“I will sing with the spirit; and I will sing with the understanding also.” (I Corinthians 14:15, The motto of the Royal School of Church Music)

A little over 20 years ago I received a ‘petition’ from a group of Junior Choristers alleging that “Dr. Quinn is patronizing and unfair to children.” The group had “studied” the church bulletins carefully and noted that, other than an occasional “scrap” of Latin, the Junior Choir, unlike the Senior Choir, always sang in translation. “We have looked this up,” they said. “Bach, Couperin, Schütz, Schop … We know for a fact that not a one of these men wrote anything in English.” Also at that time we tended to sing ‘simpler’ hymns with much repetition at the 9:00 service. This same group presented a list of hymns that were “demeaning” to children and “generally stupid.” The list included almost every item in the “Hymns for Children” section of the 1940 Hymnal except for “Once in royal David’s city” and “I sing a song of the saints of God.” “Thy Gospel, Jesus, I believe,” was singled out with particular scorn. Now this little bunch of zealots was admittedly unusual, even for the Chapel of the Cross, but the fact that they had this kind of expectation reflects the seriousness with which our parish takes the intelligence and spiritual depth of children, and the importance we place on their nurture in the Christian faith.

A friend of mine who is organist and choirmaster in one of the largest cathedral parishes in our country (over 3,500 communicants) recently told me of a discussion he had with the person on his staff who oversees their programs for children. He needed to change his approach, she said. When they come to church, children should be given only the simplest and most “enjoyable” tasks. That is so because their school work is so rigorous and their activities (soccer was the example) require such serious “discipline.”

“ Church,” specifically the children’s choir program, should not be demanding in any way. But Jesus’ question endures. “If your child asks for bread, would you give her a stone (or, equally deplorable, a Twinkie)?

When I think about our children’s choir program, two primary aspects stand out. First, I see our choirs as a unique contribution that our children can make to the liturgical and spiritual life of the parish. The choirs provide a framework within which our children who have been given so much can give something of singular beauty and lasting spiritual value to others. I like to think of our junior choristers as ministers – offering the best music of which they are capable to God, leading the people of God in worship, and engendering in those who hear their music a deeper knowledge and love of God. Our artistic goal is to achieve excellence with inclusiveness, working with a wide range of talent and prior experience (and within a very limited rehearsal time) to create something beautiful for God.

To create something beautiful for God fulfills a deep need within each of us, and it is especially crucial to nurture this teleological urge in children, to help them bend themselves, like a growing flower, in the direction of the Divine light. This second aspect of children’s choir work is of primary importance in our efforts: that Christ may be richly and deeply formed within each of our children and a life-long relationship to God through the Church cemented. The Christian life of prayer, praise, thought, and service requires discipline, continuity, and constancy of purpose, and those are precisely the attributes of choristers. How this can be done without making “demands” is difficult to imagine.

“ We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts…” (BCP, p.836)