The American Spectator : Something Is Sacred

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Something Is Sacred

By Christopher Orlet on 5.19.11 @ 6:07AM

In praise of old timey church music.

Even superstitions have their uses. Take the notion that the fiddle and banjo are the devil’s instruments. Or that certain crackerjack guitar heroes sold their souls to Mephistopheles. Such quaint beliefs kept traditional stringed instruments out of the homes of good Christian people for centuries.

Talk about a turnaround. Today you would be hard pressed to find a place of worship where there isn’t a full complement of folk musicians picking and grinning from the orchestra pit. Nowhere is this transition felt more deeply than on the production line of Wicks Organ Co., in Highland, Illinois, where, after more than 100 years in business, the company has ceased manufacturing custom pipe organs.

The family-owned Wicks is but another casualty of a lingering recession coupled with changing tastes in religious music (read: worsening tastes). There just isn’t much call for pipe organs in 21st century America.

Houses of worship, obviously, made up Wicks’ customer base. This, however, is the era of the megachurch. If you haven’t been, many of these gargantuan churches resemble concert halls, and are stocked, not with the traditional pipe organist, but with a 10-piece Christian rock band or a 300-person choir — a sure sign that two thousand years of tradition have been usurped by today’s pop culture. Some megachurches televise their “services.” Not many small town churches can compete with Big Rock and Roll TV Church where the only commandment is “Thou Shall Not Bore.”

But what really finished off the pipe organ was the lowly six-string guitar. Or, more specifically, the guitar mass. Back in the seventies acoustic guitars (and tambourines and recorders) migrated from the coffeehouse to the chapel. The pipe organ was just one of many cultural artifacts deemed elitist and old fashioned by modern church leaders. Faced with a graying congregation and empty pews, desperate church leaders hoped to attract more young bodies by “contemporizing” services, beginning with the music. As the culture of youth spread its tentacles throughout society, it no longer mattered what those over 40 desired, musically or otherwise. The old folks were already hooked. Besides, they’d be dead soon enough.

THE TRADITIONALISTS among us still long for the old time religion with its baroque melodies and strange archaic lyrics. Such songs could induce goosebumps, and were tailor-made for the stately pomp of the pipe organ — wonderfully evocative hymns like “O Sacred Head Surrounded,” with its plaintive strains and ornate libretto, like something out of a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem:

I see Thy strength and vigor all fading in the strife
And death with cruel rigor bereaving Thee of life
O agony and dying! O love to sinners free!
Jesus, all grace supplying, O turn Thy face on me.

There was no sugarcoating life and death in the old hymns: “Death’s pallid hue comes o’er Thee, the glow of life decays…” Wonderful stuff. Instead, today’s hymnals are chock full of gag-inducing songs with shallow, repetitive lyrics about being lifted up on Eagle’s wings. (Indeed, pretty much any song by Dan Schutte or Marty Haugen sends me reeling for the barf bag.)

No masterpiece is exempt from the uplifter’s pen. Last Sunday I had to endure the bowdlerization of another timeless classic. All the glorious doom and gloom, to say nothing of the thee’s and thou’s, had been excised from the lyric until all that remained was a limp, pale, sanitized version, doubtless one that wouldn’t give the kids nightmares. Dismayed, I turned to the wife: “My God, is nothing sacred?”

This was too bad, because it spoiled what was otherwise rare religious experience. We attended mass in a tiny hamlet in the Ozark foothills. The green vistas were spectacular. The church was small and neat and the floor was freshly scrubbed, the walls newly painted. Best of all, there wasn’t a guitar on the premises. In fact, every hymn was sung a cappella (literally Italian for “in the manner of the church”), which is how God prefers it. I might have been attending services in a small English country church. What a pleasant change from our usual place of worship where every mass is a cacophony of strings, brass, and woodwinds, all overly amplified, and where the only part of the service that isn’t sung is the sermon. At least not yet.

In today’s newspaper, I read that the Wicks family has announced that, if and when the economy recovers and churches return to traditional music, they will happily restart their production line. Certainly the economy will bounce back, but I am less optimistic about musical tastes.

About the Author

Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (160) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

D. Singh| 5.19.11 @ 7:17AM

Sir

Thank you for this piece by Mr Orlet.

These sentences, in particular, made me laugh out loud:

‘Best of all, there wasn't a guitar on the premises. In fact, every hymn was sung a cappella (literally Italian for "in the manner of the church"), which is how God prefers it.’

Aye, and the King James version is God’s English!

On a serious note, I recently sung (with 40 others) Stainer’s ‘The Crucifixion’. I still continue to be deeply moved by the words in the composition.

I do agree with Mr Orlet when he writes:

‘There was no sugarcoating life and death in the old hymns: "Death's pallid hue comes o'er Thee, the glow of life decays..." Wonderful stuff.’

Indeed, it is ‘stuff’ that induces awe and fills one with wonder. What a tragedy it is that young folk – as they will one day understand – are deprived of such glories.

Tomas| 5.21.11 @ 3:07PM

The only agreement I have with this article is the trend for mega-churches to treat Sunday morning as a stage event. Every service contains a video, a skit, in an amphitheater with concert seating and huge video screens for the people in the nosebleed seats.

When I see huge flat-screen TVs everywhere, and expensive water fountains in the stone-floor sun room, I find myself asking, "How many people would be fed with the money spent on these things?"

Otherwise, the author is taking a personal preference and attempting to make it a cultural and ecclesiastical standard.

The worst part of this attempt is the assertion that traditional churches are more effective at evangelism, at welcoming the newest members of the flock.

Take the binders off, people. God is doing amazing things and you're missing it, simply because you refuse to turn your heads to see it.

Stuart Koehl| 5.22.11 @ 5:51PM

"How many people would be fed with the money spent on these things?"

Careful. Remember the last guy who asked that question--he came to a sticky end, as I recall.

Appleby| 5.19.11 @ 7:20AM

In our large Episcopal church in Atlanta (before they decided to worship homosexuality instead of God), the congregation sang the old hymns with great gusto, to the accompaniment of the organ and occasionally a brass choir and kettledrums, which work very well with the old hymns.

Occasionally the hymnal would disclose that someone had Politically Corrected a hymn we all knew by heart (for example, revising Holy Holy Holy to remove *though the eye of sinful MAN thy glory many not see*); however, the congregation would enthusiastically and loudly drown out this attempt at neutering said hymn with the words we had always sung.

My own nomination for Worst Rewriting of Hymn would have to be *A Mighty Fortress Is Our God*, in which *let goods and kindred go/this mortal life also* was replaced by *and should they take our spouse/our [something] and our house*. Everyone has goods and kindred; lots of people have neither house nor spouse. Anyway, the word *spouse* does not belong in a hymn. Whats next, The Church as the Spouse of Christ?

Our Catholic church sings mainly Protestant hymns; that is, the few people who can lift their heads from their binkies long enough murmur such hymns. Singing itself seems to be fading away.

Texas Mom 2012| 5.19.11 @ 1:22PM

I have to agree with the author. I really miss the old hymns. Our church plays what a friend of mine calls "Jesus is my boyfriend" music. I find a lot of the lyrics to be profoundly presumptuous, such as the "I am a friend of God" song. Presumptuous, repetitious and boring! Arghhhh!
Although it is almost worse when they try a traditional song because most of the time we are halfway through the song before I recognize it!
I also find band leaders who change the rhythm and basically make the music all about themselves extremely annoying.

Periwinkel| 5.19.11 @ 1:49PM

I miss music like, "The Old Rugged Cross," "Little Brown Church in the Vale," "I Come to the Garden Alone," "I'll Fly Away," "Blessed Assurance," "Just As I Am," and the list goes on and on. Give me the rollicking gospel music in the key of B flat, 3/4 time and great harmony, singing about the great love of God and how beautiful Heaven will be.

I have almost stopped going to church because I dislike the music so much...I call it baby-boomer music because it's all about me, me, me and how much I, I, I, love whatever. The tunes they sing are so awful.

Did you notice there are no Bibles in the mega-churches? They put the scriptures on the jumbo-tron! It's pitiful and I am afraid I won't live long enough to see the church fashion come around to the beautiful services again.

Austin Scott| 5.19.11 @ 2:57PM

This is not a good translation, but it is not an inaccurate rewriting.

The German original reads:
Nehmen sie den Leib,
Gut, Ehr’, Kind und Weib:

Which Carlyle translated:
And though they take our life,
Goods, honor, children, wife,

The Carlyle version is the usual version in hymnals of the British Commonwealth.

Becky| 5.19.11 @ 7:21AM

I am with you 100%.

It isn't just the music, but the liturgy that has been dumbed down also. These are marketing angles, not evangelistic.

The kids like the old fashioned stuff, the church does a poor imitation of culture, and yet they keep trying small variations of the same stuff, almost as if they are embarassed, or trying to trick people into Christianity.

The kids need to hear both the words and music of the old songs, and us older ones need the comfort.

G. Henderson| 5.19.11 @ 7:32AM

Thank you, Mr. Orlet, for saying so well what I have been feeling for some time. I am really tired of the current music style that is not musical. I am hungry for real beauty in my church music.

Maddox| 5.19.11 @ 7:41AM

It isn't only the music in worship that has changed, society as a whole has decided that morals, laws, and personal responsibility are no longer important, they aren't PC. Many churches have degraded into what they believe people want rather than what GOD would have us to be. "Give Me That Old Time Religion."

Joe| 5.19.11 @ 8:00AM

The problem exists in evangelical churches as well and is likely worse. We seem to chase trends rather fervently. At our church, where I play the piano, we use a lot of traditional music and each hymn selected is examined for theological accuracy under our beliefs before it is used.

There are three additional reasons for the demise of the pipe organ. First, it is difficult to play well and skilled organists are rare. Second, they are costly to purchase and maintain. Finally, a high-quality synthesizer can closely match the sound of a pipe organ, but never the richness and majesty, and it is portable.

Ken Larson | 5.19.11 @ 8:30AM

On a trip to Rome five years ago, we visited the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul at one end of the forum. Typically, you had to put a Euro into the light machine to illuminate the interior. When our eyes had been accustomed to the new light we noticed in a corner of one of the small chapels near the altar a chained enclosure which contained a bass, amplifiers, guitars and other "worship instruments" just like in the Butler buildings which define the mega church of America.

On another but relating matter: the recent royal wedding was the most impressive public display of traditional church music I have witnessed in a very long time. Maybe the kids will turn the culture toward the light.

Certainly something to pray for.

Pelligrino| 5.20.11 @ 4:26AM

Yes, Ken. While not in the least dazed about the 'royals' (they'd been already living together for some time) being wed, a real big smile came to my face when "Jerusalem" was played.

The TV commentator correctly but unfortunately tied it to English rugby; it has much greater significance than that or its part at the conclusion of the movie "Chariots of Fire."

It is with a bit of surprise and happy confusion when I have witnessed Brits bellowing "Jerusalem" with great gusto in church services on New Year's Eve.

Do they really know what they are singing? (View the YouTube "Jerusalem" at the Last Night of the Proms, Royal Albert Hall)

And therein lies one great beauty of hymns: It starts the conversation about God and His Son Jesus, the Bible, and what all this means for you, me, us.

In hymns (prayers to God) or the anthem "Jerusalem" most people don't quite get the all words the first second, or third time through. They require thought, reflection.

And usually great and meaningful thought & reflection went into their construction.

Hillel| 5.19.11 @ 8:30AM

Ironically, the pipe organ was frowned on because it was invented to be used in Roman Arenas. On Cape Cod you can find "Spite Churches and Barns" built because of fights over organs and stained glass windows. Puritans finally accepted organ because unaccompanied singers often produced horrible cacaphonies that were deemed an insult to the Deity. Of course just because the organ accompanied martydom in the arena, it can be used as a symbol of trancendence just as the Cross is.

Ryan| 5.19.11 @ 8:38AM

I've seen the best and worst of the issues the above article speaks - from both sides.

We cannot pretend that we can only engage in corporate worship to a particular style with particular instruments. It's not about what is being used, it's about how it's being done and Who is being worshiped.

I've seen the old hymns be sung by dead voices and new hymns sung with nothing but entertainment value....and I've seen their opposites.

donserge| 5.19.11 @ 8:42AM

In Protestant churches music is one of the main reasons that congregations will split. I confess, to being in a less worshipful mood in a church that has 'contemporary music' during their services. Many now have two Sunday morning services; one traditional and one contemporary, thus perhaps trying to avoid a split.

NotALibertarian| 5.19.11 @ 10:49AM

That is a split.

donserge| 5.19.11 @ 4:48PM

Technically, it is, but at least they can say they occupy the same building and have the same pastor(s).

Michael| 5.19.11 @ 9:57PM

Just had to mention: I am an organ builder. Currently we are doing a restoration on a Lutheran Church's 1889 pipe organ. The church is severely factionalized concerning music. One day one of the Ladies who is in their "praise band" passed me in the hall and said "Oh look, it's the "competition". I replied, "If there is a "competition" it is merely in your own mind." I was sad for them.

dsayne| 5.19.11 @ 9:44AM

As has been pointed out by others, the organ was once an unaccepted device. More recently(18-19th century), the piano was a controversial instrument. These musical devices, just like the "traditional" hymns, were once cutting edge. For every light and positive, repetitive Praise and Worship song that comes along today, there is a powerful modern Christian anthem that points to the condemnation of sin and the sacrificial atonement of the Blood. As was pointed out in a somewhat heated discussion at our church, to tell a kid that he can't play the drums at church is to tell him that he can't use his particular talent for the Lord! Thirty years ago I was faced with the same situation when I was told that my guitar was not welcome at church. I walked away from all things "church" for twenty years. Now I sing in the traditional choir, but I also play in the praise band. I love them both, and always pray that the performance would bring glory to God. All styles of music can be worshipful. I can even enjoy Southern Gospel, though it's not really my thing. The Bible does not tell us what type of music to make, but it does encourage us to play on stringed instruments and crashing cymbals! This subject is an area where Christians could take a cue from secular society and exercise some tolerance toward each other. Fans of all kinds of music, the young and the old and the young at heart need to give respect, understanding and encouragement to one another. Can we please separate tradition from sripture! Open your eyes, your mind, and your hearts! This issue should be no more controversial than the color of the carpet!

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 7:41PM

When one tries to worship God in a secular idiom, one usually ends up worshiping the world in a sacred idiom.

Maddox| 5.20.11 @ 9:53AM

Amen! No pun intended.

Cug Smith| 5.19.11 @ 9:57AM

Like many Music History graduates, my professional career ended up being outside of music. However, I did sing in Baton Rouge's St. Joseph Cathedral Choir for several years in the 1980s. Our director was a lady whose husband was a music professor at LSU, and our repertoire relied heavily on Palestrina, Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Brahms, etc., as well as many of the classic Catholic and Anglican hymns. She constantly decried the trend of music in the Roman Catholic Church being taken-over by what she called "sacro-pop". Hopefully, Pope Benedict's call for more appreciation of the traditional Latin Mass, will help to also revive interest in the historic great music of the church. From Plainchant to the Classical Masterpieces, the history of music in western civilization was primarily the history of church music. Until just the last few centuries, "Popular" music always flowed from the developments in church music.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:06PM

"sacro-pop"? More like Broadway show-tunes that didn't make it because they were deemed *too campy*.

"Gather Us In" and similar dreck are abhorrent both in theology (Catholic and Protestant) and in musical quality.

This is not to say that I am a hard-core Latin-only partisan. I have heard that some Benedictine monks in the Chicago area have successfully transplanted English to the psalms chanted during their Hours.

It showed me that the psalms are indeed songs of praise, and worthy prayers to God. Some may be shocked by this, but that's what happens when you grew up in the 70's and 80's.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 7:52AM

The entire corpus of Gregorian chant was translated into English by various groups of Anglo-Catholics decades ago. Their work is used in a variety of continuing Anglican and Anglo-Catholic communities.

In its Decree on the Liturgy (Sacrosanctus concilium), the Second Vatican Council called upon the Latin Church to rediscover its authentic liturgical tradition, and specifically pointed out Gregorian chant as something in need of restoration and renewal. At the same time, Sacrosanctus concilium called for the vernacular to be used in the liturgy (but NOT exclusively!).

Unfortunately, the liturgical mafia of the Latin Church has seized upon its mania for the vernacular as an excuse not to ditch the bulk of mediocre post-conciliar hymnography churned out by its allies in the liturgical music industry. They explain that they cannot restore liturgical chant until the chant has been translated into the vernacular. When asked when that will happen, invariably they reply, "We're working on it".

But of course, there is no need to "work on it", since the work has already been done--just not by the Roman Catholic establishment. Either they suffer from a severe "not invented here" syndrome, or they simply are using this as an excuse not to comply with a conciliar directive with which they disagree.

By the way, use of the vernacular need not mean the exclusion of the traditional liturgical languages. In Greek Catholic and many Orthodox parishes, they are used together within the same Liturgy. It is not unusual for a Ruthenian or Ukranian parish to move seamlessly from English to Slavonic and back again, or for a Melkite parish to employ English, Greek and Arabic interchangeably. It has always been the position of the Eastern Churches that every language is liturgical, and that there is no such thing as a "lingua sacra".

Pelligrino| 5.19.11 @ 9:59AM

Please add my laments to the changing and changed times. While I fully recognize what Ryan states above (there are no prescribed instruments, none are holier than others, the same for lyrics), the current trend (25 years in the making) results so often in cheapened music/dissonance.

Do choruses with such simplistic words that seem to originate from a rebounded doper's pen, do these simplistic choruses need to be repetitively sung 19 times in the space of 4 minutes?

Perhaps not yet touched upon in the comments: The decibel levels now that one typically finds on Sunday mornings.

So deafening!! Why?

Don't we go to a church sanctuary to find sanctuary?

I go looking for a little peace for my soul -- on Sundays.

The ear piercing noise is not what I wish to find for spritual nourishment for my soul on Sunday morning. The world is already so full of ugly, unending, painful noise the other 6 days of the week. I come to God's house to find something better.

Worse, I truly believe, the noise that now assaults our modern lives from every angle in every venue, this noise is where Satan dwells/schemes. The Deceiver wants you trapped in that noise. It should not be given haven in God's house.

Perhaps there can be a counter trend; perhaps the people of Wicks in Highland, IL might enjoy a rebirth in the not too distant future.

Thank you for the article, Mr. Orlet.

Ryan| 5.19.11 @ 10:46AM

I think I agree with you about the overly repetetive and noise issue.

I think too often it points to trying to be a performance - even when the song is good and theologically sound - rather than true Worship.

Bob Grant| 5.19.11 @ 11:41AM

Well Put!!

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:11PM

A doper's pen? A few to be sure, but most are talentless hacks who couldn't make it in Broadway. Once you figure that part out, the fact that most are raging lefties is no surprise.

Doubt me? Read the lyrics carefully.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:15PM

Also, about the cacophony of modern life infecting the music used in church, Screwtape agrees.

Pelligrino| 5.20.11 @ 1:44AM

Patrick, if you are refering to (and I believe you are) Mr. C.S. Lewis' fantastic book The Srewtape Letters, then, thank you.

I will have to go back and re-read it as I cannot recall a part about noise/cacophony. Alas, my memory is not what it should be. So I will be glad to once again see what C.S. Lewis shared with us via the characters Screwtape and Wormwood.

If any readers here are unfamiliar with this superb C.S. Lewis book, please, put down whatever you are reading and get a copy right away.

Appleby| 5.20.11 @ 7:38AM

Our choir, who are (all but one) over 60) talk loudly and unceasingly about trivia during the prelude and often right into the announcement to turn off your binkies and the welcome -- and last week they blabbered loudly right through the opening rites of baptism being performed at the rear of the sanctuary.

Todays people cannot stand silence. They must fill every nanosecond with unceasing racket -- perhaps in case they may actually hear what God is trying to say to them.

I hope that some day soon He says FOR THE LOVE OF THE GOD YOU ARE PRESUMABLY HERE TO WORSHIP AND GLORIFY, SHUT UP!

Appleby| 5.20.11 @ 7:38AM

Todays people cannot stand silence. They must fill every nanosecond with unceasing racket -- perhaps in case they may actually hear what God is trying to say to them.

I hope that some day soon He says FOR THE LOVE OF THE GOD YOU ARE PRESUMABLY HERE TO WORSHIP AND GLORIFY, SHUT UP!

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 12:09PM

The sound volume in many modern churches is a function of their inherently poor acoustics. Electronic amplification takes the place of careful design. There is a reason ancient churches look the way they do. I have been inside some where, from the pulpit or ambo, the smallest whisper can be heard from the back of the nave. I have sung in a couple, and discovered that, due to the poor acoustics of many modern churches, choirs have developed a bad habit of "over-singing" which becomes painfully apparent when one sings in a church that has good acoustics. Once relieved of the stress of churning out volume, one can concentrate on the quality of the sound, which makes a tremendous difference.

As far as moments of contemplative silence go, that's really a part of the Western liturgical tradition. Beginning in the sixth or seventh century, when the Old Roman Rite was reaching its maturity, the Mass was composed in a very "high" antique Latin that was barely comprehensible to the laity, whose vulgate Latin was already slouching into proto-Romance languages. So the responses of the people were kept terse and epigrammatic, and a basic formula of introduction--collect-silent prayer-Amen naturally created periods of silence within the Roman rite.

By the Middle Ages, the Roman rite had been supplanted by the hybrid Romano-Frankish rite (combining elements of the Roman rite with the more ornate and prolix Gallic rite). But at the same time, the movement towards "private" and "low" Masses saw the role of the people subsumed by the celebrant, so that the people no longer had to make any response at all. As the tendency was for the priest to say most of the Mass in a low voice (except for those parts needed to cue the people to kneel, stand, genuflect, etc.), there was a great deal of time for contemplative silence.

The Eastern liturgical tradition is very different. Here, the liturgy is seen as a sung dialogue between the celebrant and the people. Over the course of time, many prayers once chanted aloud by the priest came to be said in a low voice (this is now being reversed in a number of jurisdictions), the people's chants were actually expanded to cover the time while the priest was silently chanting prayers at the altar. So there are very few moments of silence during an Eastern Christian liturgy, in part because the Liturgy is not about us, but about God, and we are not there for private time with Jesus, but to offer the sacrifice of praise to the King and Lord of the Universe.

One of the problems resulting from the introduction of pews (during the Reformation) was the locking in of the congregation to a fixed space and fixed orientation, creating the impression that liturgy is a performance in which the celebrant is the performer and the congregation is the audience. In reality, both the celebrant and the congregation are equally the performers, with God as the "audience".

USSAlabama| 5.19.11 @ 10:05AM

Sadly I have walked out of more churches than I care to remember over this very issue.

Not necessarily whether the church had an organ, but rather what instruments and music are employed in worship.

Ancient Judaic writings have detailed descriptions of the instruments 'allowed' in Temple service; including which ones were not deemed worthy. Singers were afforded the South facing rooms of the Temple in which to live. The modern day equivalent to the corner office.

Whether there is an organ or piano or not, a set of drums and a bunch of electric guitars are an appeal to the worldy flesh, and not the spirit.

Traditional songs have been handed down from the first century worship and serve the most important of purposes, for we are able to worship in spirit through the singing of these special songs far more deeply than through the simple hearing of the homily or message of the day.

Once the appeal to the world/flesh is made in this way, it has to be continued and that is evident in the message.

And people wonder why church attendance is down.

Ryan| 5.19.11 @ 10:50AM

I dispute several items.

One, instrumentation that David describes in some Psalms (percussion and stringed instruments) are scriptural.

Second, the piano and organ are VERY modern inventions, far more modern than guitars.

Music is an invention of God. Scripture points to conditions of the heart in Worship, and not so much as to method and mode.

USSAlabama| 5.19.11 @ 12:24PM

Ryan you are among the most tiresome of disputers. Either the knowledge you rely on or your sources leave you lacking a great deal of knowledge.

I will not take the time and space to document all that would be necessary to support what I wrote as I did the last time you dissented to my remarks.

I will only give you one this time and that would be Ezekial's saying that the choir had chambers between the walls and windows with southern views (Ez 40:44). The rest you should discover for yourself. You will not find it in Google, but of course, you will try.

Ryan| 5.19.11 @ 1:31PM

I didn't debate the last point yourself. I'm just saying that the issue is a bit bigger than a couple of derived lists...particularly in light as to Christ's fulfillment of the law.

And the piano thing is a bit historical, btw.

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 8:42PM

As I said below, Christian worship derives from the Jewish synagogue liturgy, not from the Temple liturgy. Jews never used musical instruments in the synagogue (at least not until Reform Jews began aping Mainline Protestant forms), and even in the Temple liturgy, musical instruments were used mainly to call the people to worship, not in the worship itself.

Michael Tomlinson| 5.19.11 @ 1:00PM

Well said brother.

Church attendance is down for multiple reasons -- the gospel is not preached, the churches have no standards, psychology has replaced theology, church hopping to satisfy itching ears, a lack of faith, an unwillingness to surrender self to God . . .

KyMouse| 5.19.11 @ 10:15AM

I am no fan of the "praise and worship" music that begins the worship services at my church. I don't feel closer to God after singing a phrase over and over while the "orchestra" shows how many variations they can play -- I just feel irritated.

I would much rather sing a hymn such as "Our God, Our Help In Ages Past," whose lyrics have some meat on their bones. So much of the praise-and-worship music sounds like popular songs on the radio: Just substitute a gal's name for God's, and you've pretty much got a romantic ballad.

Besides, I love remembering how my grandmother taught me the alto harmony to just about every hymn we sang in church. To this day, I sing the harmony almost exclusively, whenever we're allowed to sing a hymn.

I occasionally have to go to a Presbyterian Church (USA) church, in which the hymns use "inclusive" language, avoid personal pronouns for God, and have idiotic lines such as "I have no money or weapons in my boat."

Ick.

By the way, the PCUSA church in which I grew up does have one nice thing, even though they've pretty much thrown away their Bibles. One of the wooden pipes in the organ has this nice inscription on it (I think some other instruments, perhaps a violin or two, have it as well):

"Vias mia dirigat Christus dum in silva muto. Nunc morte cano." My Latin is pretty rusty, but it means,

"Christ directed my ways. While in the forest I was mute. Now in death I sing."

Petronius| 5.19.11 @ 10:25AM

A lot that went on hath ceased since the rise of Ray Repp and the flakey folkies that followed. David Haas is probably the best of the lot. His syrupy harmonies distinguish his style. But this is quite the three pipe problem. Take a look at what is still out there. How many churches can afford a musician with the competence and experience to pilot the King of Instruments today? For the King may find Himself bereft of any who would take it up. One needs an instrument to train on, a maestro to train him, and not care if he never has a weekend off. And before one gets an opportunity to play, one must hear the real thing.
There are a hand full of concert organists who tour, but they hit town few times in a year with almost no publicity. For those not in that group, it's services, weddings, and funerals followed by meager pay checks and gratuities. With all the front loaded expense and study, it is not practical, lucrative, or fulfilling, except for Christmas and Holy Week when we're offered a bit of Praetorius, Gabrielli, or Bach. And the "cool" congregations get to hear Durufle'. So; any takers? Then, there are the limits of the singers. But choirs and choristers are for another day.

Stuart Koehl| 5.22.11 @ 1:00PM

I consider neither the organ nor the guitar to be suitable instruments for liturgical music. And therein lies a key distinction--most of the hymns being discussed are not "liturgical music" at all, but simply sacred songs to be used in non-liturgical services. Since Christian worship is most certainly liturgical, the problem isn't in the music but in the collapse of the Christian understanding of proper worship.

Citizen Jerry| 5.19.11 @ 10:27AM

"My God, is nothing sacred?"
A very good question. Unfortunately, the answer would be no for most of modern society.

Peggie| 5.19.11 @ 10:36AM

This little ol' grandma agrees with you 100%.
I find no comfort or enjoyment in this music.
I always feel like I have been "suffering for Jesus!"

C Smith| 5.19.11 @ 10:45AM

Took my father for a drive one evening not too long ago. Over old country roads that were once so familiar. Latent memories brightened his face at every turn: “I used to plow that field for Jake, or plant that one for Dave, or harvest that for Marlon.” Returning from the war, he and his often envied Oliver 70, purchased for several hundred dollars and a mule, not only tended his land but that of a multitude of others, land he knew as intimately as his own.

Suddenly, pointing toward the fading sun, he became disturbed: “There used to be a church there and a graveyard.” But I saw nothing but the silhouette of a fencerow entwined with reeds and vines. Yes, there had been a church, and perhaps as many as a dozen other one room sanctuaries scattered along that dusty meandering road, but like this one, little or nothing now remains. The voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride are now forever silent.

These forgotten churches of fair meadows and vale are so unlike those of today: No satellite receiver affixed to a steeple. No sermons to “spiritually” download or hymns with copyright code. No worship bands to rival a night club or bar. Or messages patterned after some Hollywood movie or star. No popular book studies other then the King James. No “Lights, Action, Camera” directing performers to take the stage. And sometimes not even a pastor. But they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers in a time when apostasy could travel little faster than an occasional circuit rider, in a time when Satan could deceive but one church at a time.

Bill| 5.19.11 @ 11:04AM

The one thing I most regret is the loss of touch with the old hymns. I'd prefer the use of the organ, but I'm OK with guitars, drums, etc., as long as the old songs are the ones to be sung - and, as pointed out, with the old words as originally written.

Having to sing the new songs (I won't dignify them with the word "hymns") is embarrassing, and changes what was once the most enjoyable experience of my church-going into the least enjoyable (because I remember singing the hymns in my childhood and youth).

Bill| 5.19.11 @ 11:07AM

I wonder if the idea that somehow these ineffectual new songs would appeal to a younger congregation isn't a misguided one based on the passage of 30 or 40 years, with the kids coming up only hearing junk like "You Are Worthy..." (am I the only one who thinks it's mighty dang presumptuous for humans to be singing "you are worthy" to Christ or God?).

Ryan| 5.19.11 @ 12:23PM

It's all throughout the Psalms, though. Also Revelation.

That being said, look into "Indelible Grace" - old hymns with reverence with modern instrumentation.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:19PM

The praise and worship is aimed at the money and power, which firmly resides within the hands of the Boomer generation.

Margie| 5.19.11 @ 6:12PM

@ Bill~

As long as they don't start singing, "WE are worthy!"

But seriously, if the pastor, or older brother or whomever it is that leads the church is serious, they'll just go ahead and teach the old hymns. As I said below, when in my 20's I came to Christ, I used to formerly love hard Rock. But when God renews the heart, you begin to be able to love the old hymns, because they are based on His Words, and His Words are beautiful and meaningful and these hymns give Him Glory.

I remember falling in love with them, just as I fell in love with Him. I think that the church leaders just really need to go ahead and teach them if they don't already. These hymns are something they can never forget, all your life. Singing them is like prayer.
The Christian youth will appreciate them, and later thank them.

Pelligrino| 5.20.11 @ 2:02AM

Margie and Bill, a man who was an old Field Artillery major taught us young twenty year-olds that hymnals make for great devotion books.

He said, "If you find your daily devotionals dry and uninteresting, open a hymnal. Pick out a hymn you know and then just read the words aloud. Read all of it audibly. Then note the scripture that accompanies the hymn. Center your devotional thoughts on that Bible verse. Last, note the writer and composer and then investigate their lives for the testimonies of what God does in a person."

Why churches have jettisoned these hymns as lifelong treasures for cheap plastic slapped/projected up on the wall is beyond baffling.

Patrick| 5.20.11 @ 4:02AM

Because these days, such bothersome things like God get in the way of modern worship. That's why new music devoid of meaning is so much better to dilute the deposit of faith.

victor| 5.21.11 @ 8:03PM

The "deposit of faith" would be the Holy Spirit Who dwells in the hearts of men and given directly by the Grace of God to all who call upon Him in truth.

"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth". Ps. 145:18.

It has nothing to do with a Pope or a Religion.

Margie| 5.21.11 @ 8:10PM

Pelligrino,

Yes, the reason the old hymns are the best in the world is because they are based on the Word of God, and give praise to Him and are Biblically based.

Any individual that has the Holy Spirit living inside of them rejoices when singing them.
How these church leaders can be so weak as to replace them with the modern day imitation Rock music songs only reflects that they are indeed very weak spiritually for they do it to please the youth, but it is not loving them.

It makes me wonder if they truly have the Spirit of God because anyone who does loves their flock instead of pandering to them.

So called Christian Rock music is a joke and a disgrace. May as well just go and listen to real Rock if that's what they want, but to bring it in to a Christian fellowship pretending it's of God is just plain awful.

TaxedTexan| 5.19.11 @ 11:08AM

When you sing from the heart during worship to God, even the most egregious off key wailing sounds beautiful to me. Indeed, in this sanitized age where perfection is idolized, I kind of like the irregularity of nature. Lifting our voices in unity [not perfection] during a worship service is about praising God, not society. We often sing in parts as well-and imagine the rush listening to 4-600 folks united in voice each Sunday. I encourage you to find an acapella congregation. Set aside, for a bit, the scriptural discussion about instrumental music and revel in the experience... and, even if you cannot carry a tune with a bucket truck, give it your all to God.

now- the rest of the week- rock-n-roll, bebe !!

irish19| 5.19.11 @ 11:14AM

Mark down another vote for traditional music. I find most of today's liturgical music to sound like a bad cross between lounge music and either Barney or the Teletubbies (take your pick).

Petronius| 5.19.11 @ 3:09PM

I'd bet you have to hear Eye Has Not Seen every other Sunday.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:21PM

What about other ditties like "Anthem" or "Here I am". The horrible music is based on show-tunes, and tend to be just as fruity.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 7:58AM

You left out the truly awful "On Eagles Wings".

Petronius| 5.20.11 @ 9:53AM

Please. I'm going to a funeral this morning. And if that is played I will pray that the Spirit of our Monsignor bring forth a power cut!

irish19| 5.20.11 @ 11:55AM

Pretty much.

Susie Q| 5.19.11 @ 11:24AM

I have stood with heartfelt conviction through innumerable verses of "Just As I Am Without One Plea" during the "invitation." And I have stood impatiently through the innumerable repetition of a hook line in one of today's "praise choruses."

I prefer the former.

Sheila| 5.19.11 @ 11:34AM

Our former church (Episcopal) had a wonderful mix of traditional hymns and older (70s and 80s) praise and worship songs (which actually had a tune and lyrics). That all went out with the traditional preaching and the formerly all-male clergy, and so we left, along with many other congregants.

We've visited numerous churches of various protestant denominations since, and though we've heard good preaching, we've never found music we could truly enjoy to enrich our worship. We're not bothered by the use of guitars and synthesizers where warranted, but the folk-tunes and constant repetitions of single syllabic words is maddening. It's merely guitar-accompanied whining. On the rare occasions they do play a traditional hymn, they "jazz" it up and artificially-couple it to a pseudo-complementary modern praise song.

We'll take some old-time music to go with our old-time religion, thank you.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 8:08AM

At its best, liturgical hymnody is theologically rich. Take for example, the following:

O Only-Begotten Son and Word of God,
Who, though immortal, deigned for our salvation
To become incarnate of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary,
And without undergoing change became man.
Thou wast crucified for us, O Christ our God,
And by death have trampled death;
Being one of the Holy Trinity,
Glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
Save us!

Let our mouths be filled with thy praise, O Lord
So that we may sing of Thy glory,
For Thou hast deemed us worthy to partake
Of Thy holy, divine, immortal and life-creating Mysteries.
Keep us in sanctification, so that throughout the day,
We may mediate upon Thy truth.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Or one that should be familiar to both East and West:

Now Thou shalt dismiss Thy servant, O Lord,
According to Thy word, in peace,
For my eyes have seen Thy salvation,
Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples,
A light of revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Thy people, Israel.

Paul| 5.19.11 @ 12:03PM

WOW, what a great article! Thank you.

JimH| 5.19.11 @ 12:08PM

My families’ Catholic church has a very active music ministry. There are various choirs, a quite accomplished youth orchestra in which my daughter played cello until leaving for college, and various solo and group performers of different kinds. The music at the youth mass is of a contemporary nature and played with modern instruments such as electric guitars. The orchestra as a whole and as string and brass groups plays both modern and traditional music. At the Easter service a heard a hymn sung which was based on the Jupiter portion of Holst’s Planets. Not all of the music is to my taste, but when instructed to make a joyful noise unto the Lord I don’t think style is specified. Those taking part, and it does involve considerable sacrifice of time, do it as part of their faith and as a gift to the Church.

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 2:07PM

Maybe you don't intend it, but boy, do you sound smug.

In the last 20 years, I've lived all over the country. In my experience, "modern" parishes like yours, with all their "ministries" and "outreach" are self-absorbed and openly hostile to newcomers, in particular to young men.

I'd show up regularly at such churches with a friendly expression that has worked everywhere--diplomatic duties, the military, industry--just not at a Catholic parish. Nobody--priests, Parish Elites (the folks who run all these ministries and outreaches), ushers, even people my own age--would so much as look in my direction, let alone say hello to the new guy. It's hard to get acquainted when people look through you and walk away.

At parishes like yours, I've found one of two things to be true:
1) the parish offers something beyond the "modernized" mishmash liturgy and theology (this is very rare);
2) the faith has been subsumed into pop culture and lefty "feel-goodism", thus drawing people--especially the young --for the wrong reasons.

JimH| 5.19.11 @ 3:30PM

CalMark, was this addressed to me? If so, boy are you off base brother. The church I’m talking about consists of at least 75% of relative newcomers being in a area which has only been developed in the past 15 years or so. Both priests and parishioners come from all parts of America and other countries. The people vary widely economically and come in a variety of colors. The one thing that this place is not is exclusionary. I am not Catholic myself, but I’ve always felt welcome. While the liturgy is not in Latin it is quite traditional otherwise. The church having a large active music ministry provides different styles of music at different masses and people are free to worship where they are most comfortable.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 12:32PM

"I'd show up regularly at such churches with a friendly expression that has worked everywhere--diplomatic duties, the military, industry--just not at a Catholic parish. Nobody--priests, Parish Elites (the folks who run all these ministries and outreaches), ushers, even people my own age--would so much as look in my direction, let alone say hello to the new guy. It's hard to get acquainted when people look through you and walk away."

I've run into this on several occasions at different RC parishes, but strangely, never at the supposedly more insular and ethnic Eastern Churches, whether Catholic or Orthodox. Without a drop of Slavic or Greek or Syrian blood in my veins (I was born Jewish), theory says I should be shunned or cold-shouldered as an outsider ("xeni"), but usually (because such parishes tend to be small) someone always comes up to greet me (not a "professional greeter" from the "Greeting Ministry") and make me feel at home. Because it's a small world, usually we find we have mutual acquaintances, at which point it's Old Home Week.

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 12:12PM

As far as "old timey" Church music goes, you can't beat the Eastern Orthodox Church. Most of our music was written by three guys: Anon., Trad., and St. Romanos the Melodist (6th century AD--about as old timey as it gets). Furthermore, we're multicultural, with indigenous folk chants from the Byzantine, Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian, Georgian, Arabic and Ukrainian traditions. We invented the "folk Mass" and popularized Christian hymnography earlier than just about anyone else. Oh--we also sing a capella, so no distracting organ or other instrumental music to get in the way. The living human voice is the only instrument suitable for the worship of the living God.

Ryan| 5.19.11 @ 12:25PM

So why did David command instruments be used?

I get your last sentence, There just isn't scriptural basis for it to be absolute.

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 6:56PM

David spoke of worship under the Old Covenant, which also, of course, required the ritual slaughter of animals. We worship under the New Covenant, which calls for rational, bloodless sacrifice. The Christian worship service or liturgy, derives not from the Temple liturgy, but from that of the Synagogue. To this day, orthodox Jews do not use instrumental music in their synagogue service, except for the blowing of the Shofar on Yom Kippur.

Ryan| 5.20.11 @ 8:53AM

Understandable, but there isn't an active prohibition within scripture - that's more of a tradition and personal taste issue.

God has given people talents to worship Him. As CS Lewis pointed out in the Screwtape Letters, Satan doesn't come up with anything original - he just warps to his own ends.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 12:17PM

True, there is no scriptural prohibition, but there is the 1200 year Tradition of the undivided Church, which one disregards at one's own peril.

As to the talents one can bring to the worship of God, they are limitless, and in fact are not limited to what happens INSIDE church. There is a liturgy after the Liturgy. We are called to live liturgically, every moment of our lives, and not to compartmentalize our existence into "church" and the "real world".

There is also a time and place for everything, and the Liturgy is the time and place for liturgical music. Those whose metier is towards more secular forms of music (and most of what is now called "sacred music" is in fact written and composed in a secular manner) are free to write and perform to their heart's content, ad majorum Dei gloria--just not in church. Their light unto the world can shine just as brightly in the "real world" as it does in church.

Ryan| 5.20.11 @ 1:46PM

See, this is one of the problems I think that I've always had with the "tradition" claims, and I think it sometimes fits in with the idea that the Church hasn't always necessarily done everything properly.

It also doesn't quite coincide with scriptural precedent.

EVERYTHING was once modern. There really isn't anything in Christianity that ever really speaks that holiness is gained through a specific methodology - Paul explains that almost explicitly, that the OT rules and regs were to point us toward how fallen we are and our need for a Saviour.

I'm sorry - and you know I'm not being mean about this - but there really isn't Biblical standing for a position that music MUST be done a certain way or God cannot be in it during corporate worship. I've had too many experiences otherwise.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 2:28PM

No, there mustn't. Before there was a Bible, there was a Church.

victor| 5.20.11 @ 4:26PM

And before there was a church, there IS Scripture.
And "the church" isn't a building it is an assembly of regenerated from above individuals who abide by the Words of God, and reject the false teachings of Man's Religion.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 6:49PM

Really, Victor?

So, as the Eleven gathered in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, what was their Scripture?

victor| 5.21.11 @ 8:17PM

Do you not know that the Spirit of God existed before your Religion ever did?
Are you so spiritually dead that you can actually claim your Religion came before the Scripture?

You truly do not spend any time reading the Bible, do you?

You therefore are not aware that the Scripture preached the gospel even to Abraham, of whom Christ Jesus Himself proclaimed, "Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Jn. 8:58.

"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." Gal. 3:8.

Better wake up, for it is full time for you to do so!

Stuart Koehl| 5.21.11 @ 10:13PM

You never could answer a question straight, could you Victor?

Pathetic.

victor| 5.22.11 @ 2:06AM

Ah, the usual condescension from a man void of His Spirit!

Nevertheless, I hope you repent:

"Jesus answered and said to him, Truly,
truly, I say to you, If one is not generated
from above, he is not able to see the kingdom
of God.
Nicodemus said to Him, How is a man
able to be generated, being old? He is not
able to enter into his mother’s womb a second
time and be generated.
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to
you, If one is not generated out of water
and Spirit, he is not able to enter into the
kingdom of God.
The thing having been generated out of
the flesh is flesh, and that having been generated
out of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not wonder because I said to you,
You must be generated from above.
The Spirit breathes where He desires,
and you hear His voice; but you do not
know from where He comes, and where
He goes; so is everyone having been generated
from the Spirit." Jn. 3:3-8.

Stuart Koehl| 5.22.11 @ 7:42AM

Highly evasive non-answer.

victor| 5.22.11 @ 11:33PM

"Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'" Jn. 3:7.

Stuart Koehl| 5.23.11 @ 7:02AM

So I was--in my baptism, I died with Christ; emerging from the waters, I was born anew. I was sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit through my Chrismation, and united to Christ in the Eucharist of his Body and Blood.

But your answer remains utterly non-responsive, because there is no response.

"To be deep in history is the death of Protestantism"--John Henry Newman

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 2:14PM

First of all, your facts are wrong. Much of currently-sung Eastern liturgical music was written by world-class composers since the Renaissance. (Bortniansky, he of the "Cherubic Hymn," to name just one, was a contemporary of Mozart.)

Second, you say use of instruments is wrong. Does that mean the magnificent Masses written by Bach, Mozart, and the like, are not legitimate in the eyes of God?

P.S. I'm an Eastern rite Catholic.

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 7:15PM

So am I, but I find it tedious to explain what a Greek Catholic is.

As regards Orthodox liturgical music, composed polyphonic music dates only to the second half of the 17th century, due to the importation of Italian composers by the Russian court. At the time of its introduction, such music was heartily denounced by conservative--and especially monastic--elements within the Russian Church, but the influence of the court was too great to overcome.

As a result, congregational singing almost disappeared from the Russian Orthodox Church, which is now trying to reclaim that tradition, ironically with the help of the Old Ritualists, who, having separated from the canonical Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century over the Nikonian liturgical reforms.

In other parts of the Orthodox world, composed liturgical music did not gain such a prominent place. Among the Carpatho-Rusyn, both Orthodox and Greek Catholic, congregational singing of Carpatho-Rusyn plainchant (prostopinje) never passed out of use and remains prominent to this day. Much the same can be said in the Antiochian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian and Greek Churches. The Ukrainian Churches retain much of their traditional chant, too, but have also assimilated quite a lot from the Russian Orthodox repertoire of composed liturgical music, including, of course, Bortniansky.

By way of confession, I have for many years sung in my parish choir, including many composed pieces by Bortniansky, Kedrov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others, but I much prefer to sing the ancient chants, whether prostopinje, znamenny, or Byzantine. It is much closer to the true Tradition of the Byzantine Churches.

As regards the composed Masses of the great composers from Palestrina onward, I would say that while they are excellent examples of sacred music, they are poor examples of liturgical music properly understood. Liturgy, being the "work of the people" is a sung dialogue between the celebrant and the congregation. This cannot be done with highly elaborate polyphonic choral pieces--which in truth more closely resemble secular operatic pieces than the authentic liturgical chants of the Latin Church (whether Old Roman, Gregorian, Ambrosian or Mozerabic, take your pick). Not that it was necessary to do so in the Latin Church from the Middle Ages through Vatican II, since the people had largely been reduced to the role of spectators: the priest "said" Mass, the people "heard" Mass. The composed five-part Mass really had no connection to what was happening at the altar, which is why they make no real effort to conform to the propers of the day. They are "chrome" on the chassis of the Mass, intended to decorate and accompany it. They were never integral to its structure, which actually was the case, even with composed pieces, with Russian liturgical compositions. The people may not have been able to sing along (except for Gospodi pomiliju, Alleluia, Amen and perhaps Otce Nas), but Russian liturgical composers of necessity did make the effort to conform their music to the action of the Divine Liturgy.

Now that the Latin Church requires the full and active participation of the laity in the Mass, the classical Mass compositions, while still beautiful and inspirational, are no longer appropriate. The Latin Church should jettison both those and the inspid mock-pop hymnography of the St. Louis Jesuits and rediscover its authentic liturgical music, which is in the rich corpus of Latin liturgical chant.

Pete| 5.19.11 @ 12:37PM

Driving across country in the 70s and 80s with my family, if a Sunday happened to fall, we would try a Catholic Church wherever we were at the moment. At the first hint of guitar or tamborine, my Dad would stand us up and walk us out of the church. To this day, the higher the percentage of the mass in Latin, for him, the better. I must admit it rubbed off on me. Finding a church with a traditional organ and traditional service is getting more and more difficult these days, sadly.

PJ| 5.19.11 @ 3:07PM

"Finding a church with a traditional organ and traditional service is getting more and more difficult these days, sadly."

Be patient. It's slowly being reversed. They're writing new music for the new English translation.

In my medium-sized diocese, there are 2 parishes that have the Traditional Mass on Sundays.

The Anglicans are coming on board bringing their music & Book of Common Prayer.

But most importantly the baby-boomers who brought in the tamborine music are slowly being pushed out of diocesan leadership.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:27PM

The dirt takes 'em all in the end.

Yes, while Gen X, Y, and Z are for the most part lost causes, the few survivors of their forebears' selfish excess make up for their paucity in numbers with their faithfulness.

NightingaleJen| 5.20.11 @ 12:02AM

I'm not sure said generations are "lost causes", but I wonder if the churches are. Perhaps if said churches would offer true spiritual food, they'd find their pews full again. Certainly there are always those wishing to have their ears tickled (hello, most megachurches, at least those I'm familiar with), but there is also always a remnant.

My husband and I have given up on trying to find a church, at least for now and in this particular region. Even the older churches use the newer songs (often a capella...Oh boy). The grand old hymns, with their beautiful music and soul-soothing, soul-correcting properties, are only broken out for the "Big Days" like Easter and Christmas, and even then are sprinkled amongst "Me Me I Me" HappyFluffy music.

don't mind "other" instruments (though I adore the majesty and resonance of a pipe organ), but the lyrics and lack of melody today, to say nothing of the ear-splitting volume (BTW: I'm in my very early 30s; my now-husband and I spent a year and a half sitting in a church lobby during rock 'n wor—er, praise and worship because the music was truly PAINFULLY loud), is what gets to me most. Oh, and the repeating of phrases over and over and over and...Well. You get my point. Inane.

I truly believe that if churches began offering milk and meat instead of soda and cookies, they'd be surprised. And that certainly includes the genuinely worshipful, glorious old hymns my generation often didn't get to grow up with. Bring them back. Please.

Patrick| 5.20.11 @ 1:54AM

Don't get me wrong, there is much to be salvaged amongst the flotsam of the younger generations. I myself am a Gen X'er, and while many of my peers have apostatized from their Christian faith (irrespective of their denomination), there are no few of us willing to repair our respective commmunities after the ravages of the preceding, indolent and decadent as they are, generations (yes, plural).

Our common enemies are hedonism and sloth, which degrade all senses, thoughts, and aspirations to the lowest common denomination. Our enemy's slogan is, "I'm okay, you're okay", and it is rotting the lives of those who heed that thrice damned message.

No, I am not okay, and you are not okay. We are broken, wounded, and blind sheep. Only Christ saves us, and to forget or hide that singular truth, be it in word or by song or by deed, is diablerie of the foulest kind.

Pelligrino| 5.20.11 @ 2:21AM

N. Jen, I am with you and your husband. Having spend a good part of the last couple of years travelling, I do like to visit the different churches I encounter.

However, I don't like the cacophony I too often find. So I sit in a vacant Sunday School room, find the church library, pace in the parking lot, or talk with someone in the church kitchen until I don't hear ruckus anymore and know that it is safe to enter again.

What too often is the norm: No solace in the sanctuary for the first 20-25 minutes.

Tomas| 5.21.11 @ 2:49PM

Patrick: "Yes, while Gen X, Y, and Z are for the most part lost causes, the few survivors of their forebears' selfish excess make up for their paucity in numbers with their faithfulness."

"Lost causes"? Really. I wonder how Jesus would respond to your arrogant exclusivity.

Who's going to reach those people, your "lost causes?" How?

Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors... the Pharisees condemned his actions. Yet Jesus knew that reaching out to all people required speaking their language, and going where they go, not waiting for them to come to you.

Read Paul's letters. He gets this.

I'm afraid those who condemn modern music, and modern methods of reaching the lost, are contemporary Pharisees. Keep in mind that the music you consider more Holy was, in its day, extremely scandalous, an abandonment of traditional values, and not worthy of liturgical expression.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

victor| 5.21.11 @ 8:22PM

Goodness Tomas~ yes Paul became all things to all men but he didn't partake in their sin.

We are to be in the world but not of it!

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 7:21PM

The organ, of course, is not really traditional, having been introduced to the Latin Church only in the 11th-12th centuries. Its introduction at that time was highly controversial, denounced repeatedly as heretical, largely because the organ was a secular instrument associated with the theater and other profane amusements. However, it gradually won acceptance because of patronage from the nobility--and from bishops and popes whose outlook was common to the secular nobility from which they were drawn.

Prior to the 11th century (and in many places for centuries thereafter, organs being extremely expensive), all liturgical music was chanted a cappella, as is the case in the Eastern Churches today.

It's interesting that many of the more austere Reformation denominations originally abjured the organ as being a "Romish invention" (sometimes they did get things right), and sang all their hymnography (mainly Psalmody) without instrumental accompaniment.

All of which goes to show that most people view tradition as "what we were doing in my church on the day I was baptized".

Patrick| 5.20.11 @ 1:59AM

No.

No way. Tradition in no way is bongos, guitars, and tambourines. I was baptized in the late '70's in the archdiocese of Milwaukee.

No.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 6:26AM

As I said, "most people". But even so-called "Catholic traditionalists" really don't know their own authentic Tradition, or they would recognize the Tridentine Mass as nothing more than the codification of the liturgical praxis of the late Middle Ages, including a host of deviations from the Latin Tradition--"low Mass", "private Masses", reception under one species, the subsumption of the people's role in the Mass by the priest, etc.

Many Orthodox traditionalists are no better, believing that "good liturgy" means standing stock still while the choir sings some lovely composed piece by Kedrov or Rimsky-Korsakov, while congregational singing is a Western innovation (the exact opposite of the truth).

Celestine| 5.19.11 @ 12:48PM

Dare I say this article is music to my ears. I've largely abandoned regular churchgoing since Vatican II and its vulgarized liturgy and its annoying "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" music. Snare drums, trumpets, guitars, saxaphones, and for all I can tell, slide whistles have replaced the pipe organ. The liturgy is no better with dozens of folks parading all around the altar, all to no apparent purpose, holding hands during the Lord's Prayer with the coughing person next to you, offering signs of peace to all those within sight, and receiving communion from a pimply faced teanager in blue jeans and a t-shirt. "There was no room for them at the inn" becomes "There was no room for them at the place where travelers stay". The modern mass is just an assault upon our senses. Any thought of the spiritual is chased away by annoyance after annoyance.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:35PM

Well, for your sake, and the sake of many like you, the number of parishes that offer the Extraordinary Form are growing.

You might be able to find one here:
http://www.latinmassschedule.c.....4&Itemid=7

There may also be other locations not shown, so you might have to do some digging. Just remember that while SSPX chapels are valid, they are not licit (at this time).

Tomas| 5.21.11 @ 2:55PM

"Latin Music."

Well, I guess that brings this argument down to its root, doesn't it?

"I like this style better than I like your style, so your style must be heretical."

Why not embrace both styles, people? Each has its role. If don't like modern music, then go to a church where older styles are used. Don't roundly condemn styles that you hate, but are working to bring people both into the Kingdom, and into the presence of God.

Stuart Koehl| 5.21.11 @ 4:00PM

I submit that Tomas simply does not understand the role that music plays in Christian liturgy. He seems to think of it as some sort of optional ornamentation rather than being part of the essential framework. For, as St. Athanasius wrote, "He who sings, prays twice".

Richard| 5.19.11 @ 1:27PM

Full disclosure: I worship at an 'orthodox' Episcopal church in the Anglican tradition. I'm a former Roman Catholic.

I agree with much of what Mr. Orlet says, but the fact is that the growing segment of the broader Christian church is found largely within those congregations that do not offer worship music from the old hymnals, or organs. Our parish recently spent somewhere crowding six figures for a major overhaul of its organ, which dates from the 20s and is a magnificent instrument. I don't want to head down a rabbit trail of organ purchase and maintenance versus alms to the poor (or paid youth ministers, or mission and outreach efforts), but organs are a major capital item for churches, and churches make choices.

Nostalgia is a poor guide for evangelism. While a number of us grew up in the church (or in some church) and have fond memories of singing old hymns with our parents, the evangelical mission of the newer churches is often to people coming in the door who do not share that tradition. Culturally they may not know Bach from a brick, or the hymnody of Wesley or Neander. Maybe they don't know what they're missing, but in the end, I'm with TaxedTexan.

It's the person of Jesus Christ that brings people to faith. There are many cultural roads to that reckoning and to that relationship. And, as the experience of the mainline denominations has shown again and again, mere tradition (and artful music) unshackled from the centrality of the gospel may provide an aesthetically pleasant experience for those who wear suits to church, but it is proving the pathway to bare, ruined choirs.

I play Bach's St. Matthew Passion on our stereo on Good Friday. I (strongly) prefer Christmas Carols sung by choirs rather than by popular entertainers. I understand the prayer and the theology that is found in the best of the hymns from the Reformation, Augustan and Victorian eras. But those are cultural preferences, as valuable as I might believe them to be. They do not necessarily go to the heart of the question of who Jesus Christ is and why he should matter to the believer or to the inquirer.

In the house of the Father there will be many musical mansions. Some will feature male choirs singing chants in the Orthodox tradition. Some will feature Taize music. Some will feature the spirit filled music of the East African Revival. Some will, of course, feature the choir-and-organ hymnody of the Reformation high church Protestant tradition. Some will feature contemporary praise music. What will matter is that voices will be raised in the praise of the almighty.

Richard

Pelligrino| 5.20.11 @ 3:41AM

Richard, thank you for what you have written. But I disagree.

Before I get to the "disagree," here is where I believe nearly all readers agree with you. As much as we love the organ and those who can so masterfully (or even passably) play it, yes, the traditional organ is an ongoing pricey expense in every way.

I don't think anyone disputes this. Choices have to be made, and it is more prudent to go with a piano or keyboard electric organ.

Most of this thread's discussion departed the demise of Wicks in Highland, Illinois and trends toward what we find as modern lyrics songs on Sunday mornings and how many believe this cheaper.

Here is the "disagree." You wrote:

"I understand the prayer and the theology that is found in the best of the hymns from the Reformation, Augustan and Victorian eras. But those are cultural preferences, as valuable as I might believe them to be. They do not necessarily go to the heart of the question of who Jesus Christ is and why he should matter to the believer or to the inquirer."

No, they are not cultural preferences. They are the preferences of seasoned wisdom that prefers truth vs. pablum. The good hymns are either scripture itself or point right to Bible verses.

Specifically, the good hymns that stand the test of time go RIGHT to the HEART of the question of Jesus, why He came, what His death meant, and why we have victory in His resurection.

Yes, you are quite right: In Heaven there will be believers from all ages and from all over the world. Praise God for that! And, you are right to indicate that no music or instrument is to be exalted over another.

And you are right to say we should be focusing on evangelism (I would add edification to this) in every way possible, but let's please not lead someone astray with a watered-down weak or misleading evangelical message. Right?

I firmly believe we can sincerely esteem lyrics, sounds, and music over and above some other variety, esteem it precisely because it better points people to the Bible, the life of Jesus and eternal salvation in Him.

So much of the present-day 'musical' offerings in so many churches just seems like party-going. As simplistic as that sounds, it really does.

To illustrate: A popular group is Hillsong. I did not know of them until younger acquaintances made me aware. So I got smart/informed on Hillsong via YouTube.

Some is okay; some of the songs they do seem to be focused on praising God. And I won't say that they don't have talent. But so much seems like big stage (lights, hairdos, jumbo screens, gestures, even dress) performances that draw attention to themselves as their faces CONTORT and present 132+ decibels. (Hillsong are no means alone in this; they seem a fitting illustration to undergird my point(s)/discussion)

Can they even perform (oops, I mean do/present worship songs) without needing the electricity that would normally power a small city?

Is this worship as unto the Lord? Or self-serving pop that gives everybody a feel-good jump around on a Friday night or Sunday morning in the mega church?

Is worshiping God the focus or having fun/a good time?

Is this genuine and something to aid younger people seeking God or something really more geared to motives like money, jobs, fame, popularity, T-shirts, roadies, and fans?

And, getting past the loudness, do the lyrics help feed the soul?

[Note: I do encounter mini Hillsong-like 'performances' -- no other way to put it -- in churches on Sunday mornings. This is why I use them as the example for purposes of discussion on what we now find across the land in sanctuaries.]

I am genuinely interested to read your thoughts; please share your 'take' and ideas on this. Thank you.

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 1:43PM

The author is dead-on. When the "music ministers" sing about "Jesus Our Good Buddy," nobody joins in. When a traditional hymns slips in--even the young folk sing. From personal experience, music directors' contempt and hostility for traditional hymns--and the people who suggest casually suggest them--is stunning.

The modern songs are often a liturgical abuse for political commentary, like singing a hippie song on Veterans' Day. That was the last straw for me, ending three decades of making an effort to attend regularly.

Despite trading majestic tradition for insipid teenybopper pop religion, the supply of young Catholics has virtually dried up in many places. It's in line with the hippies and do-gooders responsible: they care about "making a statement" but making people welcome--not so much (or at all).

Scott| 5.19.11 @ 2:59PM

What we have said to the more nostalgic members of our congregation is this: "The volunteers we have in the worship ministry all grew up with contemporary music, and learned to play the instruments needed for it. Many of them did not grow up in church, and are just now being exposed to the traditional hymns, and are willing to learn them, but for now they are comfortable with the newer praise songs." That helps set the context for why we use newer music- it's what our volunteers can play. It usually ends the debate. I would like to know how many of the posters registering their opinions here would be willing to learn to play an organ or piano themselves and volunteer to lead a worship service.

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 5:23PM

Blah, blah, blah. Self-righteous modernist blather. No organ is needed for traditional hymns, just a cantor with a good ear.

Funny, in all the parishes I've been, the "music ministers" are all presented as brilliant and talented. Yet none of these liturgical pop groups, complete with cheering and applause, ever seem to get around to learning traditional liturgical music methods.

As for "newer praise songs"--I've been savaged every time I even suggested replacing one (just once in awhile) with a traditional hymn.

Modernists, just admit it: you despise tradition and look for any excuse to squash it.

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 7:34PM

"Blah, blah, blah. Self-righteous modernist blather. No organ is needed for traditional hymns, just a cantor with a good ear."

Coming from a Church where cantor-led congregational singing has been the norm for many centuries, I fully concur. The Russian musicologist (and liturgical composer) Johan Gardner wrote this about liturgical singing among the Carpatho-Rusyn in what today are parts of Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia:

'In Subcarpathian Rus', in all the villages both among the Uniates and also among the Orthodox, there was always practiced only congregational singing of the complete services, not excluding the changeable [proper] hymns in all the varied chants. The sang according to the "Great Zbornik" [collection of prayers and liturgical texts] containing every necessary text. The numerous chants (not excluding all the podobny, not even found in the Synodal notated liturgical books) were known by everyone, even the children of school age. The leader of song--the most experienced singer from the parishes--standing at the krilos [a lectern at the side of the church] sang the chant. As soon as the worshippers would hear the hymn, they would all join in the chant and the entire church sang; they sang all the stichiry, all the tropars, all the irmosy--in a word, everyone sang properly according to the established canonical parts of the Liturgy. They sang in unison, and whoever could, imitated or reinforced the bass. The impression proved overwhelmingly strong.'

When done properly (as it still is in many Carpatho-Rusyn Churches), it is still overwhelmingly beautiful and strong.

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 5:33PM

P.S. Your snarky, condescending post ("nostalgic members of our congregation": what a nasty way to refer to people!) just blows off my arguments by saying that the old-time music is just too hard, man, and modern music is where it's at, 'cause that's what the kids dig, ya know?

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 7:36PM

Actually, true liturgical music tends to be fairly simple, and in that lies its strength: it is easy for the people to learn, to remember, and to sing. In the ideal liturgy, nobody has to look in a book, because it is all known by heart, and thus sung from the heart.

Scott| 5.19.11 @ 8:45PM

Easy, now. I meant no disrespect with the "nostalgic" comment. I could have written "traditional" or "old-fashioned," but didn't. I just wanted to draw the distinction between the ones who like to hear hymns and the ones who are actually serving in the ministry. I also stated that our younger musicians are learning the hymns, and we add them as the band gets comfortable with them. It's not that "praise band" music is where the kids are at, it's just that since they have volunteered their time and talent to the worship ministry (while the others have not), they get some say in the song selections.

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 11:18PM

I think this is what happens when churches forget their liturgical roots.

By the way, this proliferation of "ministries" makes me profoundly uncomfortable--music ministries, youth ministries, outreach ministries, elderly ministries, disabled ministries, minority ministries--and I haven't even touched on the more contentious "women's ministries" and "GLBT ministries". Sounds like a classic "big fish/small pond" situation, in which everyone wants to build his own little empire inside the church community.

Scott| 5.20.11 @ 12:31AM

Be careful now. "Ministries" is just another way of saying service, which is what pastors (like me) and teachers are to encourage and develop their congregations to pursue. The Apostle Paul wrote that members of the church were to be equipped for service (ministry) by the leadership. What good am I if I ask people to serve (minister) outside of their range of giftedness or talent? Let's keep the big picture in mind here. I think God is pleased when anybody uses his/her talents to the best of their ability to serve Him. The particulars of instruments or arrangements or lyrical depth take a back seat to the fact that people are serving. That's why I wondered earlier how many posters on the thread were serving (ministering) their fellow church members, or just griping about how things have changed. That's not post-modern or blather or hating on the tradition, it's the reality of life for pastors. We do what we can with who we have. God be praised.

Margie| 5.20.11 @ 1:59AM

Stuey Keohl is a rabid anti-Christian. He despises Bible believing Christians. Just letting you know.

Pelligrino| 5.20.11 @ 5:27AM

All well written and commented, Scott.

My concern: Just as in the very early days described in the Book of Acts, there are false teachings, false gospels, false messengers -- and many led astray.

And these have been with mankind ever since, taking different forms through the centuries.

They are sly and sneaky. And tempting.

Frankly, I get more than concerned (with alarm bells loudly going off in my head) when I see what is supposed to be a church service, a church teen rally in the church gym, or a university praise & worship time that reminds me of Hare Krishna music/behavior/gyrations.

Having seen Hare Krishnas, let me assure you they look/sound -- today -- to me to be quite similar.

The false gospels are everywhere and they can be very enticing, dressed up all nice, and so nice sounding. And sirensong music is a tactic to lure them in.

The "Prosperity Gospel" and all its trapppings? It's huge in Latin America.

I get your point, Scott, but all service is not ministry. Not all is valid. Just doing something can be dangerous; it can be the wrong thing.

It does a man or woman no good to give them a cheap understanding of Grace, our mortal sin, or the Gospel. And I really don't care how good one feels; I care if a person's heart now belongs firmly to Jesus.

We're on the same sheet of music, we are. But we don't need feel-good music highs (like drug highs) that usher in emotional roller coaster riding pseudo Christians.

They are then more than unsteady and weak, ready to again be overtaken by Satan.

We need people with a deep and abiding, stalwart faith in God Almighty. Those with personal 'houses' firmly built upon the Rock.

I'm just not convinced at all that the 'modern stuff" (the 'contemporary Christian music') is the right stuff for solid foundations.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 6:33AM

I have no problem with service, just with the proliferation of titles and the building of fiefdoms. It creates an environment in which people exalt themselves, the service being the means to an end, not the end in itself.

We Greek Catholics are just too small to work this way. Our typical parish is under 200-300 people. We usually have just one full-time, paid employee, our pastor. He might have a part-time paid office manager cum accountant. Everything else is done by volunteers--the cantors, the choir (if there is one), the religious education teachers, the adults supervising the teen group, the fundraisers, the kitchen workers, even the groundkeepers and the maintenance workers. Nobody has a title, and if something needs to be done, we talk among ourselves and somebody does it.

In my day, I taught Eastern Christian formation, sang in the choir, cantored, worked with the youth group, cooked and washed dishes, cleaned up the grounds, worked on the parish festival, polished the plate and did just about anything that I saw which needed doing. I never considered any of it to be any sort of formal ministry, nor did I desire or seek a title.

Margie| 5.19.11 @ 3:11PM

In the Christian fellowship I was raised in as a young Christian (my early 20's), we were taught most of the old hymns. For a young girl used to listening to the Stones, Zeppelin and Dylan this was quite a change!
But did I LOVE it!
When God regenerates a heart and mind, He does it 100%.
We never had instruments of any kind. Just our voices in reverence and awe of the God Who saved us out of this crooked and perverse generation.
At one time, we used to walk together, a couple hundred of us, through Washington Sq. park in NYC singing these hymns.
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Onward Christian Soldiers
Just as I Am.
Blessed Assurance
How Great Thou Art
And others.
Thousands of people came to Christ in those days.
Then we created an art show of John chapter three in pictures on huge boards and people used to line up and walk through, and thousands more gave their lives to Christ, all over the City.
But there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING like singing these wonderful old hymns with other Christians in awe of our wonderful Saviour.
At one time I lived in fellowship in Washington D.C. where just about all the brethren were black. I will never forget the beauty of their voices. Again, no instruments at all, just a gathering of many who loved God from our hearts.
Praise His Holy Name.

Pete Lyden| 5.19.11 @ 4:19PM

I saw the title and decided to write and express my utter distaste and loathing for the collected works of Dan Schutte and Marty Haugen. then I continued to read the article, and found you beat me to it. I wrote anyway - no harm in piling on.

Too many of today's Catholic hymns sound like bad show tunes (and I like show tunes). Odd meters and chord changes, twisty melodies - no wonder no one sings along. They can't figure out where the song is going next.

Patrick| 5.19.11 @ 4:39PM

Actually, many of those songs are show-tunes, or melodies that didn't make the grade.

Don't forget the snide patronization of Spanish-speaking Catholics with those awful bilingual songs that rape their cultural heritage.

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 5:27PM

While taking music theory and composition, it dawned on me that modern Catholic "music," if written for a class, would be sent back for complete rewrite by any marginally competent music composition instructor.

Patrick| 5.20.11 @ 2:00AM

The painful, aching banality is what sells, thanks to all the tin-eared musical directors that try too hard to be "ecumenical", "pastoral", or "trendy".

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 6:35AM

If you wanted to be ecumenical, you could always borrow some of our music. I was surprised while flipping through an Episcopalian hymnal to find Kedrov's setting of the Lord's Prayer, as well as an arrangement of the traditional Orthodox Trisagion (Thrice Holy) Hymn. That's pretty ecumenical. Pity about the lack of doctrinal soundness to go with it.

Patrick| 5.20.11 @ 9:38AM

Well there's ecumenical and then there's "ecumenical". One involves sharing and building upon one another while the other involves degrading everything down to leftist pablum.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 12:19PM

That's why I limit my ecumenical activities to the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.

newsrider| 5.19.11 @ 4:59PM

This is an excellent article. I have watched the integrity of Church music go to hell-in-a-hand-basket for years. I spent 32 years of my life as a classical musician. I studied the history and performance of great music from the greatest masters with the most noted masters still living at the time. I won world competitions for performing classical music (three in all) and performed with most of the major symphonies of the world as a soloist. Too few people have experienced the spiritual lifting of music written for God by these great masters of the past and those living today. No rock 'n roll, country, blues, bluegrass, or anything that stinks of pop culture can glorify God and the Trinity. God gave us the great masters and the arrogant ignorant ignore them. I listen to the oldest known music written for Christian worship often. It lifts my spirit and faith every time without fail. Pieces thought to be written in the 10th century such as "The Play of Daniel", or Gregorian Chant will always deliver us at the foot of the Father and shower us with His Spirit.

What a shame most reading this letter have no idea of what I wrote.

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
-Winston Churchill

Jim Cunningham
Editor, Training Support Assistance & Products Army Training Support Center

Barb| 5.19.11 @ 5:28PM

This past Sunday at our mass I was interested to notice that the congregation pretty much was mute and staring straight ahead for that old favorite "Is it I, Lord?" but sang "Salve Regina" with gusto. And the congregation is mostly young families in a liberal community.

CalMark| 5.19.11 @ 5:37PM

Barb, see my post of 1:43PM above. I totally agree. Scott obviously doesn't.

Petronius| 5.19.11 @ 8:12PM

Try the recordings of The Tallis Scholars, Harry Christopher's 16, and Missa Nueva Espana with the Boston Camerata.

Ryan| 5.20.11 @ 9:02AM

" No rock 'n roll, country, blues, bluegrass, or anything that stinks of pop culture can glorify God and the Trinity."

Scriptural reference, please. How is your opinion valid here in light of scripture?

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 6:51PM

One cannot mix secular and sacred idioms without sacrificing the latter. Holds for religious art as well as religious music.

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel | 5.19.11 @ 5:56PM

I remember my one seminary professor stating how some inner city youth were repulsed by a church in their neighborhood attempting to be hip and modernize its church worship with other than sacred music. The professor's comment was [paraphrase]:

"Youth go to their rock concerts expecting to hear their “modern" music and to admire their rock stars. On the other hand, going to church and participating with its sacred music, allows the worshiper, to be ministered [to] by God, Himself."

Our culture, has, by and large lost its appreciation for the pipe organ and the traditional hymn lyrics. This is not to say that other musical instruments in their right place and setting, in Christian worship, cannot bring praise to the Lord. But, church worship, often ends up, being the adoration of the musical performers, which distracts and is repulsive to genuine worship [of the Triune God].

Finally, I am reminded of a recent hospice experience. As I was about to leave, one of the nurses collared me and asked me to minister to a family experiencing a very tough time over losing their mother. This Christian elderly lady was in the end [active] stage of dying.

The nurse ushered me in the room, and I quickly introduced myself. I asked permission to stand by their loved one, at the head of the bed and say something. As this octogenarian woman was breathing her last several breaths, I voiced within her ear [and, for all the family to hear] the timeless lyrics of the old hymn, "Jesus Savior, Pilot Me:"

http://www.thechristianmessage.org/p/lyrics.html - [Scroll down to the 5th hymn for the lyrics and melody]

Come to find out, afterward, while visiting with the family, that their beloved mother belonged to a Lutheran denomination, of which this (aforementioned) hymn and lyrics were part and parcel of their mother's spiritual upbringing and Sunday worship.

There are no substitutes for the timeless Christian hymns. What is needed most, are for people to worship the Lord in the spirit of humility and not expect that Christian worship for them would be self-serving and narcissistic.

jolizoom| 5.19.11 @ 8:18PM

I abandoned my megachurch when I went to an Easter service expecting to worship God and celebrate the risen Savior, and instead was treated to a full-on rock concert, with flashy lights and everything. Given the fact that my dad, who hasn't gone to church in years, was with me, I was doubly mortified. My new church is much smaller, although I won't say the music is any better. But at least the worship service isn't all about the performance.

I have a good friend who is a singer, and she has been lamenting the passing of choral music in church.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 6:51PM

My commiseration, and I hope you dad managed to get over the experience.

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Dee See| 5.19.11 @ 11:15PM

---Wonderful piece.

BTW, speaking of 'church', our research
adventures have taken a lively turn.

Going back, before our 7 decades of Rockefeller/Carnegie/
Ford Foundation subversion of Christianity via 'ecumenicalism'
(World Council of Churches) --and rampant
destruction of sound doctrine and pushing of
'feel good' Arminian heretics (Billy Graham,
Oprah, Joel Osteen, Glenn Beck et al)----back before the
establishment of the ILLEGAL Federal Reserve
and hyper-USURY (fractional reserve banking)
---back before the assasinations of private central
bank oponents, and just plain Calvinists Garfield
and McKinley ---back even before the assasination of the 'Greenback' president Lincoln
and the Civil War ------back ----back

We found a veritable gold mine of corruption
and subversion sourcing in studying the legacy
of our first, and some would say greatest
Arminian tent show revivalist --Charles Finney.

Seems he WAS indeed a Freemason.

He also came out of that seed bed of Masonry ops,
EUGENICS and Arminianism subversion(Mormonism,
Oneida style Christian-front EUGENICS communities, Rockefeller Inc. et al) ---the 'burnt over district' western New York state.

Since we've been alerting people to the
deep and disturbing legacy of the Arminian
heresy op. and its hero, Finney ---we find Wikipedia
has erased almost his entire page!

TRUTH REALLY IS POWERFUL

---------------------LOL!

Stuart Koehl| 5.19.11 @ 11:19PM

"TRUTH REALLY IS POWERFUL"

So is whatever you are smoking.

Patrick| 5.20.11 @ 2:10AM

What can be said? Conspiracy theories mixed with religion that span decades are seductive.

In the end, the very first followers of Christ had a leadership of which 91.7% failed Him (all but John), 16.7% betrayed Him (Judas and Peter), and only half of those traitors repented (Peter) after being rebuked.

Indeed, were it not for the Paraclete, there would have been no hope at all.

Petronius| 5.20.11 @ 10:19AM

P.D.Q. Bach composed Missa Hilarious just for you.

Dee See| 5.20.11 @ 12:11AM

"It's in the nature of heresy that it appeals
to reason ans reasonableness (ie 'humanism')
---but, over time, wounds unto death."
-G K Chesterton

"Religion is the key to history.
Of the Christians --ONLY the Calvinists
had the faculty for self-government and
ONLY the Calivinists would fight."
-Lord ACTON
(lectures)

-------------AWESOME!

Bill Sundling| 5.20.11 @ 6:27AM

So much of modern Christian music is so empty. Instead of hymns about God we have the songs about the song writer's spiritual experience, his ignorance about God, or songs about Jesus that sound romantic. You could learn a lot from a traditional hymn. I remember once when we sang "What a Friend We Have In Jesus". The line that stuck in my mind was, "We should never be discouraged."

Ryan| 5.20.11 @ 9:10AM

Hopefully this comes across as a reasonable defense.

I was raised in the Souther Baptist Church, and practically know most of the Baptist Hymnal by heart. I currently attend a Presbyterian-PCA church (a conservative branch).

My college experience in the late 90s/early 2000s was heavily influenced by a group of Christians who banded together and "got it" in a sense. Nondenominational, Baptist, Methodist, AoG, a handful of Catholics, etc, and we all worshiped together without watered-down messages or music.

The praise band we had was VERY good and they "got it" as well - modern instrumentation, but they never came off as a rock concert or performance driven - no vocal acrobatics that we couldn't follow, no "look at me" moments, and there was a lot of music in that era that came about through particularly the Passion conferences (look up Louie Giglio) and OneDay that had heavy basis in scripture and occasionally looked back.

I know that it probably wouldn't have much for certain tastes, but if you paid attention to what was being said and sung, to what was going on, you would see that Christ was there in our midst.

Elaine| 5.20.11 @ 10:12AM

AMEN! I, too, am tired of 7-11 songs (seven words repeated eleven times). However, the istruments are not really the problem; they can provide beautiful accompaniment to traditional music. The problem is the new music. It is seldom melodious and the words are often trite. Anyway, so much for this old fogie's thoughts.

Stuart Koehl| 5.20.11 @ 12:25PM

Never heard that definition before--must remember it.

Most of the ancient liturgical hymns follow one of several patterns:

Antiphonal: the congregation divides in half, singing alternative verses, usually of Psalmody

Responsorial: A choir or cantor sings a verse or versicle, and the people sing a refrain (often a verse from a Psalm); these can be extremely long.

Congregational: A fixed hymn sung at a set point in the Liturgy, usually only one or two verses, sung either in unison or with folk harmonization.

Finally, there are the litanies, some of the oldest liturgical music extant, consisting of a petition, usually sung by the celebrant or deacon, followed by a congregational response, either "Lord have mercy" or "Grant it, O Lord". Again, these can go on for many, many petitions.

victor| 5.22.11 @ 11:38PM

Religion does things by rote~ both prayer and singing.

God tells us He wants worship that comes from the heart:

"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Col. 3:16.

Stuart Koehl| 5.23.11 @ 6:51AM

Almost all of what we do is sing Psalms. Most of the rest is asking God to forgive us for our sins. Repetition conditions the heart, mind, body and soul to a particular disposition; it silences the voice of our own desires, creating the inner silence that allows the voice of the Spirit to be heard.

We worship as the Church has worshiped from its inception, whether it be the Twelve celebrating the liturgy in the Temple court or the upper room; whether it be the Christians in Roman Asia described by the Pliny the Younger; whether it be Christians of Syria described by Justin Martyr, or those in Rome described by Hippolytus. The worship of the Apostolic Churches retains the shape--and most of the prayers--of Christian worship that stretches back to the Apostles themselves.

Steve Lawson| 5.21.11 @ 10:41PM

Tonight in Dallas several thousand college students will gather together to worship, naievly thinking the can actually experience the presence of God. Won't they be shocked when God refuses to attend because they aren't using a pipe organ. For some reason they think Christianity is an actual relationship with God and their main purpose is to know Him and share His Word with their generation. Silly children.

Dee See| 5.21.11 @ 10:49PM

'William Still: The Infiltration of Freemasonry'
a short video on youtube will give you all the
info you need.

Info you'll NEVER hear talked about, even
mentioned in the controlled and neutered mainstream.

Invaluable.

Watch it ------------and spread the word.

As we said this massive 'Seperation of
Church and State' issue (or coven and state
if you will) -----has to be decisively confronted.

"Come out from among them.
Do NOT partake of their sins."

Dee See| 5.21.11 @ 11:06PM

"They've infiltrated all the major religions
in this country. 90% of the Southern Baptist
heirarchy is infiltrated. The same with the
Lutherans and Methodists."
-William Still

You heard the man.

AGAIN, at its very 'benny violent' best
Freemasonry propounds the 'Doctrine of
Works' ----diabolically opposed to the
scriptural doctrines of the covenant of grace.

Though the duped, low level porch Masons
haven't a clue ----this is NOT a harmless coterie
of eccentrics and flubbadubs.

The doctrine of works is spoken of again
and again in scripture and by true theologians
as being, without question, the MOST dangerous
of heresies.

"As every red indian knows,
'charity' is the white man's most
insidious poison----"
-D H Lawrence
essays

Chair -IT-Abel ----remember we're the 'ITs'
--the chair is subjection. ---Abel we all know about.

REALLY, do that background--------FOR REAL

Dee See| 5.21.11 @ 11:18PM

And BTW ---DON'T be taken in by the
perennial 'End of Days' discredit op currently
at fever pitch.

Obviously put out there by the 'controllers'
and without ANY grounding in the revealed
word of God.

Assume that one and all of the on show 'christians' and mega
church figures are fronts and you'll be much,
much, much closer to your own genuine
revelations about that's going on.

"NO man knows the time of my return."

NONE--------------------------------------------------

Petronius| 5.22.11 @ 12:07PM

We're not going anywhere yet.
Laudate Dominum

ChuckH| 5.22.11 @ 4:48PM

As a young U.S. soldier, I first became interested in the Roman Catholic Church while in Wurzburg, Germany. The music in the Mass at the cathedral was breath taking, with pipe organ and boy's choir. Back in the states I thought I'd join the Catholic Church, but when I attended a Mass in Eureka, California, I was disappointed by the low attendance and the trifling guitar folk-music. The organ and piano sat mute. The priest had turned the mass over to the People. The contrast between a Bavarian Mass and a Californian put me on a entirely different spiritual path. Now three decades later, I see churches trying to lure the youth back by changing the liturgy and booking "praise" bands to lead the same shallow, repetitive songs mentioned in this article. It is not working for them, but I'm afraid that going back to 17th Century hymns won't work either. I'll just live out my days in some graying church singing the old songs.

Stuart Koehl| 5.22.11 @ 5:58PM

Chuck,

What you encountered was the difference between German Catholicism--lush, aesthetically rich, ornate--and the kind of Irish Catholicism that took hold in the U.S. during the second half of the 19th century--austere, drab, silent and deeply suspicious of aestheticism. For a good treatment of the phenomenon, see Thomas Day's two books, "Why Catholics Can't Sing" and "Where Have You Gone, Michaelangelo?" While I have quibbles with some of his arguments and conclusions, it's hard to ignore his analysis of the problem.

victor| 5.22.11 @ 11:40PM

Yes, they love those boys choirs, don't they?

Stuart Koehl| 5.23.11 @ 6:53AM

Revealed at last as the ignorant, stupid bigot we all knew you to be, Victor. Now you'll respond with feigned indigence wrapped up in a plethora of irrelevant scriptural references, but it does not hide your true nature.

Fred Gill| 5.22.11 @ 9:59PM

Thanks for a fine article which captures my sentiments perfectly. I was fortunate enough tone among the last generation of protestants who grew up singing the old timey hymns and reading the KJV. The newer "praise hymns" like the "plain English" versions of scripture just leave me cold.

Kathleen| 5.27.11 @ 6:01PM

Well said! I would encourage like-minded to attend a Traditional (Pre-1956) Roman Catholic Latin Mass. If you are fortunate to have a Schola present, it's sublime. Or should I say, Heavenly

sex toys | 7.4.11 @ 12:57AM

Article is very interesting,thanks for your sharing.I will visit this site.

cmorgan | 7.15.11 @ 9:44PM

Not absolutely sure about the kind of music or instrument God prefers (except that he seems to like noise offered in joy), but are those who love God supposed to say "My God"? Just asking.

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