Category Archives: Singing
Singing a Carol
Well, summer has finally hit my home town of Brisbane – it’s hot, humid and just a little uncomfortable! With the arrival of summer comes the acknowledgement that Christmas is almost here…now for my northern hemisphere readers – stick with me even though the concept of a hot summer Christmas might be a little odd. Personally I love the festive season. I love putting up the tree – even though I get all scratched-up by the synthetic pine needles. I love taking a few weeks annual leave from the frantic pace that occupies the rest of the year…and I love singing Christmas Carols. There I said it! I love singing carols, I love hearing carols – I love Christmas Carols. Actually, I think many of us are unprofessed carol lovers…go on…admit it…you’re among friendsJ.
My love for Carols and their unique sound commenced during my childhood in Lismore, NSW. One year I presented, along with my classmates from St Carthage’s Primary, a choral presentation of a few classic carols. There was something about that ‘very ordinary’ childhood experience that cemented a fondness for the Christmas Carol forever into my psyche. I cannot explain what was so special about that experience and why it has lived with me as a distinct memory ever since – but since that 1980’s summer evening Christmas Carols have played a significant part in my personal Christmas tradition.
The first Christmas Carol is widely accepted as the angelic choral proclamation “Gloria in exelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis” at the birth of Christ as accounted for in Luke 2:14. Since the angelic host gave voice to the first Christmas tidings, Carols have undergone many evolutionary developments. For instance at one stage Carols where only sung by Catholic priests; and only ever in Latin. It was not until the 1600’s that Carols became a grouping of hymns employed only during the Christmas season. Before this, Carols were often sung during other festive times of the Christian calendar.
Perhaps this is one of the wonderful things about Christmas Carols; they are steeped in history and tradition. For instance when we sing the originally Latin, hymn of praise, O Come, All Ye Faithful, we give voice to a text possibly written in the 1300’s by John of Reading. The ever popular Hark the Herald Angels Sing (a personal favourite) was written by Charles Wesley in 1739 and is set to music composed by Mendelssohn. Even children’s carols like Jingle Bells (1857) have a history dating back beyond a century.
Allow me to be really cheeky…even Charismatics and Pentecostals sing Christmas Carols – a predominantly hymn based idiom! Why? Well the wide appeal of the Christmas Carol is so iconic in Western culture that it has yet to be usurped by a modern alternative. I know that as a Pentecostal worship pastor during the late nineties I always found myself presenting a predominantly hymn based Christmas service to a congregation which were more accustomed to the pop driven chorus. In reflection – I never received a single complaint! The fact is that people (unless they are a Christmas Grinch) love Carols – even chorus loving Pentecostals.
And so I conclude – there are many aspects of Christmas tradition that divide us: what colour theme should adorn the Christmas tree; should you address letters to Santa via the “True North Pole” or the “North Magnetic Pole”; and how much is too much pudding? Perhaps the one thing that unites us, Pentecostals and Tradionalists, Christian and non-Christian, is the humble Christmas Carol. This Christmas – sing a Christmas Carol and sing it strong.
Merry Christmas!
Singing with one Voice
A couple of weeks ago I had the great experience of being swept up into the singing at church. “What?” I hear you ask. “You don’t get ‘swept up’ every Sunday?” Well…no. To be perfectly honest I don’t!
Now for some of you this will come as a shock – and for a few of you I will go down a couple of notches on your ‘spiritual gauge’; but ultimately I have become quite settled with the fact that not every Sunday service is a ‘heaven touching earth’ experience. In fact I have come to understand that the times that I do feel God in a tangible way are the exception, and not the rule – more on this in my next post!
On the Sunday that I refer to it wasn’t even that I was getting goose bumps, or seeing tongues of fire on my fellow worshipper’s heads. What lifted me to a heightened sense of God’s presence was hearing my voice join with those around me as we sung about God’s majesty and awesome power. In this single moment I was also aware that our voices, only about 50 in total, had joined with the heavenly hosts in the continual declaration of God’s greatness (Rev. 5).
Sadly, I don’t always recall the corporate aspect of our worship. I, like many western Christians, have been lulled into a desensitised state that all too often alienates me from the very community to which I have been accepted. Constance M. Cherry (2010) in her recent book The Worship Architect furthers this thought when she writes,
“We have been indoctrinated to think that we are individual worshipers who happen to form the constituency of a local congregation. We have mistakenly viewed our weekly worship as an opportunity for each person to pray individually to God, to hear the word individually, and to respond individually” (p. 13).
Guilty as charged.
This is the wonderful thing about singing in church. We do it together – at the same time. The act of singing in church is unlike any other activity of our corporate worship. Even when we pray in our services, one person speaks and the rest listen, whereas with our singing we participate simultaneously. What a magnificent gift God has given us. Bob Rognlien (2005) suggests “There is nothing that quite compares with singing a meaningful worship song to God” (p. 133). Moreover, there is nothing that quite compares to singing a meaningful worship song to God together!
I would love to hear about your experiences. Leave a comment about the times when you have become aware of your voice joining with the congregational voice to declare God’s goodness.
References
Cherry, C. M. (2010). The worship architect: A blueprint for designing culturally relevant and biblically faithful services. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
Rognlien, B. (2005). Experiential worship: Encountering God with heart, soul, mind & strength. Canada: NavPress.
In a Word…Theology!
For many the word theology is an intimidating term. It conjures thoughts of highly trained professors (in suede jackets) pouring over Hebrew and Greek text, unearthing the mysteries of God’s word which lay hidden to the lay person’s reading. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2008) does not form such an intimidating picture when it defines theology as, “religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed” (Soanes & Stevenson, p. 1495). Theology is what we do. Essentially, every Christian is a theologian. The challenge is whether, as Bob Kauflin (2008) states, “am I a good theologian or a bad one?” (p. 28). Before theology – that which is practiced; is doctrine – that which is taught.
There are two widely practiced approaches to the study of Christian doctrine, systematic and biblical (Bryant, 1982, pp. 616–617). Simply, biblical theology commences its study of scripture objectively allowing scripture to reveal its themes. Systematic theology approaches Scripture subjectively extracting text in order to define a theme. It’s from these two principles that we might draw some insight into the differing approaches when selecting material (songs) for Sunday’s corporate gatherings. For some believers it’s a matter of the means needing to justifying the ends. I.e. the lyrical content (doctrine) should determine the manner in which we worship. For others the end point validates the means. I.e. the worship expression (theology) and experience form the foundation on which to structure the choice of songs; both lyric and melody.
Paul Zahl (2004) in his apologetic for Liturgical worship further defines the two different approaches in his thoughts on the construction of liturgy for corporate gatherings,
The Latin phrase that covers the philosophy of worship I am presenting here is this: lex credendi lex orandi. That means: What we believe determines how we pray. Quite a few liturgical scholars and theologians today want to reverse the order and write: lex orandi lex credendi, or how we pray (i.e. worship) determines what we believe [emphasis in original]. (p. 25)
Kauflin (2008) makes the statement, “Songs are de facto theology…‘We are what we sing’” (p. 92). Many would agree with Kauflin’s statement (Basden, 1999; Carson, 2002; Dawn, 1995; Peterson, 1992; Wiersbe, 2000). Warren Wiersbe in his book Real Worship: Playground, Battle ground or Holy ground? (2000) takes the thought a step further warning, “Naïve congregations can sing their way into heresy before they even realize what is going on” (p. 136). In observing the vast array of worship styles I find Wiersbe’s warning to be a sober reminder that what goes in generally comes out. At this point I must stress that this discussion does not centre on the prejudicial war waged between those who preference hymns over modern choruses or vice versa. It goes much deeper than an individual’s partiality to one musical style over another.
So how does this affect the garden variety Contemporary Worship Singer? The first question to be asked is do you think about the lyrics that you sing? Secondly have you considered that by virtue of your being on stage you inadvertently support the doctrine and resulting theology of what is being sung? Singers love to give voice to flowing melodies, but is a beautiful melody enough qualification for the use of a song in the corporate gathering? I agree with Marva Dawn (1995) when she writes “It is crucial, then, that leaders of the Church study carefully our underlying theology of worship and the specific worship practices that result, for they do, indeed, determine who we are” (p. 106). Here I reveal my own view. The means must justify the ends. Like Wiersbe (2000) “I am convinced that congregations learn more theology (good and bad) from the songs they sing than from the sermons they hear” (p. 136). However (and on this point I close), this does not mean that we can focus so heavily on the lyrical content that we forget to develop melodies and arrangements thereof that best deliver the doctrine. It must be sing-able! Sadly, too many ‘great lyrics’ have been set to ‘sub standard’ music – surely we can have both. I think that if we were to apply this rule to the repertoire list of most churches it would result in a significant cull of songs, but what would be left would be rich in doctrine and produce good, in a word – Theology!
References
Basden, P. (1999). The worship maze: Finding a style to fit your church. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Bryant, T. A. (Ed.) (1982) Today’s dictionary of the bible. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers.
Carson, D. A. (Ed.). (2002). Worship by the book. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Dawn, M. J. (1995). Reaching out without dumbing down: A theology for worship for this urgent time. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Kauflin, B. (2008). Worship matters: Leading others to encounter the greatness of God. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books.
Peterson, D. (1992). Engaging with God: A biblical theology of worship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Soanes, C., & Stevenson, A. (Eds.). (2008) Concise oxford english dictionary (11th, Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Wiersbe, W. W. (2000). Real worship: Playground, battle ground, or holy ground? (2 ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
Zahl, P. F. M. (2004). Formal-liturgical worship. In P. A. Basden (Ed.), Exploring the worship spectrum: 6 views (pp. 21–36). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Voice in Worship 