preview

Vera Lynn's Song 'The White Cliffs Of Dover'

Decent Essays

For all the world resembling Moses confronting a pair of rebellious Israelites, Bishop Brian Taylor glowered at us from across his large old oak desk in his ninth floor office. He seemed both perturbed and distrustful of our motives, and consequently, began our meeting by testing Reverend Fran's resolve and subsequently probing her theology and methodology. When he finally realized that her "vernacular liturgy" was from the Anglican Book of Alternative Services (BAS) he relaxed somewhat. He seemed particularly interested in my idiomized setting of Psalm 148 to the tune of Vera Lynn's hit song "The White Cliffs of Dover". Vera Lynn's music apparently meant something special to him; still, his religious conditioning did not permit him to regard Vera Lynn's 1940’s swing style of music as a musical idiom he or his contemporaries could relate to in Anglican worship. His religious training was too strong to allow even a beloved musical idiom to permeate the Anglican worship space on a regular basis. …show more content…

Moreover, he was aware of, yet didn't want to face, the inevitable congregational backlash. He therefore sidestepped our request to guarantee the reform process. Instead, he took a wait-and-see attitude which left Reverend Fran alone to face any and all opposition, which placed her in a quandary: if things turned sour, Parish Council controlled the worship space and the bishop controlled her priestly

Get Access