by Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a broadcast performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the magnificent Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. The Beijing Children’s Choir were special guests, and the joint performance was apparently going to be broadcast in China. That conclusion is based on my observation that the Tabernacle Choir’s performance had been stripped of all religious elements. The songs inclued “Favorite Things” from the Sound of Music, “Let There Be Peace on Earth” (without any mentions of God), and a song from “Goodbye Mr. Chips.” My LDS friend who had brought me remarked that he had never seen such a secularized performance by the choir at the Tabernacle. I began wondering, does the Choir’s reshuffling of its repertoire reflect some of the same considerations that shape religious law professors’ engagement with the academy?
There are (at least) three ways of reacting to the performance. 1) a critic could accuse the Choir of compromising its witness in order to gain wider exposure and acceptance. A concert of religious standards would probably not be aired in China, but the price paid for getting aired negates the very purpose of getting aired. Further, regular compromises of this sort could lead the Choir to lose sight of its mission entirely. 2) a defender could argue that the Choir was showing its savvy by getting a foot in the door of China, opening up possibilities for witness down the road. 3) a defender could argue that #1 and #2 are both missing the point — the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does not exist to tell every listener the LDS story at every opportunity; the Choir exists to give God glory through the gift of music. This gift is one that can be shared widely because it resonates with the human experience across cultures. The Choir lives out its witness by sharing the beauty of music and proclaiming truths about the human condition, even when they do not make explicit the more particular convictions that underlie its confidence in those truths.
As someone who has chaired the faculty appointments process for the past several years at a religious law school, I find that a lot of our most enthusiastic candidates fall into #1, believing that they need to show their “mission fit” by writing about religion. (I might start spouting Chariots of Fire quotes in our interviews: “God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.”) I wish more candidates were comfortable with #3, though I acknowledge the possibility that #3 can strike some folks as selling out — seeking a scholarly platform for the sake of the platform, rather than as part of a higher calling. I think this problem can be especially pressing for Christians, evangelical Christians in particular, who (like me) were raised with the belief that the vocational hierarchy was clearly established: 1) foreign missionary 2) pastor 3) everyone else. There is a tendency to think that, if I’m not talking about God as part of my job, I must have sold out somewhere along the way.
So did the Tabernacle Choir sell out? Have religious legal scholars sold out?
Amen!
In my view, the problem with Rob’s option number three is that it does not give God credit when he deserves it–not that Christians need to constantly label everything we do “Christian”–but as St. Paul says, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” The things we do will not bring glory to God unless people know that they should give him credit.
Also, I think that option number three for religiously-affiliated law schools and law professors too easily slips into them being no different from their secular counterparts. The counterpart for musicians might be gospel singers who start in the church, switch to pop, blues, and country music, give no credit to God, and then start singing in praise of (and too often engaging in) adultery, etc. I like a mix of all three of Rob’s options, guided by the virtue of prudence.
The purpose of the Tabernacle Choir, outside of its basic one as the primary choir for major LDS Church gatherings held in the 6,000 seat Tabernacle and 22,000 seat Conference Center, is to act as an ambassador for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the rest of the world. In the context of the gross misinformation and misrepresentation that still dominates many people’s perceptions of the Church and its members, the Tabernacle Choir is for many millions of people the only “Mormons” they know. The 300 plus singers and orchestra members are all unpaid volunteers who take time from their own work and families to contribute their time and talents to increase understanding and acceptance of the character and beliefs of the members of the LDS Church.
None of the music the choir performs is inconsistent with the beliefs of Mormons, who “follow the admonition of Paul” in seeking out all things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report”. Both Mormons and members of other Christian denominations enjoy the choir’s performances of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and many other beloved Christian compositions that declare the glory of God and the grace of Christ. All Christians should be able to join with the Mormons and the Chinese listeners of that one broadcast to celebrate positive aspects of the human family and the world created for us by God. A place of common concerns and brotherhood is a place where the Gospel of Christ can be heard with a more open heart.
People who hear the choir once and want to hear more will be able to seek out its many religious recordings. Some of them will continue on to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ and what its members believe. On the lds.org web page, they can read the entire text of the King James Version, read and hear all the hymns in the Church hymn book, and find material in dozens of languages that will teach them about Jesus Christ, the Savior of not just the Jews, and not just the United States, but also of all inhabitants of the whole earth who are willing to accept Him. Even those who live in nations that restrict religious freedom may have the opportunity to go abroad for education or work, and there embrace Christ as their Savior.
Have no fear, the Choir and its members have never lost sight of the importance of preaching Christ crucified. Many of them, men and women, served two years as unpaid missionaries in 150 nations around the world. The director, Mack Wilberg, an internationally known composer and arranger of music for choirs and orchestras and former music professor at BYU, served two years as a missionary in Korea. And as members of the choir complete their terms of service, many of them will, at retirement from their various occupations, serve as unpaid missionary couples in those same nations.
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