The Choir is a Ministry, Not a Performance

By Dr jarlat Uche opara

Last Sunday in all the Masses I made a passionate appeal to you my wonderful parishioners to get involved in the singing rather than humming or keeping mute.

After Mass I got some constructive feedbacks tailored to the choir, if adhered to would help us have a liturgy that is participatory than exclusive.

My esteemed members of the choir, thanks for your sacrifices, your offering of time, coming for practice to ensure we have beautiful renditions of soul lifting songs.

Each time we gather, we look up to you to lift our souls with songs and praises, uniting us by shared purpose to minister to the body of Christ. Your role is sacred, your calling distinct.

Choir is not an entertainment stand; it is instead a vital pillar of worship . Your ministry is fundamentally about connection, connecting the congregation to the divine through music.

The ultimate goal is not to impress with technical skill or vocal prowess, but to facilitate communal worship. When you stand before the assembly, you serve as catalysts for the congregation’s own praise.

We are called to “make a joyful noise,” it shouldn’t be only the choir’s “noise”. It should be a noise we as a congregation must make collectively.

When choir prioritizes complex, classical pieces that require specialized training to perform, let alone to follow, you are inadvertently creating a barrier for full participation by the congregation.

By this you transform an invitation to participate into spectators ‘ event, leaving the majority of the assembly feeling alienated from the very act of worship they came to share in. The truest measure of your ministry’s success is not the applause, but the sound of the entire congregation singing with fervor, their voices raised in unison with yours.

Your role as choir is to lead, and a good leader never moves so far ahead that their followers cannot keep pace.

I enjoin you my dear choir to select songs that resonate with the hearts of the people, melodies and rhythms that are accessible, singable, and steeped in the spirit of communal praise.

Focus on entoning songs that the congregation can easily learn, internalize, and belt out alongside us, transforming the assembly from an audience into an active choir in its own right.

Your ministry is an act of service. May we always choose the path of inclusion and shared devotion, ensuring that every voice in the congregation can unite in offering a harmonious and heartfelt tribute to God.

During Mass, all that matters is the communal participation of people in songs not the classical rendition of handels. During Mass, the assessment of choir’ performance isn’t in how many times it provokes standing ovations from the congregation, rather how it makes the liturgy very participatory through songs.

You have been great but you can do better for inclusion. The heart or soul of the liturgy is how the congregation owns it through active not passive participation.

A lively liturgy is a liturgy where both the choir and the congregation are the choirs, singing in one accord and making a joyful noise of worship and adoration.

Catholic hymn book is rich in soul lifting songs. Make use of it the more. The congregation needs less of your nice and goosebumps inducing vioces. They need more of the voices of the congregation in one accord, singing actively to songs that are common which they can not only relate to but make deep meaning to them.

I remain your beloved, Fada Blunt

@Fada Blunt