"To sing like this, in the company of other souls, and to make those consonants slip out so easily and in unison, and to make those chords so rich that they bring tears to your eyes, this is transcendence. This is the power that choral singing has that other music can only dream of." --Garrison Keillor

I was reminded of this today while singing with our choir. It was one of those days when we sounded like crap in rehearsal, then somewhere between the choir room and the nave, the sound gets polished and refined by heavenly angels. David says it's the acoustics, even his vacuum cleaner sounds good in there, he told us once, but I'm not so sure. Our choir members read well, keep the tempo, and blend beautifully. We are blessed and we bless.

I was also reminded of why the renewal movement we discovered at Cursillo left me cold. In a discussion with Guy about GC06, I could tell he was very unhappy with the liberal direction TEC has taken. He wishes our Bishop were not so middle-of-the-road, or "centrist," as some call him. He did not go to the meeting at the Cathedral on Weds, but I overheard someone else talk about it who did and was also dissatisfied. The reason it reminded me of Cursillo was because there was a strain of fundamentalism I detected there that caused me to immediately recoil. (Shades of PBC)

Some of the renewal movement is good, most Episcopalians need to know their Bibles better than they do, but some are so enamored of this newfound devotion that they get puffed up with an attitude of spiritual superiority. Their inclination is to interpret scripture literally. It's new to them and they haven't had time to digest, to step back and look at the big picture, to study & compare commentaries, or to grow into the overall revelation that God gives us through the Bible. They're so close to the tree, they can't see the forest.

It's from this pattern that a certain elitism develops. Rather than being more inclusive, they get exclusive. A tight-knit group, caring for one another, holding each other accountable, has a strong appeal for those who have never had it. The emotions are strong, they sing their renewal songs, they speak in tongues, the guards are let down, and the unscrupulous leaders can step in and exploit all this to the benefit of their bank accounts. I saw it happen at our previous church.

Those priests were charismatic and weren't warm to anyone who wasn't. They opposed independent study, and advocated book burning. They accused anyone who did not avail themselves of the Unction to be deluded with an unholy sense of perfection. And when Bishop Gray tried to hold them accountable, they scored a settlement of $60,000 with the parish to avoid a lawsuit for breach of contract. I've never seen more dishonest ministers, but they were fans of ++Akinola and made no apologies for wanting to align with him.

My fears about the renewal movement were confirmed by that experience, and I'm afraid we're going to see more of these instances where honorable Christians are led astray. I hope none of the "traditionalists" leave St. Philips. I love them dearly and would really miss them. I just hope and pray they come back to their Episcopal roots of tolerance and diversity. We need them.