I was at Incarnation Church the other day, a growing Catholic congregation in Mantua NJ, and I noticed a few things that are different, and very welcome from most other churches I have attended over the past 40-odd years.

One, rather than the typical older female parishioner behind a Hammond or Wurlitzer banging out traditional arrangements of traditional (((yawn))) hymns in the American vernacular, as I and my family made our way to the cry room, a gaggle of teenagers very politely brushed past me dollying a drum kit, amplifiers, guitars, bass, etc., gear I tend to associate more with southern baptist, AME, and Pentecostal churches than the Church of Rome.

Second, when they began playing the processional, one could not fail to notice that the band and choir were creating a most excellent racket. It blew away entirely all of the bad, folk-based guitar music that I had so often heard at church in the past, and found at best tolerable, and at worst, cringeworthy.

Third, the music, whoever arranged it, drew from such diverse sources as alt-country / Americana, 70’s stage-band music, and the best parts of the music from “Godspell“. Put together, the playing and singing really clicked. It was earnest, artistic, and yet reverent and profoundly spiritual and uplifting.

And I wouldn’t have had any other frame of reference for this, except that during the previous week, I had been absolutely knocked out by a song that I heard on SIRIUS XMU, “Sold! To The Nice Rich Man” by The Welcome Wagon.

The band, comprised principally of the Reverend Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique, with a generous amount of playing and arranging contributed by Asthmatic Kitty Records labelmate Sufjan Stevens, makes music that is faithful without being corny or pious, presses all the right buttons, and kicks righteous ass.

Hearing the new direction that the liturgical music at my new church was taking, I immediately discerned that Stevens, the Aiutos, and doubtless others are having a dramatically positive artistic effect on church music, at least in my parish, and “Christian” music in general. This can only be a good thing.

Anyone who has attended an evangelical college, or has had a friend try to get you to listen to an “awesome” Christian pop record, or has sat through enough commercials for Christian rock compilation CDs on TV knows how much of explicitly Christian pop music is self-consciously pious, metaphorically mixed, liturgically bowdlerized, blunt, and / or just plain artless.

Stevens, a devout Christian, explores spiritual and scriptural themes in his music, but deliberately avoids explicit proselytizing in his songs. “I don’t think music media is the real forum for theological discussions,” he has said, indicating an awareness of the artistic pitfalls that snare so many Christian musicians.

And it works. His big, full compositions, copious instrumentation, full and interesting arrangements are joyful and uplifting, while his quiet, acoustic songs are often painfully beautiful, even occasionally disturbing (”Casimir Pulaski Day” is a heartbreaking song of personal tragedy, “John Wayne Gacy” from “Illinoise” is the farthest thing from a religious song, and unbelievably disturbing, entirely because of its beauty). As a result, his music is a strong presence on “alternative”, college, and “indie”-oriented radio stations like SIRIUS XMU, and has largely escaped restrictive categorization. Hallelujah!

And because the music has so much musical integrity, it works the other way too. The Aiutos take James Montgomery’s paraphrase of Psalm 72, a common theme for religious music for centuries, and with an original melody craft it into the transcendent  “Hail To The Lord’s Anointed” , a fiercely incandescent hymn. It’s simply stunning.

It has been a long, slow artistic descent from Michaelangelo’s Sistine ceiling and Handel’s “Messiah” to engineered steel warehouse churches and Stryper.

One can only hope Stevens, the Aiutos and friends are turning that around, if not for us, then for future generations.

(photo from wikipedia)