FROM THE DIAPHRAGM

Hanns F Skoutajan

“You have a stentorian voice!” she accused or honoured me. I’m not sure which.

I had some sense of what that meant - a voice that is impossible to ignore. I had

been involved, as is often the case, in a debate that passes for conversation on

the patio of our favourite coffee shop in Ottawa. Conversation is not enhanced by

the passing traffic, especially not by the trucks and occasional fire engine that

can bring communication to a halt. Even my stentorian voice is overwhelmed by

that.

I was curious about the origin of the term, stentorian, and so turned to Google

and Wikipedia for an answer. The designation, I discovered, originated from the

name Stentor, an Athenian soldier in the Trojan Wars. He was well known for his

powerful voice which was a real asset on the battlefields of the time as it would

be on the parade squares of today. Unfortunately Stentor died of overexertion in

a shouting contest. His name, however, persisted in modern parlance.

While chaplain at Dalhousie University in Halifax in the latter fifties I was invited

to be the interim minister at St. Matthew’s United Church in downtown Halifax for

almost a whole year. It consisted of preaching Sunday morning and evening. St.

Matthews is a large and beautiful church with a tall spire that defines the corner

of Spring Garden Road and Barrington Street. Inside it is unique for the little

doors at the end of each pew. The seating capacity was close to 1000 and well

attended in the morning and evening. The sermon was preached from a

magnificent pulpit high on the front wall of the sanctuary. From that perch most

ministers with a normal voice should manage to be heard. The worship was

enhanced by a great four manual Casavant pipe organ and a well trained choir.

The organist took me in hand to teach me how to project my natural stentorian

voice to best affect. Complaints dramatically subsided. I hope that what I had to

say was also worth hearing. I do have some old reel to reel tape recordings of

those occasions. My successor who was less well accoustically endowed

begged the board to procure a public address system.

Two years ago I was honoured with an invitation to preach at the 265th

anniversary of the congregation. The building itself dates from the latter 19th

century, one of the oldest in the city that managed to survive the great explosion

of 1917 that ravaged a good deal of the city below Citadel Hill.

Much has changed. The congregation is considerably smaller as is the fate of

many old downtown churches. However, the interior has been beautifully

preserved and the little pew doors remain intact. The high pulpit is no longer in

use. Worship is now conducted from a raised platform and, of course, enhanced

with an excellent PA system. It is from there that I delivered my sermon.

During the closing hymn Betsy Hogan, the minister, whispered to me an invitation

that I could not refuse and had secretly hoped to hear. Would I speak the

benediction from the old pulpit? And so it was that during the singing of the last

verse of the hymn I mounted the long stairs to what had seemed close to

heaven. When the hymn was completed I raised my “stentorian” voice to speak

the words of the benediction without a PA system:

Go into the world with a daring and a tender love,

The world is waiting for you

Go in peace and may all that you do be done because of love,

And the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.

As I looked over the congregation, now much smaller than I remembered it back

in 1958, memories flooded my mind. I recalled some of the congregants of the

time, a few were still present on this occasion, still occupying the same pew. In

my heart I gave thanks to Clifford Gates who had helped me to use my vocal gift

to best advantage, then and through the rest of my PA assisted ministry.

In my education for the ministry, preaching was an important subject. We were

also trained to use our voice. “From your diaphragm now, men (and we were all

men).” This was later replaced by microphone technique, if at all. The stentorian

gift is no longer a necessity as it was then most definitely.

Silence is precious but when there is something to be communicated it is best

that it be clearly understood and heard.

Spirit Quest 21/09/2014