The Pope’s here. Did you realize the Catholics too are torn in a worship war? You would think that a historical, hierarchical, traditional-to-a-fault church that dogmatically defines (again, to a fault) every detail of worship could avoid debates over “worship styles.” But no. In fact, as I know from experience, contemporary Catholic worship is even worse than contemporary Protestant worship, the songs even more banal and the music even more sappy. In further fact, at least one scholar (was it John Pless?) has traced the unravelling of traditional worship practices in all traditions, including those of Protestant evangelicals, and their replacement with contemporary modes to Roman Catholicism, specifically, to the worship “reforms” of Vatican II.
Anyway, here are some telliing lines from the article Between Medieval And Folk, Two Mass Audiences - washingtonpost.com:
Imagine a bizarro world where all the 25-year-olds want Mozart and all the 60-year-olds want adult-contemporary. The kids think the adults are too wild. The backlash against “Kumbaya Catholicism” has anyone under 40 allegedly clamoring for the Tridentine Mass in Latin, while the old folks are most sentimental about Casual Sunday (even more rockin’, the Saturday vigil Mass), and still cling to what’s evolved from the lite-rock guitar liturgies of the 1970s. The result, for most parishes, has been decades of Masses in which no one is entirely satisfied, and very few enjoy the music enough to sing along.
33 comments ↓
I really hate my baby boomer generation. We have so screwed things up in our narcissism–even our worship.
This is so sad, but I find humor in the irony. Churches are attempting to be “relevant” to reach out to the youth, when in fact the youth want good old-time religion! HA HA!
I tried sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but it was the “good old-time religion” that got me in trouble with the folks.
Utah Rainbow,
We need more confessions of faith like that from people like you around here. Christ once spoke about turning son against father, daughter against mother, In many places It is not known what he means. But watch one adult convert in Utah be shunned and it all comes to light.
When my wife and I were attending a Catholic service a few years ago, the music wasn’t all that bad - mostly hymns. But the singing was anemic or worse - with 600 people singing, you could hardly hear it. I whispered to her, “Imagine the same number of Southern Baptists in here. We could raise the roof!”
Every time I go to a Mass, I make a point to sing loudly. It seems to encourage those around me to do the same.
I used to work with a guy who was about 18-19 years old. We got on the topic of church one day and I came to find out that he was a Roman Catholic. He said he was so tired of church. As braced myself for the usual, “It’s too boring and old” comments, I was shocked when he said, “They’ve put screens up! It’s horrible, they don’t even respect the altar or sacred space. We sing these songs that don’t say anything about God. I want a church that honors God and not the people in the pews!”
It stuns me when the very people that churches are trying to reach are not listened to by the people who are trying to reach them. I am a pastor in a Lutheran church in my mid-twenties and I love the liturgy and have heard tons of stories of people my age “seeking” (for lack of a better word) that sort of worship. But, I am the youngest person in my church by about 10 years. And those who are older than me don’t seem to think I know what I am talking about when it comes to what my generation is looking for. It is odd to be sure.
Bror,
What you say is very true. But I am not a convert from Mormonism, just from loose and free Boomer parents…
Just saying (though, admittedly, a little bit in hyperbole as they have not shunned me at all) that orthodox faith and liturgical worship baffles them more than sex and drugs do.
Now that I think about it, it baffles me that people ever thought that one could convey timeless truths well with the “genre of the week.” And UtahRainbow is by no means the only one whose parents recoiled more at faith than at “sex, drugs, and rock & roll.” I knew quite a few that way in college, and do so still.
Rev. Bob,
You are not alone in the world of bafflement.
Bror
I’m not old enough to remember “Jesus Christ, Super Star.” So don’t tell me what young people want.
Coincidentally, I do remember Gregorian Chants on the Billboard top 40.
Our aged 60+ associate pastor seems to think we need the new-fangled stuff. We’ve already been forewarned that both services this week will be “praise” services with praise lyrics projected onto movie screens in our (beautiful, traditional) sanctuary. We’ve already made plans to worship elsewhere.
“Every time I go to a Mass, I make a point to sing loudly.”
So YOU’RE the guy, eh?
My oldest son, while living in Brasil and desperate for the gospel, wandered into a Catholic church one day, in hopes that maybe he’d find a morsel of hope. He was met by a female priest and rock music. So unorthodox practice in Catholicism spans the globe, it would seem.
I admire children of boomers who reject the modern trends in worship that their parents seem to crave, but doubt it is very widespread. Just a few rebellious souls here and there, genetic mutations as it were. You read about them now and then–or meet a few–but the bizarro world you refer to doesn’t exist.
Orthodox, liturgical, law-and-gospel DS worship will continue to be a “remnant” thing, if it survives at all. I just don’t see this culture throwing up that many weeds.
Most”Contemporary” music isn’t contemporary alway. It is mostly warmed over “boomer” music.
When we sang a relatively mild contemporary song,”Thy Word,” one of our teenagers said to her father,”Why are we singing camp songs in church?” The words of “Thy Word” being a quote from Scripture are pretty orthodox, but it does show something about taste.
I work with lots of young professionals (mid twenties to 40) My gestimate is that of those who attend church (about 1/2 of the total) half go liturgical and half are happy-clappy.
I am a contemporary worship leader, and while I take issue with the sweeping generalizations about contemporary worship, I have no problem with hymns and liturgy. I grew up with both “boring” traditional hymns and “contemporary” praise songs. I participate in and lead contemporary worship as the means of honoring the Lord that I am most comfortabe with, never with the intent of gaining church members by being relevant.
As I mature in the Lord, I grow in my appreciation for the traditions passed down to me, especially as I see them being entirely discarded (not my doing).
I doubt I will ever decry contemporary worship, but I do not hold to it tightly. The style of music is last on my list of what I look for in a church. The first is if they preach the truth of Christ.
addendum: I don’t care if the worship music is contemporary or traditional, only if it is God honoring. Great music sung by dead hearts is dishonoring to God regardless of what style it is, and the reverse is true. God is honored by joyful worship, no matter how bad it may sound (not an excuse for presenting less than our best).
Joe #16
Don’t you think God is more “honored” by the Word proclaimed to sinners in Christ crucified and risen for the free and completed forgiveness of sins and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper administered according to Christ’s gift of them in His Word? For me if the songs reflect those incredible and mysterious gifts, well then all the more “joyful”. The fact remains that there are more classic hymns that do this “for today” than new stuff written in the last 40 years (granted lots of terrible hymns have “made it” over the past 2 millenia - but that’s what the church is called to be discerning over in every age). Substance over style any day for me!
Joe Mama (since I post as Joe could we all be careful in our references to each other?) I would like to understand what you consider “God Honoring.” Examples are welcome.
I meant to address you as Joe Mama, sorry.
If “honoring God” is the main thing with worship what about all those bands that are front and center imposing upon the space of the altar and pushing the baptismal font to the side in almost all “contemporary” churches?
What if true worship had more to do what God in Christ has done and is still doing for us today?
May I bring up Martin Luther? He believed that music is God’s highest gift next to the Gospel mostly because it is a vehicle for God’s Word. The best church music comforts with the Gospel, and/or teaches the doctrines of the Church. Hymns and praise music with no Gospel, or teachings are empty. We learn God’s truths in a beautiful way when we sing them.
Good point, Bryan. Most contemporary music is about me and what I can do for God (which is actually nothing, He doesn’t need us, we need Him) What moves our hearts is hearing what God has done and is still doing every day for us.
I really hate the screens in so many churches nowadays. They take away from the dignity of the service.
There are new hymns being written. We’ve sung them in our church (ELS). They are very God-centered, don’t contain the word “I” (or “just”) and are quite liturgical…all without sounding old or boring.
Joe Mama, thanks for sharing your viewpoint as a worship leader. It is a tough job because no matter what you do, people are going to whine about it.
I grew up singing Jesus freak songs, which are Psalms sung to guitar music. It was great! I think that there is a lot of room for style variety, but we do need to proclaim the Gospel in our music. The form the music takes is important, too! It isn’t just the lyrics that matter. Music is its own language, even if we don’t understand it. Music without words can still glorify the Lord!
I am always the youngest person who shows up to meetings at our church. I’ve tried to bring this point up- young people want reverant, traditional church. They all think I’m mad.
“Don’t you think God is more ‘honored’ by the Word proclaimed to sinners in Christ crucified and risen for the free and completed forgiveness of sins and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper administered according to Christ’s gift of them in His Word?”
Bryan, I agree with that, but I get the sense you are presenting that as an “either/or” proposition; either you preach the Gospel rightly, upholding sound doctrine OR you use contemporary music. I think that is a false dichotamy.
“If ‘honoring God’ is the main thing with worship what about all those bands that are front and center imposing upon the space of the altar and pushing the baptismal font to the side in almost all “contemporary” churches?”
I hear you saying that because some unknown number of church bands do both A and B, and A is clearly wrong, then B must also be wrong. Because some bands “hog the stage” then the style of music is wrong.
You are right, there have been a lot of bad hymns through the ages. There are a lot of bad songs being written right now, and we must use discernment. It is fine to say “because there are so many man-centered songs being written, I will not consider using any contemporary music” (an over-simplification, I know; but you get my point). It is another thing to say “because there are so many man-centered songs, contemporary worship is invalid.” There are a great many new hymns, as Theresa K pointed out, being written, both in a traditional and contemporary style, and there are many contemporary songs being written with deep, accurate, God-centered lyrics.
Again, I agree: Substance over style any day.
But even with good substance, style is extremely important. The entire notation of contemporary worship style in my opinion is problematic. I used to belong to an LCMS church that did as well as one could with contemporary music in a generally liturgical service. But overtime, the service became less liturgical and more generic American protestant. It got to the point where a friend of mine who is in a Rick Warren style church could not stop gushing about the service he attended. How at home he felt with the service style. To me that was not positive feedback.
I have since moved and found an LCMS church that uses the liturgy and has a pastor who actually taught a bible study on determining whether a hymn/song was appropriate for worship – what a blessing!
There is an LCMS church in my area that has gone totally contemporary. I have met some of their members. Their experiences and my own have let me to the conclusion that it is just a matter of time before a liturgical service with contemporary music transforms into a generic me centered happy-clappy service.
I acknowledge that liturgical services are not guaranteed to be perfect but I th ink on the whole they are better designed to do what worship is about – offer our response to the many, many gifts God has bestowed upon us. Christian freedom does not meant that there are not better ways of doing things.
This is a pretty good (better than my short phrase above) explination of the Divine Service:
“The term “Divine Service” is somewhat unique to Lutheranism, and it reflects the theology of justification held by Lutherans. The term comes from the German word Gottesdienst (God service), and is significant because it reflects the Lutheran belief that the main actor in the Divine Service is God himself and not man. The connotation of the term is that the Word and Sacrament (the two parts of the Divine Service) are gifts that God gives to his people, and therefore Lutherans emphasize God’s work rather than that of man. The term Mass was used by early Lutherans but such use has dwindled since then. Also, Lutherans have historically used the term to distinguish the Divine Service with Protestant Worship, where often the focus is on the worshipper bringing praise and thanksgiving to God.”
Sarah in Maryland,
When I know that people are going to be mad at me no matter what I do, then there are really only to people to listen to, God, and myself. If I can’t figure out what god wants me to do, then I just do what I want to do. Integrity has its benefits, a leader isn’t called to follow the people around.
Joe Mama,
I think there is even more to this debate than my friend and colleague brings up. Yes moving the baptismal font to the side, and hogging the altar space are wrong clearly. (I don’t think contemporary music is designed to do well from a Chior loft though. So if you go the contemporary route you inevitably draw the focus of the people away from the sacraments, and to the band.) But the style of contemporary music is just wrong for a service that centers itself in the sacraments. I can’t imagine how different the movie “Legends of the Fall,” would have been if the background music was in the genre of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” They chose the classical genre in order to carry the weight of the drama that was unfolding. How much weightier are the subjects of the Gospel, and the Sacraments? Do we really do them justice when we engulf them with a soft rock genre? Do we not actually take away from their seriousness.
Joe, I appreciate your response, and it definately makes me think. It still leaves open the question of causality, but you make a good case that, in general, the two go hand-in-hand.
Bror, I think your statement (@26) would be more accurate if it read “But the style of pop music is just wrong for a service that centers itself in the sacraments.” There is much contemporary music that manages to convey gravitas, the sublime, and so on. In fact, most “classical” movie scores are contemporary music, but they just sound “classical”.
In fact, I often find it interesting that movie scores often successfully employ music that is far more modern and discordant than people would otherwise enjoy as a standalone work. But that’s a different topic.
I have seen movies that convey intensity and complexity using non-”classical” scores. The movie Pi, with its all-electronic soundtrack, comes to mind. No one would accuse it of sounding like pop music, but it is decidedly contemporary. I don’t doubt electronic music could also be used appropriately in a worship setting.
My point being that we need not look only to choral and keyboard music from western/central Europe from several centuries ago for appropriate worship music, and looking outside that narrow range does not mean falling into the hands of soft rock with wishy-washy lyrics.
This past Good Friday, our organist played a piece that constituted the closing of the service, during which the congregation meditated on Jesus’ passion. The pastor explained how the piece was symbolic, growing in intensity until it came to a final, loud, and gut-wrenching climax. Then silence. I’ll tell you that there were chords in there that were definitely not considered chords more than a century ago. I almost wondered if the organist was just leaning on the keyboard. But it did a great job of conveying the events of that day, and so served as an aid in worship.
tODD,
I think I agree… To say contemporary is awfully misleading, as many of the hymns we sing in my congregation are “contemporary” written in the last 10 to fifty years. But generally speaking when you see the term Contemporary used with worship, you know it means “Pop” music. Of course what happens when Gregorian Chants are popular? Were they “pop” music when the hit the top 40 in the nineties?
Electric music? The organ at my church is electric, so I guess we have electric music?
I havn’t watched the movie PI, so I don’t know. But my guess that if you changed the genre it would change the mood, theme, and ultimately the message of the movie. Even if it’s non-classical score did convey complexity and intensity.
and I am not trying to limit what is appropriate for worship to European, or even Keyboar music. But I am saying lets be a little pickier about the music that we employ in worship, then we are with the music we listen to in our cars on the way to work.
This is a very good discussion on this topic and I wish a few more musicians and artists would engage this topic on this level and then dedicate their lives to making their music to point the heart and the mind to nothing but Christ and His gifts. I appreciated your thoughtful response to my queries, Joe Mama.
I am a music lover myself and an amateur trumpet player. Sacred music means the world to me. My favorite hymns (ancient and “contemporary”) are my favorite ways of hearing the message of Christ’s work on my behalf (as long as they are focusing on that in a faithful way). Besides Word and Sacrament, congregational singing is one of the best things we have going at my small but precious congregation. We pay a friend of mine (he’s LDS and hearing the real Gospel weekly, Christ be praised) to play our quirky old organ. Our humble choir does the very best it can and often pulls off extremely beautiful renditions of quite a wide variety of music. There is no official director, we just practice and do our best to sing together.
One of the local music studios closed recently which brought a professional trumpeter in the area to us for his personal practice time. We were glad to open our doors to him in exchange for playing for some of our services and he was wonderful on Easter morning this year! He even let me play with him on the last hymn.
In my words of appreciation to the man, I intentionally thanked the Lord for the talent that He’s given to this very gifted musician even though he played from the choir loft behind the congregation.
We’ve also opened our doors to a local German choir (mostly LDS) for practicing in exchange for some Lutheran German chorales (my hope is that they will hear both Law and Gospel within the notes and words, of Bach, Luther, Hugo Distler and many others).
We have a little piano at the front of the sanctuary which we will sometimes use for choral pieces and the choir then sings near the piano in the front pew. I’m so thankful that the choir even in our day and age keeps feeling so uncomfortable with that strange position in front of the congregation.
When people are facilitating worship, or assisting in the service, or preaching. It is my opinion that it is always good to have a healthy fear and nervousness with that center position we are putting ourselves in. As pastor, I ask myself whether it is about me or am I pointing away from myself to Christ and His all-powerful Word? Does the Word of God and Christ’s gifts in the sacraments stand on their own, or do I foolishly think I’m something in that I can prop them up in some way?
Earlier in life (and I’m a fairly young pastor) I was consumed by making the music I sang reflect my feelings for God, and boy could I swoon with the best of those lady singers! But boy does that get dangerous (to my soul at least).
In worship now I enjoy thinking about blending my little voice in with my congregation, with the angels, archangels and with all the company of heaven all around the lamb who was slain who is personally and really presenting himself to me at this particular altar.
I’m so thankful I can hide myself behind robes and stoles which cover my humanity and sinfulness as I speak Christ’s forgiveness each Sunday.
Now a few more musicians to help me communicate the mystery of all this will always be appreciated and when they get the greatness of the Christ-centered and powered Divine Worship they will help their fellow Christians bring reverence and awe at Christ’s mysteries back to the center “stage”.
Craig Parton, a trial lawyer, wrote a book on this topic, “The Defense Never Rests: A Lawyer’s Quest…
He found the disparity between the order and dignity of the courtroom and what went on in his contemporary music church, brought him to search for a more dignified service, which he found in the Lutheran church.
Worship is continuous in Heaven. On Sunday mornings, we merely chime in.
We do best by not being in competition. Nor do we do well in adding dissonance, beyond the occasional accidental. (And, tODD, by dissonance here I’m not talking about deliberately composed cissonance such as your organist must’ve used. What better time in the church year than Good Friday for expressive dissonance?)
Often people justify the volume and intensity of the ‘contemporary service’ by saying they wish only to make a joyful noise to the Lord. But that implies, in part, that we have to get His attention, or that we wish to.
But it’s our attention to Him and what He’s giving that makes the Divine Service fruitful.
Also, people talk about wanting music they’re comfortable or familiar with, or music that moves them, which in turn implies that hymns and liturgy are only about the music and the emotion it engenders, and not about the liturgical words that the music surrounds.
Divine Service is Word and Sacrament set to music, and not merely music stuffed with words of praise. Divine Service is God working on and in us; not us motivating or inspiring ourselves, and certainly not Him. Inspiration is fleeting; God’s work on and in us is continuous, best fed by attention to His word, and not our feelings.
Finally, when people eschew traditional hymnody and liturgy, whether they come from the 9th century or the 21st, for something more familiar and less challenging, they run the risk of denying a lot–and losing a lot–of masterful composition; pure art, and a product of the ages; the best mankind has done and can do, not for the sake of himself, but for his art and for His God. Do that for the sake of what? Personal preference, really.
In the end, they’ll have gone full circle, back to what motivated them to that choice in the first place: back to the self. Back to me.
Excellent, Susan, thank you!
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