Reviewed by Tony Cummings

To those who belong to churches where the Renewal has transformed worship into an improvisational celebration and where all manner of instruments and pop and rock musical styles are finding their way into such celebrations, this book will be a salient reminder of the current state of music in most Anglican churches. Much of this book is a detailed analysis, from information gleaned from the author's own questionnaires, as to what precisely is or is not happening among the congregations, clergy, organists and choirs in the Church Of England. It makes the kind of sobering reading which gives plenty of ammunition for newspapers wanting to do their standard Church Of England In Crisis news stories (the Daily Telegraph has already done one). 'Weary And III At Ease' bristles with quotable statistics - in one third of churches, clergy and organists spend 1 hour a year or less discussing the parish's music; that at a majority of churches the annual music budget is less than 20 pence per member, etc, etc. The great difficulty for we charismatic evangelicals to get a grip on what all the information contained in this book actually means, is that our perception of the Church is somewhat different from the traditional denominationalism espoused by the author. Reading between the lines of his report, Doctor Rees seems to view the Church Of England as above all the receptacle of traditions which must be painstakingly nurtured and protected from erosion. When applied to music this means that liturgical worship is clearly perceived as having greater spiritual integrity than the whimsical offerings of the "happy clappys" while the wholesale decreased use of the psalter and the decline in canticles and anthems is seen as a tragedy. Among the more depressing parts of 'Weary And III At Ease' are the 'case histories' detailing (with changed names) atypical conflicts between organists/choir leaders and clergy. They seem to have more to do with the pride and power struggles of Barchester Chronicles than accounts of saints striving to bring in the Kingdom Of God. This book is recommended to all those who've read the 'In Tune With Heaven' report and feel they need more detailed information on Church Of England worship. But much of this will tell them more about dusty traditionalism and cold religiosity than about men and women serving an active, communicative God.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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