For this Lenten season, I\u2019ve been trying to go to daily Mass every day.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been perfect but keep resolving to be better with the help of God and a good alarm clock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The church where I have been regularly attending daily Mass sings the entrance hymn and recessional.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of awful sounding.\u00a0 The priest announces the hymn\u2019s number as he walks into the chapel.\u00a0 We all scramble to turn to the right page and everyone just begins singing when they find it.\u00a0 Which doesn\u2019t sound so bad except that they all begin at the beginning so that it sounds a bit like singing rounds with 54 parts.\u00a0 There\u2019s no cantor or musician on weekday mornings, so the tune and key are anyone\u2019s guess as is the tempo because my 2\/4 time may be faster than your 2\/4 time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The old ladies warble and trill in that old lady way.\u00a0 The old men either just speak the words aloud or sound as if they are attempting something more operatic.\u00a0 I croak along in my dying frog singing voice while the poor lady next to me, God bless her, is never on the right page.\u00a0 She sings whatever song she opens to, and today I\u2019m pretty sure it was one meant for Advent.\u00a0 It is a mess of noise and offends even my untrained ears.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until Monday morning that I realized that this cacophony of noise is the perfect metaphor for Protestantism.\u00a0 Here I sit with a large group of people who all love the same God.\u00a0 We are all working towards the same goal.\u00a0 We are all reading the same book with the same instructions.\u00a0 So how is it that we are all coming up with such different answers?\u00a0 How is it that 54 people reading the same familiar music all sing different songs?\u00a0 How is it that something which starts off with such good intentions ends up in such an awful mess?\u00a0 It\u2019s because there\u2019s no one in charge.\u00a0 <\/p>\n