To celebrate its 125th anniversary, Christ Church Cathedral hosted an evening of musical entertainment.
From here (page 13):
Of course when one is inside an Anglican Church and two or three or more are gathered there is always bound to be some congregational singing and Jubilation was no exception. At the halfway point the four soloists led the audience in an enthusiastic rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Spamalot.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is a Monty Python song that had its origins not in Spamalot, but in the film Life of Brian. In spite of Monty Python’s denial that the film mocked Christ and his crucifixion, it seems to me pretty obvious that it did. While I don’t think such mockery should be banned, I do think it is an odd choice of song to be sung in a supposedly Christian cathedral – even in a Diocese of New Westminster cathedral.
Judge for yourselves:
The denials of what was obvious to everyone were themselves a form of mockery.
On the other hand I can think of no more appropriate music for that diocese.
The Diocese of New Westminster only believes in itself – not Christ and not God. The previous so-called bishop was an apostate and his successor has fallen into the same camp. They have no desire to know the truth or to learn the true Gospel. They only worship themselves.
Also, the song itself is Absurd. In the face of a tragic situation at the end of a chain of ridiculous situations, you might as well maintain a positive outlook, because what else can you do? Monty Python humour is often funny, but for the most part it is antithetical to Christian Hope.
We don’t need to “look at the bright side of life” to stave off despair, because we have a certain and sure hope that will not disappoint.
what can we expect ,they kick Christ out of the building years ago.,”behold I stand at the door and knock…” There wasn’t been anything Christian done in that building for years
I would argue that the film really passed beyond ‘mockery’ to blasphemy – but perhaps that word is now out of fashion. I do think that the false attribution (to ‘Spamalot’) is perhaps significant – it would seem that the song has passed into popular culture and away from a direct association with the film. How else might one explain that the song is (as reported in The Independent newspaper – UK – this week) the most popular funeral song/musical selection in the UK? In any case – a very peculiar choice.