That’s what it is, but that’s not what they call it.

Since lying is the norm these days and the sanitising of certain words — such as the word gay is sanitised with the alphabet:  “LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ plus, plus, plus,” they at Washington National Cathedral — officially known as the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul — in the District of Columbia chose to call their Praise Band (are you ready for this?):

“The Cathedral Contemporary Ensemble.”

Sounds a bit pretentious and Orwellian, doesn’t it?

Why not call it what it is: The Cathedral’s Praise Band.

Whose idea was this?  That Low Church Dean’s idea?

Pipe organ and twangy piano played together? How Southern Baptist.

And how are they using the word “contemporary?”  Conveniently, they don’t say. Consider this:

“Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial music, electronic music, experimental music, and minimalist music. Newer forms of music include spectral music, and post-minimalism.”

“According to vibraphonist Victor Mendoza, contemporary music is, simply put, “music performed and created with what is rhythmically, harmonically, and texturally current.” For Mendoza, a professor at Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain, this means that his job is to teach students to employ current musical vocabularies”

Well, “There is a balm in Gilead” — which that Black singer was belting out with the microphone down her esophagus  — is not necessarily current repertoire.  It’s gospel music/”spiritual” music and the piece was composed in 1919.  It’s over 100 years old.

Some rock bands use a bass guitar and drums and they’re never referred to as “contemporary.”

The name — Cathedral Contemporary Ensemble — was not well-thought out.  It was chosen merely to deceive and hide/sanitise the words: Praise Band, which is what Protestant churches such as the Southern Baptist call it. When does WNC plan to leave the Anglican Communion and ask to join — what they really want to be — Southern Baptist Convention or the Pentecostals?

Note to Washington National Cathedral: We’re not fooled by this attempt at deception. The music at WNC is a mess with the mixing/clashing of styles. But they don’t seem to care. Anglican one moment and Southern Baptist/Pentecostal the next. It’s speaks to insanity and a church catering to the lowest common denominator. This speaks to a church having lost itself.