From PEARUSA... new liturgical music from Drew Collins

Songs for the Liturgy by Drew Collins

7/24/13BY LWATTS

I discovered Anglicanism four years ago. Having led worship since high school, I found myself leading for the first time at Wellspring Church in Englewood, CO, on a Sunday in October 2009. The next morning my wife Sarah jokingly said, “We went to bed last night as regular Christians and woke up this morning as Anglicans!”

As long as I’ve led worship I’ve been interested in learning about my vocational roots. The Anglican tradition offers such a beautiful opportunity to explore worship because of the rhythms of the church year, the richness of the liturgical texts, and the connectedness to the historic Church. While we’ve come to love the tradition, our feeling at home in Anglicanism is largely due to the local community that we’re part of at Wellspring. We deeply appreciate being part of a church family that cares about the neighborhood, that gives sacrificially, and that loves one another so well. In the midst of this body I have found the inspiration to write and arrange songs for the Church.  Read it all here.

Ordinal Approved for Use by the College of Bishops

Text Describes the Form and Manner of Ordaining Bishops, Priests and DeaconsThe Anglican Church in North America is pleased to announce the Ordinal has been approved for use by the College of Bishops. The Ordinal text was approved on June 24, 2011. To view the PDF document, please click here.

“One of the major things that we sought to do was to craft an Ordinal that was written in contemporary English, but also was clearly in the Prayer Book tradition. Of particular focus was the strengthening of the vows that those who are ordained ascribe to,” said Bishop Bill Thompson, Chair of Prayer Book and Common Liturgy task force.

“We were very deliberate about the tone and content of the Ordinal and the fact that it is clearly connected to our Anglican roots. Our intention is for the other liturgies that we put forth to have that same quality,” Bishop Thompson said.

The language and doctrine of the new Ordinal is descended from the historic Anglican Ordinals of 1549, 1662, and the American 1928 and Canadian 1962. The primary source was the American book of 1928 because it has removed references to the English Monarch and Government, which makes more sense in our North American context. The other editions are used in places where there has been a variance between the various editions.

The structure of this edition, however, does look to ecumenical and more recent Anglican Ordinals, especially the American BCP of 1979, the Church of England “Common Worship: Ordination Services,” Study Edition of 2007, and the Province of Southern Africa “An Anglican Prayer Book” of 1989. Where appropriate, this edition seeks to reconcile the text of the Ordinal with the English Standard Version of the Bible.

As we celebrate the work the Lord is doing in our body through His faithful servants, please join us in saying the Veni, Creator Spiritus as a prayer for the renewal of the Church.

Veni, Creator Spiritus

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost Thy sevenfold gifts impart.

Thy blessed unction from above,
Is comfort, life, and fire of love.
Enable with perpetual light
The dullness of our blinded sight.

Anoint and cheer our soiled face
With the abundance of Thy grace.
Keep far our foes, give peace at home;
Where Thou art guide, no ill can come.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And Thee, of both, to be but One;
That, through the ages all along,
This may be our endless song:

Praise to Thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Photo captions: Website homepage - Archbishop Robert Duncan lays hands on The Rev. Mike McGhee during an ordination service on June 13, 2009. Story photo - Archbishop Robert Duncan presided at the consecration of The Rt. Rev. Bill Ilgenfritz to the office of bishop on August 22, 2009. Photo credit: Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh

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.

Five Myths About Worship in the Early Church

Although written from a Roman perspective, I think some insights here have application to liturgical studies in the Anglican context:

Five Myths About Worship in the Early Church Michael P. Foley   (Crisis)

As the forthcoming new translation of the Roman Missal debunks the myth that liturgical language must be so banal that even the muppets on Sesame Street can understand it, it’s a good time to examine five other untruths that have been wreaking havoc on the Church’s worship in recent decades.

1. Mass facing the people. After studying free-standing altars in early churches, liturgists in the 1930s concluded that priests once celebrated Mass “facing the people,” and that it was only under the influence of decadent medieval clericalism that they “turned their backs” to them. This myth was much in the drinking water at the time of Vatican II (1962-1965). Later, some scholars began to reexamine the evidence and found that it did not support their thesis at all, and that in fact there had been an unbroken tradition — both East and West — of priest and congregation celebrating the Eucharist in the same direction: eastward.

Read More Here

The Great Vigil

My favorite liturgy of the year is the one that marks the Eve of Easter.  It is arguably the most ancient documented Christian liturgy, apart from the Sunday Eucharist.  We see evidence of this liturgy in the Easter Sermon of Melito, Bishop of Sardis around 160 AD.  Here is a portion of the text of that great homily, "Concerning the Passover":

There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.

He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the hand of Egypt; he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.

He is the One who covered death with shame and cast the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. He is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.

It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.

It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised man from the depths of the tomb.

  My favorite liturgy of the year is the one that marks the Eve of Easter.  It is arguably the most ancient documented Christian liturgy, apart from the Sunday Eucharist.  We see evidence of this liturgy in the Easter Sermon of Melito, Bishop of Sardis around 160 AD.  Here is a portion of the text of that great homily, "Concerning the Passover":

There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.

He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the hand of Egypt; he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.

He is the One who covered death with shame and cast the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. He is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.

It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.

It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised man from the depths of the tomb.

Even our Baptist Friends are Re-discovering Lent

Easter Sunday -- the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ -- is for Christians the culmination of their community life, expressing the heart of their faith. But among Baptists and other evangelicals, an intentional period of preparation for their holiest day is often understated or absent -- in contrast to Christmas, the other great Christian observance, typically the focus of elaborate church festivities for weeks prior to Dec. 25.



Many Baptists are seeking to reclaim that pre-Easter focus -- historically called Lent -- which has been an integral part of many Christians’ experience since the earliest years of the church.

“It’s a biblical thing, not a made-up Catholic thing,” says Kyle Henderson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, Texas, acknowledging a robust Baptist suspicion of spiritual practices seen as too closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church or its distant cousins, the Anglicans.

Lost treasure

Some Baptists say they sense those suspicions -- in part a legacy of the Protestant Reformation -- have left them with a diminished spiritual vocabulary.

Read More Here