(The following is a guest post from Ginny Ambrose, Director of Music Ministries at St. Joseph.)
Recently I had the opportunity to visit a beach community for vacation. Since my time away included a weekend, I naturally sought out the nearest Catholic church to attend Sunday Mass. I was in luck! Just around the corner from where I was staying was a beautiful church with an architecture that reflected a Spanish mission style. I was excited to enter such a beautiful building and couldn’t wait for the 10:00 AM Mass to begin. The organ swelled, the people stood and the procession began toward the altar. I picked up my hymnal and began to sing as well as my morning voice could. To my surprise not many sang around me. In fact, some even turned to stare. Bashful, and now embarrassed, I felt my voice quiver, and losing all confidence, I ceased my singing. Even though I’d always thought of myself as an active participant in the Mass, the stares were just too much for me to endure. The Mass went on much the same way, with little or no participation from the pews.
I looked around at the gorgeous stained glass, the burning candles, the wonderful homilist and wondered where the life was in this building. I thought about the verse in the song, Christ Be Our Light: “...make us your building, sheltering others, walls made of living stone.”
Maybe it was the fact that the congregation may have been vacationers, maybe strangers to this church themselves…. Whatever the reason, they had decided to remain spectators rather than participants. I thought about our dear parish of St. Joseph. I’ve always thought our congregation was such an alive one -- singing and praying their hearts out! I wondered if any of you ever had an experience like I had, even in our own pews. It made me think about the courage it must take to proclaim the faith even though those around us may not be so inspired. My "view from the pew" was a learning experience for me. There are those who hide their faith from the rest of the world and there are those who proudly proclaim it, praying and singing no matter how they sound. Which are you?
