School of Ministry, Whitley College, 28 June 2005

MUSIC IN WORSHIP

Ross Langmead

1 Music is one of God’s languages I often wonder at the mystery that is music. I believe it is one of God’s languages. I’m talking about a God whose creativity has been expressed in a creation that has sound waves in it. I’m talking about a God who knows what it’s like to be human and to have ears and to hum a tune. What a mystery!

God has made us with the ability to sense and make rhythm. Just watch a toddler respond to the beat of music. We have the ability to track notes one after another, in a melody. They become in our mind not a series of disconnected notes but a unit we can remember. We find certain harmonies have beauty for us. Some harmonies are so exquisite they can bring me to tears. Different music can express or create different moods or emotions in us. We have music for putting kids to sleep, music for vacuuming the house and mellow music for making us feel romantic.

2 So music can help us to worship God’s gift to us can be part of our gift to God, which is our worship. It’s natural that music is one of the powerful ways in which we express our worship and are helped to worship.

I understand worship to be our response to our experience of God. Worship is part of our daily lives. We worship if we are living in gratitude and praise. Or in lament and prophetic anger. We worship if we are seeking justice and peace. We worship when we honour God’s name in witness to the gospel.

But I’d like to concentrate here on our worship services, which are a focus for our worship in everyday life. In these times of worship we do it together. We celebrate God’s goodness, we hear God’s Word, we pray for the world, we express our sense of community and we’re inspired to go out and live for God.

Music can contribute so much in worship services, as we all know:

 · In worship music can help us to feel our emotions, whether they are serene or passionate. Music can release tears, which are healing and comforting.

 · Music can allow a rhythm in the worship service, interspersing the words and the silences with musical beauty, an idea well-expressed in a hymn or song, or an item to be listened to and savoured.

 · Music can serve the theme, each song containing the idea that drives today’s worship service, adding to the ways in which we hear God’s Word.

 · Music is one way of us all participating; it is part of the liturgy, which is a word whose root meaning is “the work of the people”.

 · Music can help to ground our worship in our bodies, especially if we move or feel the vibrations or the rhythms.

 · And music can express our faith, encapsulating our understanding of God and the world in ways we can remember.

3 But music takes specific cultural forms If music can be so helpful, why does it cause so much conflict and disappointment? The reason is simple. Music is one aspect of human culture, and we’ve been made to be different. One person loves Handel, a second person loves Hillsong, a third person loves both, and a fourth person loves neither.

Just think of the range of music in the world. Even in my own limited experience I’ve played in brass bands in worship and sung in mass choirs. I sang in a gospel folk group that looked and sounded dangerously like the Seekers. I’ve allowed Handel’s Messiah to wash over me and fill me with tears and with comfort. I’ve rocked to the beat of some pretty heavy worship music. I’ve sat in a cathedral while a drum has been played solemnly and powerfully in a social protest inspired by faith. And I’ve been totally overwhelmed by the beauty of forty or fifty Karen Burmese Christians in a refugee camp in a jungle singing strong, pure harmonies as an expression of their faith and hope. I could go on and on.

Music differs not only between cultures, but also between sub-cultures, as you will know if you have younger and older people in the same church, or high-brow tastes and popular tastes represented in the same congregation.

So sometimes we get “worship wars”, centering around music. Instead of uniting us, music so often divides us. It may help to remember that this has always been the case-Christians care a lot about the music they love, and we’ve been disagreeing about it for just about the whole of history. But conflict isn’t all bad-the question is how to deal with it.

I’d like to suggest that music in worship is actually just one example of the challenge of multiculturalism.

In Melbourne there are many cultures and ethnic groups represented. Some groups hardly speak any English. Some groups meet for hours on end, some worship with dance, some sit in a circle on the floor, some start with a meal and some have sermons that go for an hour. Other groups, so I’ve heard, become uncomfortable if the service goes over an hour and ten minutes and never, absolutely never, move their bodies when singing!

What should we do, given that there are Christians who speak different languages and worship very differently? Are we doomed to meet separately and celebrate our diversity? Or do we insist that these groups meet together and lose the distinctiveness of the different ways of worshipping in our ‘heart language’?

4 A mosaic at times, minestrone at others The theological principle I find helpful here is at the centre of Paul’s understanding of the Good News of Jesus: The gospel neither erases cultural difference nor accepts cultural barriers, but relativises them. Christian faith allows people to be different but to overcome cultural barriers.

This means we should encourage Tongans and Anglo-Australians to express themselves the most natural way they know, in the language and style that is theirs. Let’s remember that the New Testament concludes with a vision of a new heaven and new earth in which God is praised in every language (Rev 7:9, 14:6), people of all cultures will walk in God’s light (Rev 21:24) and the nations will be healed (Rev 22:2). Difference remains and is OK.

On the other hand in baptism we enter a fundamental unity in Christ, which relativises our cultural differences. An inclusive, diverse community is a sign of the kingdom of God and therefore the multicultural church is itself a part of the Good News (Lk 7:18-23, 13:29-30). So we need to search for ways of expressing this unity as well, whether in larger multicultural worship celebrations or consciously multicultural congregations.

The way of separation could be likened to a mosaic, where each piece is unaffected by the others, although the overall effect is wonderfully coloured. I believe this is not good enough for Christians.

A path of assimilation, in which other cultures are lost and Anglo-Australian culture prevails-what we might call the ‘melting pot’ approach-is no better.

Maybe we should strive for the ‘minestrone’ approach, where each ingredient adds to the flavour and we can still discern what went into the wonderful mix.

This detour into multicultural theology suggests a way forward for worship where there are many varieties of musical taste. There are times when enjoying the music we really love is appropriate; youth services, organ recitals, hymn-sandwiches, charismatic worship, Taiz ©-they all have their place.

But as an overall goal, perhaps churches should also be working through the delights and challenges of worshipping together, using a variety of musical styles. Who knows? We will probably be enriched. We will probably grow in our taste. Music could become part of our growing sense that we are different but fundamentally united in Jesus Christ.

We probably need to be intentional in the way we work through these things. For example, we can actually discuss what values we want to express through our music. One might be “To represent the soul music of each major group in the congregation”. Or “To encourage the young musicians”. Once we identify our values, we can try to reflect them in the way we do things.

I don’t suggest it is easy, but the journey towards a wider range of music in worship in our one congregation is worth the effort.

How can we take this journey towards a greater variety in music in worship? Here are a few suggestions. I’ll try to be practical, because I know many of us really struggle for ideas that might work.

5 The music: A hundred and one ways to express ourselves musically First, consider the music itself, as distinct from the words.

Let’s not forget the many types of music. (I’m sure you can add to these lists.)

Types of congregational songs

Hymns

Contemporary songs and choruses

Rounds and descants

Cantor and response

Performed items

Solos

Groups

Choirs

Children’s performances

In other languages

Recorded music

Instrumental music

For approach to worship, prayer, communion or the offering

Accompanying a visual montage

For reflection after a sermon

Recorded music

Unaccompanied music

Particularly simple, well known songs, e.g. Amazing Grace

Creates a sense of needing each other

Can lead to harmonies

Where musicians are scarce

Music to move to

Inviting use of the hands and arms

Rhythmic music to sway or dance to

Circle dances, conga lines and singing during a ritual that takes us to the front of the church (e.g., prayer candles, anointing)

Children’s music

They deserve music they like; why does worship have to be so adult-oriented?

It allows us to become childlike again

Actions, claps, shouts, jokes, fun

6 The words: How will our songs shape our lives? The songs we sing are part of the stories we live by. Hymnody shapes theology. So some of the “worship wars” are about which vision of faith we want to live by.

Someone came up to me once after I had sung one of my songs called The Pilgrim Song, and said, “You’ve certainly got a pretty dark approach to faith, haven’t you!”. Let me show you the words of the chorus. It depends on your experience of faith-and how you view poetry-whether this chorus is depressing or hopeful:

It’s not easy to walk in the rain

And I walk with my eyes to the ground

And I often ignore the rainbow above

And the coming of the sun.

I urge every church to have an ongoing conversation about the content of our songs. If there are theological differences, have them out. If we talk about these things in the right way we might each grow and widen the range of our “sung theology”.

Alan Kreider has written an excellent introduction to a book he edited recently on composing for worship. In it he asks some great theological questions about our musical worship. Here are some of them:

 · What in our musical worship enriches our humanity and infuses it with God’s grace?

 · Is our musical life life-giving?

 · Is it musically and textually worthy?

 · Is it appropriate and in good taste?

 · Is it comprehensible to regular worshippers and to outsiders?

 · Does it seem elitist (“the rich man in his castle”) or, in its warrior language, militaristic?

 · Is it in harmony with the God of the Bible and the teaching and way of Jesus Christ?

 · Does it give voice to the full range of human experiences and emotions, to lament as well as to celebration?

 · Does it give expression to the struggle of the Christian Way, and wrestle with Christ’s Passion as well as celebrating his resurrection and exaltation?

 · Does it enable people to meet God, who is present in our weakness and who empowers the least?

 · Does it equip people to be disciples of Jesus Christ in their homes and relationships and work?

 · Does it enable them to discern what they can embrace [in contemporary culture] as “graced” and what they must learn to resist as “disgraced”? [1]

I’d like to list some of the things I find under-represented in the songs and hymns that are sung commonly in our churches. I’d love to see more of these things:

 · Australian composers, images and theology, e.g., the wide land, Christmas carols about summer and Easter songs about autumn.

 · Inclusive language for humans, e.g., “us all” instead of “mankind”

 · Inclusive or feminine images of God, to balance the predominance of the male pronoun and images

 · Images of God as “within” and relational, to balance the predominance of images about monarchy, power and distance “above”

 · Community-oriented songs : Less “I” and more about “us”

 · Creation-oriented: Recognising original blessing

 · Open, inclusive and gentle in spirit

 · Justice and peace oriented

 · Imaginative and poetic in style, using metaphors and allusion

 · Stimulating theology, e.g., seeing the Spirit as the enemy of apathy

 · World music: Songs from around the world, particularly the poor majority

7 Doing it well: Musical, pastoral and liturgical factors a Good music: Choose the best of each type of music

Easy to sing

Words have poetic and theological merit

Words fit the tune well

Tune has interest

Attractive arrangement

No traps for the unwary, such as difficult entries or intervals

b Care for the congregation: Seek a balance between:

The known and the new (teach new songs carefully)

Short and long songs

Hymns, contemporary songs and “folk” songs

International and local songs

Themes of comfort and challenge (that is, praise and discipleship)

c Music is part of the liturgy: It serves worship (which is bigger than music)

What is best for each moment and mood of the service?

The focus is on God and us together, not the musicians.

It is worth rehearsing and doing it well.

Who coordinates the service overall? What is the theme?

Creating musical beauty is a holy offering to God.

8 Finding new songs is an ongoing journey a Licensing agencies

Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), http://www.ccli.com.au (Protestant, Evangelical)

LicenSing, http://www.mediacom.org.au (Protestant, ecumenical)

Word of Life, http://www.freelink.com.au (Catholic)

b Song books

To find good new songs, someone has to buy and play through new song books from Christian bookshops such as:

Catholic Bookshop, Koorong, Openbook (online), Ridley Bookshop, Unichurch Bookshop, Word

Our own writers, e.g. Digby Hannah, Monique Lisbon, Ross Langmead

c Writing songs

Actively encourage local composers.

Start with short choruses and pieces for occasions.

Homegrown music always means more to a community.

Ross Langmead, 27-6-05

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[1] Alan Kreider, ‘Introduction’, in Composing music for worship, eds. Stephen Darlington and Alan Kreider (Norwich, UK: Canterbury, 2003), 12-13.