INTERVIEW: Simon Reynolds

Simon Reynolds, visiting research fellow at the University of Winchester, discusses his new book Lighten Our Darkness: Discovering and celebrating Choral Evensong …

For the uninitiated, what is Choral Evensong?

Very simply, Evensong is the popular name given to the act of worship that the Church of England (and other Anglican churches across the world) offers every day throughout the year. It becomes ‘Choral’ Evensong when it sung by a choir, usually in a cathedral, large church or college chapel. It first appeared in its present form in the mid-16^th Century, as the English Reformation progressed following the dissolution of monastic communities. But its roots go much deeper.

It was an attempt to simplify the daily pattern of worship in the monasteries (and the Medieval church more generally) into a form that clergy and people could use together. In that sense, it reflects what Christianity received from its Jewish roots and developed over the first millennium of its history, by marking the time of day with the reading of scripture, the singing of the psalms and the offering of prayer. The English reformers, and Thomas Cranmer in particular (the Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI, who was largely responsible for shaping the Book of Common Prayer where Evensong is found) was sensitive to the popularity of the English choral tradition. He included the rubric ‘in quires and places where they sing here followeth the anthem’ in recognition of the value of music in this pattern of daily worship. Elsewhere in Europe where the Reformation took hold, the musical dimension of worship was more significantly diminished.

What was your first experience of Choral Evensong? 

Singing in a choir from a young age. The sheer breadth of the music I encountered, the need to work hard to perform it and enjoy it, along with the encouragement of an inspiring and energetic choirmaster, has left a lasting impression. I think it instilled as sense of taking responsibility to ensure that worship should always be the best it can be. It also meant that the archaic language of the Book of Common Prayer and the Authorised Version of the Bible has become deeply embedded. This has fed a love of literature and spurred my interest in the arts more generally. It certainly kept me anchored in the life of the Church during my teens and early twenties - and I wonder whether that would have happened if the only option had been a youth group.

In fact, I think the missionary value of choirs in churches is hugely undervalued, as is the key role of organists and choir directors, especially in enabling young people to have a stake in the Church’s worship – as well as raising aspiration and encouraging mobility. In my experience, where you have youngsters in choirs, you have young families in church, because it gives their parents and siblings a connection to the Church’s worship that they might not otherwise have had. 

Over the past 25 years, it seems the number of people drawn by the distinctive musical character of their worship has risen significantly, with Choral Evensong becoming the locus of this persistent growth in the numbers of worshippers. What can be said to account for this? And where do the origins of this revival lie?

This growth is almost counter-cultural, especially when you think about the overall ‘direction of travel’ in the Church of England at the moment. The growth in numbers attending cathedrals (and cathedral-style worship) has been gradual, but persistent (about 35% over the past decade). Interestingly, it has happened, initially, without any deliberate strategic planning. Cathedrals simply ‘did their thing’ well and found it connected with a critical mass of people who would not usually worship at their local parish church. Part of it is the inspiring space, as well as the fact that people are given more time to find their own level of engagement. 

The beauty of the music, coupled to the ordered choreography of the worship, speaks powerfully to those who want God before they want community or ‘fellowship.’ And I think cathedrals and college chapels, in particular, offer an approach to the Christian faith that is enlarging and generous, inviting rigorous questioning and searching curiosity. You are less likely, for example, to find a formulaic ‘one size fits all’ approach – or be compelled to ‘sign up’ as soon as you walk through the door.

What do you think the appeal of Choral Evensong might be to younger generations in particular? 

In a word, because it offers ‘sanctuary’ in a world where pressures are coming from all directions. Many chaplains in universities and colleges with chapels that offer Choral Evensong have identified how students from a pressured academic environment value the space it offers to be nourished by difference. It is a form of worship that invites, allowing those who take part to see their lives, the world and other people, from a different perspective. All worship, but especially worship that is spacious and reflective, can be gently transformative. It allows us to recognise that we are not merely cogs in a vast machinery of achieving and generating profit, and that our tired bodies and distracted minds will not remain healthy for very long without the nourishment of beauty and wisdom. One of the most enlarging aspects of Choral Evensong, because the language and music is rooted in other times and other places, is its capacity to widen horizons. It tells me that there are other people, other languages, other challenges and other possibilities in ‘my world.’

Is this revival of Choral Evensong an exclusively British phenomenon? 

No. Similar patterns can be discerned in the United States, not just in The Episcopal Church (a sister church of the Church of England), but also in higher education institutions that do not have an Anglican identity. One obvious example is Duke University in Durham (Carolina), a Methodist foundation, which offers choral worship based on Evensong during the week which is highly valued. Across Europe, similar patterns can be found in the growing attraction of monasteries and its plainsong liturgy; as well as places like Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (and, currently, the choir of Notre Dame continue the choral tradition in another of Paris’s major churches with a weekly televised Mass on Sunday evening); and Cologne Cathedral in Northern Germany. Culturally, the Netherlands has always felt a strong pull towards the UK, with many churches there giving a strong emphasis to Anglican-style choral worship, too.

The last few decades have also seen the popularity of pilgrimage on the rise again. Can renewed interest in Choral Evensong be linked to this in any way? 

Yes, I think it takes us back to an earlier point I made about being taken out of ourselves. Pilgrimage takes us to different places. It is apparent that the increased numbers of people undertaking pilgrimages is partly a need to say ‘stop the world I want to get off’ and live at a completely different pace for a while. But it also speaks to a growing need for ‘more’ than the treadmill of life offers for many people – whether that ‘more’ is more of God, more time to look at the world more closely, or more opportunities to encounter people who are not ‘one of us.’

In the book I emphasise that Choral Evensong is not ‘easy’ and that it needs to be worked at if its contours are to become a familiar part of our spiritual landscape. Similarly, pilgrimage is hugely demanding, physically, mentally, spiritually and psychologically. The terrain covered on pilgrimage can be as tough as it is transformative. In that sense, the rise in popularity of both pilgrimage and Evensong (or similar forms of worship with monastic roots) is a timely reminder that grounded, traditional forms of Christian worship and devotion continue to be hugely attractive, without the need to constantly re-invent the wheel – or by endlessly stressing about how we are making it more ‘relevant.’ 

With more people embracing ‘non-traditional’ forms of worship and deserting churches, do you think Choral Evensong could be what encourages people back?

This question probes a complex scenario in the Church of England. When he was Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams often spoke of a ‘mixed economy’ and that strongly alludes to the Church of England’s unique vocation to be inclusive, embracing a wide theological spectrum. Choral Evensong is not for everyone, especially those for whom liturgical formality and ‘classical’ music is not attractive. Similarly, I usually ‘head for the hills’ these days at the mere mention of Messy Church or the idea of a rip-roaring ‘Family’ service with choruses and worship band. Nonetheless, I recognise that different patterns of worship and church life are an essential and valued part of this ‘mixed ‘economy’ and I want to affirm their place as part of the ecology of the Church of England today.

I think the difficulty comes when the direction of travel is all ‘one way’ and those who are setting the narrative of the Church of England, particularly by adopting the vocabulary of mission, are tending to diminish traditional patterns of worship and models of the Church. Very often (not least because of the emerging pathways on which most clergy are being trained), this can be a straightforward consequence of a basic unfamiliarity with the rhythm and contours of a stable pattern of daily worship such as Choral Evensong. But it also signifies a contracting of experience and a squeezing of theological perspective, often leading to a superficial assumption that inherited, traditional patterns are no longer viable or attractive to those seeking faith. Then there is less room for silence, symbol and movement; exposure to the Scriptures (and other key writings in the tradition) becomes more limited – and, with it, the range of our worshipping vocabulary and theological discourse.

Obviously, Choral Evensong was never intended to be a device to put ‘bums on pews’: it has simply been the Church’s natural way of nourishing the people of God, day by day, where we draw on the resources that have sustained Christians (and Jews) for centuries. But that is its strength and what makes it so alluring, especially for people who have lived life at some distance from the Church. In its own way, Choral Evensong recognises that people need to be nourished by ‘beauty spots’ (much as we might when visiting the Lake District, for example, or become captivated by a painting in the National Gallery). Because it is simply there, anyone is free to discover it, to make it their own and make it part of their future. Thinking about it in these terms, I cannot think of a better strategy for mission!

Simon Reynolds is a visiting research fellow at the University of Winchester, and was formerly a parish priest in the Church of England and succentor at St Paul's Cathedral. 

Lighten Our Darkness: Discovering and celebrating Choral Evensong is available now in hardback, priced £16.99, and as an eBook.