Time was when Sunday church-going started with the Venite, continued with a psalm and three collects. It was entirely predictable and could be recited by a parrot. In a sudden outburst of appetite for novelty this pattern was rejected in favour of such novelty that nobody knew what was coming next.
Repetition has its place. We repeat (or we used to repeat) the multiplication tables and the colours of the rainbow. We remind ourselves of the number of days in the month by doggerel. We drink cups of tea that are identical day after day. But routine becomes tiresome; inventiveness must have its sway. The Venite and the psalms are out. New songs are in.
Why?
Learning by rote has been discredited. Chanting poems is considered a form of literary violence. Choral speaking had its day and is now forgotten. Yet the storing of collects, sonnets and proverbs has benefits that are recognised only perhaps with the passing of years.
In moments of crisis we have no elbow-room to compose prayers. We can use only what is in the liturgical cupboard.
At our leisure we can benefit from the respect for quality that comes from familiarity with good practice. Good taste and discrimination come with time, not with immediate effect. The cumulative effect of savouring a Cox’s orange pippin rather than a mongrel apple takes time.
Others too benefit. Anthems national and parochial can be jointed in only by those who are so familiar with them that they can be sung or recited without any prodding.
We are happy to see ‘Hamlet’ on the stage with the same script. We are happy too to listen to Handel’s ‘Messiah’ again and again. We are approving quality, depth, propriety as we do so. The term ‘inoffensive Episcopalian’ has yet to be invented, meaning the Anglican who fails to see himself as contentedly occupying the driving seat and waiting for others to make a move to join him. We can do without that.
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