The Church of England is revamping its "Wedding Project" site. It is an interesting venture, particularly aimed at the community (I suppose) that does not go to Church, but because the C of E is 'established' ... that is, it is the State religion of England .... such people have a sense of ownership in a way that is probably not true in Australia.
One of the interesting questions addressed on this hotch potch of a site is whether or not you should sing "Jerusalem" at a wedding (see a sort of answer here) it's a popular song, with a stirring tune which is well-known at a time when not much religious music is. But the words are about something totally unrelated to getting married (debatable I suppose).
One can only imagine why such an issue has such prominence It's to do, I suspect, with a bit of conflict on a whole range of different levels (eg. Churches only allowing certain sorts of music, clergy being dogmatic about what is and what is not acceptable, and couples not really having a clue about what is and what is not appropriate......). One can only imagine.
My policy (which I think has worked quite well) is to be as open as possible. I don't need to inflict my musical taste on people, whilst also remembering I am a guardian of the sacred.
I always begin my spiel with "The church is not hired in the way a secular venue is hired."
Part of the trouble is that people seem to assume that if they pay for something then they should be able to do what they like.
Of course this is not even true of a secular venue, they are often very restrictive in terms of what you can and can't do; where you can sit and what you can throw at the B & G; and certainly you have to drink and eat their products!
Beside all this I am curious given the picture above (taken from the sit) as to how Whoopi Goldberg has apparently become a Vicar in the C of E.
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