The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
April 27, 2008
Vol. 11 no. 16

Everything But...
           I didn’t know they made them this big anymore. I went to worship at the Princeton University Chapel, appropriately for a university church right next to the main Library. For those of English background, this was no diminutive “chapel.” I have seen cathedrals less ornate. The sanctuary was very long, seating perhaps 1500 people, the chancel seemed a football field in length. About 15 rows back I had difficulty distinguishing people.
           Every wall and door has some symbol or saying or etching upon it, so you could spend a whole worship service reading and admiring just a portion of it. But yes, there was worship. An impressive organ and organist, a 30-plus member choir who processed two by two down the aisle during the opening hymn, stopping to finish out the 7-verser standing in the aisle. It was an effective way of leading the hymn, because we would have barely heard them if they were up in their chancel seats. During the closing hymn they stood in the outer side aisles enveloping us with their voices.
           Come to think of it, we probably would have heard them up in the chancel because there were maybe 100 people in attendance - and nobody sang. The hymns were good, but I couldn’t hear the people in the pew in front of me. Therefore, there was lots of music in the service, anthems and odes and prayers, but the congregation barely muttered a sound.
           If there is a worship service in the middle of the forest and nobody sings, do people worship? There is no worship in our tradition without preaching the Word and singing - lustily, I like to say. No lust here, alas.
           However, good tea and biscuits in the narthex, the other essential for authentic worship. In the middle of that forest worship, there’s always food, a little bit of communion around the picnic table.