Fresh Expression

Saturday night, and I found myself in the Royal Concert Hall Glasgow, for a concert with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Not an unusual occurence for our family as we attend at least 12 classical concerts a year. Yet this was one was very different.



Scenery had appeared behind the orchestra to replace the usual wooden back drop. Lighting had been installed and was used throughout the night to interpret the mood of the music, more like a pop concert. Instrumentalists stood to play their solos and were picked out by spotlights, the audience clapped between movements and even clapped once in the middle of a piece, more reminiscent of a Jazz club. By now I was questioning was this really the RSNO? The conductor had changed, not the usual French Stephane Deneve but the New Yorker Jeff Tyzik, complete with cornet on the conductor's podium. Had the world gone mad? Oh I forgot to mention that they had rearranged the audience chairs at the front and put them around tables.

Less than a month ago I heard this same orchestra play Elgar's Cello Concerto in the quiet and austere surroundings of the Usher Hall. I had left there discussing Natalie Clien's interpretation of the music with my daughter and how it compared with the late Jacqueline du Pre. To be honest most of the discussion was on how bad the acoustics of the Usher Hall are for a cello solo.

But not on Saturday. On Saturday I left filled with excitement. I wanted to talk to anyone who would listen about what I had just experienced. It was not what I expected, it was unpredictable, it was joyful, it had life and charisma. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle wrote of the conductor "His concert is the kind of thing that's likely to give classical music a good name!"

You only need to look at a classical concert audience these days to know that they are in the same position as many of our churches. Yet it seems that they are not afraid to challenge some of their traditional conventions and taboos to woo a new audience, to explode some old myths and to present the brilliance of what they do in a way that is accesible to many more people than they engage at present.

Therein lies the challenge. We have a message that is life giving, energising, hopeful, joy bringing, love enhancing and totally transformational and yet so often it fails to be delivered in a context that is negatively representative of the message. The medium which contains the message of new life is not engaging, and the sound of good news is not lifting from the platform and grabbing those who are searching. In fact the audience that most needs to hear doesn't come along because they do not imagine they will find life in our churches. Would the Rochester Demorcrat and Chronicle write of us "This worship service is the kind of thing that is likely to give Jesus a good name!"

What will it take for us to challenge the medium we use to communicate the gospel message? Can a classical concert inspire us to look afresh at our conventions and traditions, challenge them and find a fresh approach for our life giving message?