Posted on 12/01/2004 7:48:32 AM PST by sionnsar
[Please read the comment following, to get the context of this posting, before starting into this article. --sionnsar]
The Catholic church has been fighting a running battle with narcissism in worship ever since apostolic times. There has never been a shortage of people who want to take over public worship for their own purposes. In this battle–really a tug-of-war–two powerful forces struggle for supremacy. On the one side there is “me”: the personal dimension of religion. The faith of Christianity must involve the personal, private relationship of the individual ("me") to the personal Jesus, who will always listen to every prayer. On the other side of this tug-of-war is the job of faith. Christians come together to worship as a community. The Mass is a public, communal effort, in which individuals act and pray as a group. Tension between the private and public sectors is inevitable.
We can see this tension in two thousand years of Christian art for a liturgical setting. The painters of the Byzantine icon, for example, were ready to burst with emotional religious fervor and yet at every stage of artistic creation they pulled this zeal back; they held the reins tightly, as it were. They would not permit themselves the luxury of painting their own version of what they felt. Instead, they submitted to a canon of taste that belonged to something larger than themselves: the highest expectations of the community, the culture, or, if you wish, the tribe. The painters of the icon put their private, inner faith into the painted image but they did so according to strict conventions and traditional formulas; in this way they communicated to the beholder the message that the image went beyond the mere feelings of the artist and beyond the commonplace.
The church insisted on obedience to a great Unwritten Law which went something like this: “As a creative artist you may follow your own instincts but your art or music for the church must not clash with the liturgical function; it must take its place in the objective liturgical setting and not seem like an intrusion. Your creation must display a degree of quality and craftsmanship which will be agreeable to prince and peasant, male and female, young and old. Everyone who sees the artwork or hears the music must sense a group endeavor, a group prayer: maybe something performed by the assembly or by a choir acting in the name of the assembly, maybe a painting that seems to sum up the highest religious aspirations of a whole people. In the past the icon painters prayed and fasted as they struggled to put the holy images into the exacting forms prescribed by tradition. You must try to do something similar.”
The composers of … reformed folk music have created a large repertory of songs with mild harmonies, comforting words, and a sort of “easy listening” sound; it is all so very undisturbed and appealing, the musical equivalent of the warm bubblebath. The whole enterprise has been resoundingly successful and some publications sell in the millions…. For the time being, the reformed-folk repertory (also known as “contemporary” church music) occupies the high ground; it has the advantage of appearing to possess a musical and a moral superiority. It enjoys the reputation for being “new” and “what the people want.”
The victory of the folk style, reformed or otherwise, is so great and so blinding that many people cannot see beyond the apparent success to what could mildly be called the problem with this music: simply put, nearly all of it–no matter how sincere, no matter how many scriptural texts it contains–oozes with an indecent narcissism. The folk style, as it has developed since the 1960s, is Ego Renewal put to music.
“I” and “me” songs or sung versions of intense personal “conversations” with God can be found in the psalms and in almost two millennia of Christian worship, but great care was taken to make sure that the music would not sound like a presentation of individual “I-me” emotions. The words of the psalm might say “I” and “me,” but the music, intended for public worship, said “we.” A good example of this can be seen in the various settings of Psalm 90/91, a song of comfort and a reminder of God’s abiding protection. In the Middle Ages, the words of this psalm were lifted out of the common place and uttered in the Latin language (Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi …); the sentiments in the text were then twisted in the unusually shaped melodies of chant, the musical equivalent of the icon. These two “artificial” steps (the Latin language and the odd melodies) reminded everyone that this particular text, as sun, was not the personal property of the singer but an integral part of a public act of worship.
The early Protestant reformers translated the same psalm into the vernacular so that the congregation could sing it, but they too kept this important element of distance and “artificiality”; that is, they preserved the ideal of the “icon in music.” The words of the psalm were jammed into the pattern of a strict poetic meter with rhyme. ("O God, our help in ages past,/Our hope for years to come …") Melodies were foursquare and totally without a sense of private intimacy. Sometimes the melodies were so “neutral” and generic that a tune could be used for any kind of psalm: one with a joyous text or one with more mournful words.
Now, with the above versions of Psalm 90/91 in mind, analyze the same text as found in the song On Eagle’s Wings by Michael Joncas. Note the enormous difference. The Joncas work, an example of the reformed-folk style at its most gushing, does not proclaim the psalm publicly; it embraces the text–lovingly, warmly, and even romantically. That moaning and self-caressing quality of the music, so common in the reformed-folk style, indicates that the real topic of the words is not the comforting Lord but “me” and the comforts of my personal faith.
One composer of “contemporary” church music described perfectly what is going on in this type of music. He said that in his own compositions he tried to bring out the “felt meanings” of the sung words. There is indeed something quite tactile about the way this music manipulates the words; the meaning of the text has to be molded, shaped–felt. As a result, the performance of reformed-folk music depends heavily on a dramatic realism, on the ability of soloists to communicate personal feelings, felt meanings, to a congregation.
The music of the St. Louis Jesuits, the Dameans, the Weston Monks, Michael Joncas, and all the others is, without any doubt, a revolutionary addition to the Roman Rite. These composers have, as it were, smashed the icon, an exceedingly revolutionary act.
That reminds me to put it on the Christmas list. I just wish they had all the songs in the IG songbook. They have an incredible number of awesome songs on their website's "songbook" that haven't even made it to the CD's yet.
You mean you don't like "Shine, Jesus Shine" or "I want to be a rainbow for Jesus"?
In my Evangelical Presbyterian Church, we have a traditional adult choir (I sing alto) along with "praise teams" who begin the service with music. The choir performs a wide variety of music, from very traditional classical music to gospel. The music director also plays the violin when we sign the old hymns from the hymnbook, and we occasionally have a brass accompaniment (which I love). When I first joined, I have to admit I didn't really like the contemporary praise stuff, but I have grown to like most of it. I particularly like "Shout to the Lord," and have even been known to clap along. It just goes to show that a person can adapt to a lot of things! However, I would very strongly object to loud rock-style music. My church doesn't do that (at least so far).
Well, almost as bad. It is very, very hard to get THAT bad.
I've noticed that a great many of those who vehementy argue for praise bands are those actively involved in them. They have fun playing in them and don't want to give up their "gig" before a captive audience.
Reverence is a thing of the past. Nowadays, it is this sickening, presumptive over-familiarity with One whom John would not dare to approach in such a way (Rev.1 describes the Lord whom we no longer know after the flesh, but the glorified Lord, Whom upon seeing , the exiled apostle fell at his feet as though dead).
To Laodecean our Lord said:
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich. (possibly a reference to acquiring a sound, growing Biblically-rooted faith. (Rev.3)
Please show me where pipe organs are mentioned in the Bible. Please tell me how poor Nicaraguan churches whose members live on dirt floors can "all" get a pipe organ. Thanks in advance.
Huh? Pipe organ? Did you post to the right thread?
Don't want to start a vanity for this . . . BUT PLEASE HELP.
Am looking for artist and song title suggestions. I'm trying to down load a bunch of additional songs for my MP3 player--I like a limited variety of worship/Christian music.
Old hymns are fine depending. Judy Collins on Amazing Grace is great.
I liked the old HYMNS TRIUMPHANT first tape.
I like some contemporary Christian music IF
IF
IF
it is NOT heavy beat rocky, noisey, obnoxious in those terms.
I like more folk song ballad style or at least melodious.
Any suggestions?
Anything by the St. Olaf Choir.
Twila Paris: "Lamb of God"
Amy Grant: "El Shaddai"
"Be Thou My Vision" is old Gaelic, similar style as "Amazing Grace," and it's beautiful. There's several versions out there, some not so hot, so listen to all before you judge the piece.
My Favorite, I think: "Oh, Happy Day," by The Edwin Hawkins Singers, circa 1964
Great. I'd forgotten some of those. I really liked that Edwin Hawkins one, too.
THANKS BIG
There has always been a mix of "songs, hymns and spiritual songs" in churches, but the problem now, is that traditional, theologically sound hymnody is almost completely absent from a large number of churches. (One book of choruses......271 of them, to be exact.....didn't have ONE reference to the Cross in any of it's songs).
It makes musical worship a mile wide and an inch deep, and the musical, theological education that used to take place in church non-existant (including worshipping God with our MINDS).
It's a serious spiritual problem, IMO, and part of the reason so many Christians in America are so weak......
(btw, I am a Protestant church musician who lost my job in my former church after 18 years so that the church might become more 'culturally relevant.' I'm now in a Presbyterian Church that values depth, traditon, and worshipping the Christ of the Cross)
Jars of Clay is a good group that goes beyond the fluff of most 'Christian' contemporary pap.
Too much truth about a mile wide and an inch deep.
I do think though, that Christian weakness has more to do with
PRIDE, SELFISHNESS, FEAR
than a LOT of other things.
I simply choose music which edifies me, builds me up and draws me closer to God. A reasonable range does that and certainly The Blood and The Cross are recurring themes in my collections.
I like both of those, too.
Thx.
As I said before, the problem is that many (most?) churches are eliminating all but the fluff, and that, IMO, is dangerous.
Pride and selfishness are not far removed from the motivation to do only music which entertains us and makes us 'feel good.' I think they are interrelated with the shallowness of contemporary worship in what is contributing to the wimpiness of American Christianity.
TRUE enough!
Hi Quix.
I like Christian rock groups such as Third Day and Mercy Me. There are a few Christian folk & country songs I like a lot also. Here are my fav Christian songs so far:
Third Day:
Show Me Your Glory
God of Wonders
Living for Jesus
Your Love Oh Lord
Worthy Is the Lamb
Take My Life
Mercy Me:
I Can Only Imagine
Collin Raye:
What If Jesus Comes Back Like That
Maranatha:
Holy Holy Holy
Lee Greenwood: (or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
How Great Thou Art
Elvis Presley:
The Old Rugged Cross
Gladys Knight & the Pips:
I Believe
Judy Collins:
One Day At a Time
Andy Williams:
The Lord's Prayer
Patti Page:
Amazing Grace
Great Miscellaneous Catholic songs with no specific singer:
On Eagle's Wings
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
Here I Am Lord
One Bread One Body
You Are Near
Excellent choice!
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