It would seem that over the four or so years as Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral, Dean Jensen has marginalised the role of the choir so dramatically that the working conditions for Michael Deasey, the last choirmaster were made so impossible that he eventually had to leave his post. It would seem that this strategy seems to be an ideological battle more than anything in which Dean Jensen wishes to purge St Andrews Cathedral of any "high church" elements. Notably, Dean Jensen suggested that the chorus "Miserere" by Allegri represented "an alternative gospel that we must never get tired of opposing". So what exactly is this evil, unchristian music that Dean Jensen is talking about. Listen below, if you dare:
I don't know about you, but I can't see where Dean Jensen is coming from when he suggests that this chorus represents an "alternative gospel", but I think that Peter Phillips provides some degree of insight into the underlying rationale behind the attack on choral music:
I mean the Ayatollah Khomeni once said that music was an evil which distracted people from more serious things and should be defeated at all costs. It seems to me very similar to that; that was an Islamic fundamentalism, but there's very little difference.
Listening to "Miserere", I could not help but be moved and inspired in a way that words could not express. Perhaps this is the point. When one is provoked to feel things, one can express things independently. When one cannot express things independently, one must simply rely upon reciting the legalistic code that they have been fed. It reminds me of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", in which language and culture was restricted for the express purpose of making people incapable of expressing themselves, and thus incapable of expressing the dissent that might give rise to a revolution. In the same way in the Sydney Diocese, these amazing choruses have given way to the drudgery of Christian pop music, with lyrics repeated so often that the parishioner cannot help but be brainwashed by its message. Likewise, discourse has been curtailed so heavily that those who express an alternate understanding of the Scriptures are branded as unorthodox or heretical.
It is only over the last few weeks that the full extent of what is occuring in the Sydney Diocese has dawned upon me. We are currently seeing a systematic stripping away of all resources which will enable the parishioners within the Sydney Diocese to independently assess the teachings of the Jensens and actually read the Bible for themselves. I am really starting to feel like a lonely figure in exile - the fool standing on the hill. Is it too late, or is there still time for music to sow the seeds of revolution?
3 comments:
I like your taste in music, and your radio station, but I don’t follow your comment:
“We are currently seeing a systematic stripping away of all resources which will enable the parishioners within the Sydney Diocese to independently assess the teachings of the Jensens and actually read the Bible for themselves.”
There is an issue of fundamental and eternal significance at stake here. Peter and Phillip Jensen take every opportunity to proclaim it in any way they can. It’s as though they’re yelling “FIRE!” and everyone’s complaining that they’re interrupting the show.
Check it out for yourself. Proverbs, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Revelation all proclaim
“Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”
People have ears but they don’t hear because the put themselves before God. Take for example Peter Phillips comment in the interview:
“God is beautiful, and can be approached - best approached - by mortal men through beauty”.
This can’t be true because Christ said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Christ’s words are infinitely significant. He offers joy, and “peace which exceeds anything we can understand” not only now but for eternity, … if we follow him. Most people don’t. We put ourselves first, spending our lives attempting to find our own way, and a comment like that suggests Peter Phillips is typical. He has reached the view, without reference to God, that mortal men best approach God through music. He is making a case that is readily followed by others who are also deaf, and blind, to God’s will revealed in His divinely inspired scripture.
This deafness and blindness is endemic. If we persist we’ll come to the gates of Heaven and Christ will say, “I never knew you”.
I think the Jensens do encourage people to read the Bible for themselves, and they don’t want to be putting out conflicting and messages hidden in the lyrics of church music. People are so outraged by Phillip Jensen’s intervention in Cathedral Music that they miss the all-important point. Attend St Andrews Cathedral yourself and you’ll find music for many tastes with lyrics that proclaim the Good News.
What is more important? Our works for God by way of beautiful architecture, art and music can become objects of self-glorification and idolatry. Most of us have been seduced by our fallen nature to go after our own desires, sometimes worshipping God’s creation rather than Him. We need ears to hear, and God alone can change that.
Welcome to my blog Bill and thanks for your thoughtful comments.
I can understand what you saying, but I'd suggest that some of your conclusions don't automatically follow. Of course music or architecture can become idols, just like anything can. People can idolise church programs, communities and even theology. The key is to recognise that all of these things are not ends in themselves, but rather a means towards the end - that is, God. I think it's fairly clear that music is seen as a central way of communicating and connecting with God in both the Old and New Testaments. To my way of thinking, Peter Phillips is merely continuing on in that tradition.
Whatever else may be said about Dean Jensen's influence upon the Cathedral music, his suggestion that such music represents "an alternative gospel that we must never get tired of opposing" is totally out of line. He offers no support for this accusation, from the Bible or otherwise. It would seem then that his intervention in St Andrew's Cathedral is entirely ideological and without biblical merit whatsoever.
I’m in full agreement with your comment, “I think it's fairly clear that music is seen as a central way of communicating and connecting with God in both the Old and New Testaments”
And, if I understand your position correctly, I love your honouring the Bible as God’s inspired word and our ultimate authority for testing truth, where you can find text, after text, after text, to support Christs claim:
"I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6).
I see this as just one biblical support for Dean Jensen being compelled to oppose those who fall into the very trap you acknowledge, “Of course music or architecture can become idols, just like anything can. People can idolise church programs, communities and even theology.”
People like Peter Phillips who assert, “God is beautiful, and can be approached - best approached - by mortal men through beauty”, fail to acknowledge Christ. They are false teachers who make statements clearly contrary to Christ’s words. We must be very discerning here. If Phillips had said that music is a divine gift that points to our creator, I could agree with him. But people need to know more. They need to believe in redemption through Christ. Where does he show any awareness of:
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” (Rom 10:9, 10)
When Jensen points it out Phillips can’t see it. Phillips’ music has become his idol whereby he glorifies himself. Christ as redeemer based on faith doesn’t rate a mention in Phillips’ gospel. All he can do is go on the attack. And many people who don’t have the Holy Spirit will side with him and at the very least be indignant, if not angry at what they see as provocation from Jensen. Jensen is not attacking he is discerning. Jensen has not done away with truly God glorifying music as anyone who attended the Cathedral on Christmas Eve, or any Sunday morning will attest. He has appointed a Music Director who glorifies God with the music. Not himself with the music.
Those who believe, thereby receiving the Holy Spirit, receive God’s grace for one reason, to glorify God:
“And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” (Eph 1:13b, 14)
If we don’t discern and oppose the false teachers we’ll eventually have Cathedrals and choirs with without God. They will be dead. And this has already happened around the world.
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