Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser
When We
Sing, We Pray Twice!
Oct. 27, 2019 Reformation Sunday - Celebrating
Congregational Singing
The phrase I used for the title here
is attributed to St. Augustine, from back in the 4th century - that’s the
300’s!!! - whose writings about
Christianity have survived and been kept.
Even though the music of that era sounds pretty different to our modern
ears, evidently it spoke to their hearts and emotions like our music does to
ours. Good words can move us on a deep
level, too, and not just on the linear and logical level - they can stir us up
and capture our feelings. Joined with
music, which has its own appeal to a different part of our human nature, the
result can be powerful. People seem to
remember music in a different part of the brain, and even the words set to that
music can endure brain damage and some dementia. Music, with its beats and rhythms,
stirs us as human creatures, kind of like we might say heart level instead of
head level? Or right brain instead of
left brain? So St. Augustine realized
that singing a prayer prayed on two levels at once. Or worships at two levels at the same time.
I know that certain tunes can bring
up whole memories, and bring tears from that time, too. Other tunes can make my arms want to lift in
praise. Some tunes make us want to march
joyfully, some make us know the bad guys are creeping up…. or that true love is
blossoming. When the right music is found for the right words, it connects
parts of us together in ways that we haven’t done - and speaks deeply to our
souls. Music comes from the whole
person, and we bring our whole selves to God that way.
Evidently in the earliest churches,
based on the worship at Jewish synagogues, people sang together in, as the
Bible puts it, “songs, hymns and spiritual songs.” I don’t know what they
sounded like. Music that got written
down was often just sung by an appointed cantor, or was learned by the monks
who sang the Psalms to various tones. Of
course people have always made music with instruments and voices, I just am not
sure how much people who attended worship sang together before the
Reformation. Martin Luther was a German priest whose hopes for reforming
what he saw as poor practices in the church he served, ended up excommunicated
from the Roman church; and attracting the attention of other church folks, they
started their own branch of Christian practice.
One of the sayings he’s known for is, “Why should the devil have all the
good music?” He wrote Christian words to
the tunes of bar songs so folks could sing them with vigor. The Reformation is
credited with reinventing and revitalizing congregational singing.
Its obvious that the sounds and styles of music changed over
the decades and centuries. So we really
shouldn’t be surprised that even in recent years church music continues to
change with the various influences of musical styles. After all, the hymns we might call
traditional and think of as suitable church music, were once a new style to
earlier people,m and probably looked at askance and questioned if it belonged
in church at all. Music is just a medium,
a powerful medium of course; and any style of music can carry the words and
experience of faithful people. When I
was a teenager, churches were aghast at rock ‘n roll, and at the way Elvis had
brought the sounds of black gospel music into white people’s repertoire. Now a lot of the Christian music I sang at
Christian coffee houses to the accompaniment of 12-string guitarists, is in our
hymnals and sung by those like me who are now in their 60s. My parents and my
church wondered if it was right to sing about God to rock beats and if guitars should
be in church. In seminary, I read books
advising about “the Worship Wars,” when
congregations were fighting and splitting over “contemporary music.”
That’s a lose-lose situation for a congregation…. Any music can become the carrier of the faith
message, and resisting the newer sounds only alienates the coming
generations. I know those of us who are
older still love the sounds from our own youth, the sounds we associate with
warm memories and experiences of faith back then. And we know the melodies better. Its counter-productive, however, to expect
the younger generations to groove to what we did. We can’t freeze time, and we can’t freeze
music. God and the gospel are new every
moment, always current. If we’re smart
and forward looking, we will embrace the music that calls and speaks to the
upcoming leaders and members as well as the music that still speaks to us. Musicians are continuously writing new
expressions of Christian faith and life.
New hymnals and songbooks from our denominations seek out good new music to include in the new
hymnals being published.
I mean, even as a child I realized the words to the church
songs we sang on Sundays weren’t written in the way people spoke today. I learned them anyway, and could listen
well-enough to get what they were expressing.
I have many fond memories of those songs, even while I was interested in
the guitar songs of the coffee house that sounded more like me. I’ve ended up liking almost any style of
music as long as its well-written. I do
miss a congregation that could sing parts, where I could sing my alto and hear
tenors, basses and sopranos in the various pews around me. And I do miss the vigor of the congregational
singing back then. Presbytery meetings,
now, and conferences - that’s where I hear that sound again. When I have an opportunity to sing in a
congregation nowadays, people sing more quietly and privately. It feels different. Maybe we look more towards the professionals
than we used to, I don’t know. People
certainly don’t sing on front porches and around pianos like we used to. I miss that.
So I enjoy the singing at VBS, and the way the newer styles of music are
being used, and the kids jump in.
This morning we’re going to sing a variety of music, and our
choir is seated up front here to help lead us.
I encourage us to sing out, enjoy the music, listen to the words, be a
part of the congregational singing. And appreciate the praise that is sent to
God on our voices. AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment