Contemporary Music: The Cultural Medium and the Christian Message

Contemporary Music: The Cultural Medium and the Christian Message

On a recent Sunday, I found myself visiting a Protestant megachurch. Entering the "worship center" was eerily similar to being ushered down the aisle of a movie theater: floor lighting, padded chairs, visual effects shown on two large screens, and music over the speaker system.

A band appeared on stage to begin the service with live music. It was dark, and I thought I heard the audience singing along, but it was impossible to tell. And although I was seated in the front row, I sensed that the congregation was almost superfluous to the activity on stage. As in most forms of entertainment, the audience functioned as passive onlookers, participating only in an unseen, intensely personal way.

While the band played, song lyrics flashed across the two big screens, with words like great, God, and high figuring prominently. The musical performance was outstanding, even if the vocabulary was extremely limited. If the songs aimed at an emotional response, they were probably successful, but like so much contemporary worship music, they lacked any element of substantive teaching.

Immediately after the singing, without any announcement, much less Paul's words of institution (1 Cor. 11:23-26), the elements of the Lord's Supper were hurriedly handed around. Again, I was amazed at the blandly efficient nature of this activity. We could have been passing pretzels and soda pop. No one offered any guidance whatsoever on the sharing of this critical ordinance or sacrament. It seemed a strictly vertical encounter between each individual and God.

Next came the sermon, offered by a capable person who worked very hard to relate while teaching some biblical content. A simple outline appeared on the screen so that we could follow the train of thought. So did the relevant Bible passages, lest anyone could not find them in an actual Bible. I noticed that the illustrations came almost solely from popular movies and television. Then the service ended as abruptly as it began, with a few announcements over the speakers and a cordial "thank you" to the congregation. No benediction or closing prayer—not even a person to give it. The house lights came on, and it was time to leave.

Protecting the Pearls

To say that the service was religiously "dumbed down" is not quite right. In fact, I wish that were the case, since the goal of comprehension sometimes demands that complex ideas be simplified. No, it seemed rather that the presentation aimed at finding a theological and cultural lowest common denominator in order to attract and engage the greatest number of people. As a result, there was no need to be a Christian to understand most everything that was said or sung.

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Why We Practice Blended Worship at St. Luke’s

Why We Practice Blended Worship at St. Luke’s

We embrace the best of both the Ancient and the Modern to the Glory of God 

Those who have attended worship at St. Luke’s have no doubt noticed that we make use of both “traditional” and “contemporary” elements in our liturgy.  The most common way of describing this eclectic approach to liturgy is “blended worship.” 

Let me say from the outset that we have no argument with others who choose to be more “traditional” than us, nor do we criticize those who are more “contemporary” than us.  But since I am often asked about our worship style, I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss our practice and our rationale for it.

We Use a Modern Language Liturgy

We admit that there are many good reasons to use a traditional language Prayer Book.  We also acknowledge the foundational nature of the 1549 and 1662 editions of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England.  They are focal points of our unity.  They instruct and direct our liturgical practice, as they have guided the Reformed Episcopal Church from her founding as an Anglican denomination over 130 years ago.

However, we believe that there is a role to be played by liturgy in the modern idiom.  We believe modern English can be reverential, and instrumental to those who seek to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”  In doing so, we state our belief that no era in the development of the church (or of the English language) is uniquely sacred.  So, while honoring the beauty of the language of the foundational formularies, we respectfully support the expression of Elizabethan theology in contemporary English.

We Sing Traditional Hymns

If we are not quite the same as our dear friends who are more strictly “Traditional”, we are also distinct from some who are more exclusively “Contemporary.”  

Just as we would feel that we lost something if we could not make use of hymns and songs composed in the last 100 years, we would also mourn the loss of the great collection of more ancient Christian hymnody and liturgical music.

We Sing Modern Hymns and Songs

Some might ask  “Are there not doctrinal defects or at least theological shallowness in modern church music?”  And of course, the answer is, yes, some modern church music has this problem, but then, older hymnody is not universally immune to it either!  The truth is, diligent, careful Christians must “test all things”.  And we can never really relax that posture.

Since the older a hymn or song might be, the longer the Church has had to test and evaluate it, it might be that it takes more diligence to use contemporary songs than it does to restrict oneself to only traditional hymns.  While there may be some truth to this argument, we find the extra effort worth our while in order to benefit from the “best of every generation of the Church.”

Sometimes we are faced with a false dilemma:  to sing only older hymns or to sing only modern praise choruses, when, of course, we can do both, and we can also avoid any song that is shallow or theologically incorrect. So we sing both hymns and “praise songs.” But, we cannot ignore another significant body of music, namely, the modern hymn.

Modern Hymns are fresh, contemporary compositions that share the essential traits of traditional Christian hymnody while employing new, thoughtful lyrics and/or new melodies.  The hymnal we keep in our pew, Worship and Rejoice (Hope Publishing) is a leader in the publication of such hymns. 

For our purposes, we will consider any lyrics or tunes that postdate the Episcopal 1940 Hymnal to be “modern.”

Examples of traditional lyrics wedded to new tunes would include:

Psalm 103

Tune:  Taize Community

The Beattitudes

Tune:  David Haas, 1985

At the Name of Jesus

Tune:  Michael Brierly, 1960

Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken

Lyrics:  John Newton, 18^th Century

Tune:  “Abbot’s Leigh,”  1942

Examples of new lyrics attached to traditional tunes would include:

Sing Praise to the Father

Lyrics:  M. Clarkson, 1966

Tune: Doane, 1900

Like A Mighty River Flowing

Lyrics:  Michael Perry, 1982

Tune:  Traditional, 14^th Century

We Come O Christ to You

Lyrics:  Clarkson, 1957

Tune:  “Darwell’s 148^th” 18^th Century

Christ is the World’s Light

Lyrics:  Fred Pratt Green, 1969

Tune:  “Christe Sanctorum,” 17^th Century

When Jesus Came to Jordan

Lyrics:  Fred Pratt Green, 1980

Tune:  “Munich,”  17^th Century

Examples of fine hymns with both modern lyrics and tune might well include:

Jesus on the Mountain Peak

Lyrics:  Brian Wren

Tune:  “Mowsley”  1985

I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light

Lyrics:  Kathleen Thomerson, 1970

Tune:  “Houston,”  1970

Name of All Majesty

Lyrics:  Timothy Dudley-Smith, 1984

Tune:  Michael Baughen,  1982

Be Not Afraid

Lyrics & Tune:  Bob Dufford, 1975

In Christ Alone

Lyrics & Tune:  Stuart Townsend, 2002

Jesus is Our King

Sherrell Prebble, Howard Clark, 1978

King of the Nations

Graham Kendrick, 1990

Come and Rejoice

Don Moen & Gerrit Gufstafson, 1989

In conclusion, our guiding principles:

1)        We hold an Ancient-Future faith, thus we seek the best of what every era of the Christian Church has to offer us in terms of music, liturgy and ceremonial practice;

2)       We adhere strictly to the rubrics of the authorized formularies of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and use no liturgy that is not explicitly approved by the appropriate Ecclesiastical Authority (our Bishop or the General Council of the Church);

3)       We are governed by the doctrinal commitments of the Creeds, Ecumenical Councils, and the clear teaching of Holy Scripture in all that we do;

4)       We seek both to preserve the heritage of the past by singing traditional hymns and plainsong settings as well as looking toward the most appropriate modern hymns, songs and liturgical music as adding to this ‘holy repertoire.’

5)       We reject the notion that any century or era in the Church’s History is the ideal or “golden age” that future generations must imitate above all others.  Rather, we believe that the Holy Spirit has worked in every era of the Church, and it is a great privilege to learn from each successive generation of the Body of Christ.