for a musician to come and play to them in order to calm their nerves.
In 1 Samuel 16:23 poor, mad King Saul asks David for help: ‘And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.’
The prophet Elisha was certainly in need of soothing in 2 Kings 3:15 – he was so exasperated by the idolatrous behaviour of King Jehoram, son of Ahab, that he said, ‘But now bring me a minstrel.’
Perhaps some of our prominent politicians could follow his lead: ‘And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.’ Music soothes the savage breast and replaces internal chaos with serenity and an ability to think straight.