Liturgy & Music

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As a person who has been involved in music and liturgy and music in Liturgy, for over 20 years, I’ve observed that maybe I should post some aspects.

Firstly, what do we mean by liturgy? Liturgy comes from the Greek words meaning “the work of the people”. “Liturgy” refers to our worship services and particularly, the way services are structured.

“It is theorized that liturgy started from Jesus having the last Passover supper with His disciples. He instructed them to repeat the ceremony of breaking bread and sharing wine to remember Him after He was gone. Then Christ said that He would not drink the “fruit of the vine” until the Kingdom of God comes (Luke 22:7-20). The disciples, attempting to emulate this ceremony, established the first liturgy….. Participation in the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper shows our heartfelt gratitude for His sacrifice on our behalf, strengthens our faith, and renews our commitment to serving Him. Although the procedure may differ somewhat from church to church, the significance is the same: Christ died on the cross for our sins and will return soon in all of His glory as the King of Kings to claim His kingdom” http://www.allaboutreligion.org/what-is-liturgy-faq.htm
Liturgy is very much about how we tell the story.
The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once observed:
“The trouble with the church is that it is too much like the theater: the preacher is the actor; the congregation is the audience; and God is the prompter. No, said Kierkegaard: the congregation is the actor; God is the audience; and the preacher is the prompter.”
Our central story is the same each week, as the Good News of God’s love for us is presented, and we know that worship is central, as is prayer, but do we really worship?
Does our “liturgy”, as we currently experience it, allow us to truly be active and actively worship God?
It has been my privilege, as a musician, to be part of many different styles of services from high Catholic to Evangelical and Pentecostal and many in between. In all of these I have experienced both wonderful experiences of worship and dreadful experiences where “worship” was empty.
So… what would be your definition of a good worship experience? I like this quote from an article from http://www.fccog.org/2005sermons/sermon050918.htm
True worship is when spirit touches spirit – when our spirit reaches out to God and when God’s spirit reaches out to us simultaneously.”
Having said that, it is obvious that creating the environment for this to take place must involve time where people are directed to focus on God and given the space and personal comfort to respond without interruption. In fact, I would describe it as a sacred space.
As far as creating comfort, my most amazing experience of this was in the little Baptist church that we visited in Glenn Innis. The congregation were predominantly elderly, but very genuinely friendly. Why the emphasis on genuinely? I’ve experienced plenty of friendly greetings in church that were for the purpose of growing their numbers. These greetings make you feel like you have to promise to return, instead of being free.
I’d like to use the Glenn Innis church as an example of good liturgy – although they are probably not a church that would use such a term. Liturgy as “work of the people” was evident – I couldn’t tell who the minister was, as they all seemed “equal” and seemed to minister in friendship to each other and all sensed ownership of the church.
The service had a predictable structure, including communion, readings, prayers, greeting of peace and preaching. Before the prayers of the people the concerns were listed and then members of the congregation were free to lead these from their seats. The preaching was very Biblically sound with many references to scripture and notes on PowerPoint. It was carried out without any air of the preacher being above the congregation (which is something I sometimes I have noticed does happen in certain groups).
In the midst of reflecting on the sermon and praying the prayers was a sense of the sacred, and a sense of communal, and yet a sense of my own sacred space and connecting with God. Here is great liturgy! But I’ve left the music to last and now here it is….
The music began and the songs were familiar. They were led by a middle aged couple singing and an elderly man on the keyboard. The PA system was quality and nothing stood out to take focus away from God.
I’m now going to pull these elements apart.
1). The songs were familiar. I didn’t know all of them, but I knew enough to feel like I belonged. During a recent “Wine, Cheese and New Song night” which we held, I found an article which listed a letter from a parishioner in the 1800s complaining to the minister about the horrible new song. I think it was “what a friend we have in Jesus”. I made the comment from this, that it is not new songs that are a problem, but the way that we present them.
Never, Never, Never start or finish a church service with a New song! Although you might if it is for something important such as theme song for a church season and this particular song is liturgically fitting… such as maybe an antiphon for Good Friday. In such cases – it shouldn’t be a song, but an antiphon that the congregation can pick up immediately – if it is a song - have the congregation sing the chorus and a cantor sing the verses for the congregation to reflect on. Remember that liturgy is “work of the people” and so where possible allow for maximum congregation involvement. (reflection can be involvement)!.
2). The songs that I didn’t know were presented in a way that was familiar. Who are our congregation, and what kinds of music are part of our everyday life? Even those who are the more elderly component of our congregation still listen to the radio and watch television. Some like country, some like rock and roll and still others like classical, but all of us live in this world where we can’t stop the music…. It is everywhere you go… in the elevator, at the shopping centre, in the street, at restaurants etc… in fact you generally don’t even take notice unless it isn’t there.
The songs that form our services should echo the same kind and quality as those we hear every day.
Notice I haven’t listed a style. And I won’t. It doesn’t’ matter what style so much as “HOW IT IS PRESENTED”.
And that brings be to point 2B: other than the street organ in the jazz era, I have not heard an organ played anywhere except in the church.
A keyboard can be played as an organ if that sound is needed, but the piano is a sound that is way more familiar to us, as we hear it featured in the songs of Delta Goodrum, the Whitlams, and many others. If we want people to feel comfortable going to church then we need to use the organ sparingly and start using other instruments. Even orchestral instruments are more commonly heard – sorry to the organ players – I know this is not nice to hear for you, and I truly don’t mean to offend – yours is an amazing skill and will still have it’s place as I’m not saying to do away with it altogether….
Part 2C. The equipment. This depends on your congregation, however, remember that people are used to hearing a particular sound quality. Recently I plugged my keyboard into a PA system that the church had purchase for a prior music group. It made my keyboard sound dreadful.
Be really careful about sound gear and if possible get a vocalist to advise you. The sound produced should sound quality and not loud! Many amateur and even semi professional secular bands musicians will go for a PA that boosts the middle ranges, which gives good loud amplification with out feedback. Many churches will go for this also because they are inexperienced and don’t want the hassle of sorting out feedback problems. This is a big mistake if you want sound quality. (feedback issues can easily be sorted with a graphic eq which should be part of any decent sound system)
As a simple test take a keyboard that has a beautiful grand piano sound with out being amplified and then put it through the system – if it doesn’t still sound great – walk away. In fact walk away, close your eyes and have someone else play the piano through the system. Does it make you want to turn around and touch the sound? Or run away?
My prayer before providing music for church is that we will be so good that no one will notice us. They will simply be focused toward God in worship. The sound gear has to achieve this purpose. Amplified but not loud… sometimes may mean having more power and expense…. Sorry.
3). The singing was lead by a couple who stood at the front, but off to one side. In every service we need a song leader. The evangelicals and Pentecostals have them up the front, the Catholics down the back or to the side or at the front but facing the altar. I personally don’t like centre front for leading worship as I find it distracting.
I have noticed that our Anglican services don’t often have a song leader. When this happens it is left to some brave soul with a strong voice in the congregation or the minister. That is okay, but not great. Recorded Music we listen to and sing along to, always has someone singing. Most people are not comfortable singing to instrumental music by themselves and need someone to follow. There could be lots said about this also, as it is a fine art to lead so that the focus is God directed and not self directed…
DESIGNING LITURGY - WHAT SONGS and WHO CHOOSES???
Those who play and sing the songs should be familiar with the readings. Different congregations have different ways of choosing songs. Sometimes the minister chooses and sometimes the musicians. The first time I came across the minister choosing songs was only in the last couple of years, as it has been left to the musicians or in communication with the minister and musos in all other churches I’d been part of.
Early in my music ministry congregations were called to take part in a program entitle Called and Gifted. As part of this we were in serviced in how to design liturgy. As an activity we were broken into groups of about 6 and given the readings for a particular service. The group consisted of the readers, the musicians, the artists, and other lay people. As a group we read the readings, spoke about any line or thought that grabbed out attention in these and then looked for common threads. After this discussion we decided on a theme and then went about deciding how we could use, music, dance, drama, emphasis, decoration or any other special element to emphasis the theme.
After we were familiar with the process the groups became less formal… sometimes a liturgy committee was formed and would meet occasionally to decide seasonal themes etc… For special occasions large groups would come together, but the weekly services were left to the small groups in charge of their own area – ie .. the musicians would decide independently from the readers and decorators. It was very exciting to see it all come together at the service….
REMEMBER liturgy is “work of the people”
In 1993 I was sent by my local church to the National liturgical convention in Melbourne. It went for day with elective lectures in all different aspects of liturgy. The one thing that struck me, was how sometimes those who are from a different congregation can interpret liturgy differently. Personally I think they got it wrong in one area – there was a certain amount of emphasis on choir singing and cantor parts. What this meant was that the cantor would sing, “let everyone who thirsts” and the choir and congregation would sing, “come to the water”…. Etc..
While this is a great tool for introducing a new song to a congregation, it means that the congregation is not quite as active. We found that when we took this particular song back, people began singing all of it… and we said AMEN.
In Liturgy, we tell the story, we are prompted in certain areas that need direction and most importantly we want to worship God, connecting spirit to Spirit. In achieving this we may use a particular drama skit, a liturgical dance, or a reflection song. We need to keep in mind the people and how they will respond, because that is the whole point.