United Through Worship

Archive for the ‘methodist worship’ Category

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The history of music in Christian worship is a substantial one which can trace its origins all the way back to pre-Christian times in the Old Testament. In those very early days we read of the Jewish people singing, playing instrumental music and even dancing. Such activity was widely used as a means of expressing faith. Music played an important role in many acts of celebration and worship. It was into that society that Jesus was born.

Over the two thousand years since Christ’s life the use of music in Christian worship has gone through many phases and many musical idioms. It is really over the second of those two thousand years that church music, as we know it today, has developed.

One of the most important events in the whole of the world of music came about through the work of a Benedictine monk, Guido of Arrezzo who lived from about 995 to 1050. He didn’t actually ‘invent’ staff notation but he perfected it, completing the evolution of the earlier neumes into plainsong script, which was the forerunner of what we know today as ‘tonic-solfa’. All music had previously been passed down by aural tradition so the facility to write down music for others to read and perform was a massive step forward. Almost all musical expression since that time has come as a direct result of that development.

From that time on, composers were able to create substantial works for use in worship. This early church music was written to form the framework of an act of worship. The music was performed primarily by professional musicians attached to the church and was not for congregation participation. Composers did eventually begin to incorporate chorales (hymns) into the liturgy which gave the congregation the opportunity to join in at certain points in the service.

Many of the greatest composers over the centuries have added their voices to the ever growing repertoire of great church music. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and many others have given us masterpieces adding to the wealth of music in Christian worship. We tend to know many of these works today through concert performances, forgetting that many were originally created as liturgical pieces for use in church services.

At times of spiritual revival (the Protestant Reformation, the missions of Moody & Sankey, the evangelical energy which led to the founding of Methodism and the Salvation Army, etc.) there was a burst of hymn writing surrounding these events. These highly creative times in church music led to the appearance of many of the greatest and most popular congregational hymns of all. The hymns from these eras of church history have stood the test of time and are still to be heard today in even the most contemporary of worship situations.

Over the last 50 years worship music has gone through a whole new phase of development. Since the early 1960′s composers of church music have gained much inspiration from the popular music of their day. We now regularly encounter worship bands accompanying church singing rather than the traditional organ. More and more, we hear the term “worship song” rather than the word “hymn” and congregations are becoming much more attuned to worship music in a popular contemporary idiom. This can be a contentious issue at times but it is important that all Christians have the right to express their faith in a manner which suits them. Many churches are coping with this by having both traditional worship and contemporary worship on a Sunday.

So, music in Christian worship continues to develop and change. We now have a massive repertoire of music in many, many different styles and idioms to choose from. At all costs, we must avoid the blinkered view of focusing on music of one idiom and ignoring the rest. Every generation adds to the rich tapestry of worship music we have available to us.

Copyright (c) 2010 Robert Hinchliffe

When planning an act of worship, hymns are usually selected to reinforce the theme of the service. One technique which I have used very successfully on a number of occasions is to effectively reverse this and actually use the hymn words as a basis for preaching. In other words, I don’t prepare a single 15 – 20 minute sermon but follow each hymn with a ‘mini’ sermon of about 5 minutes taking a particular phrase or phrases from the words of the hymn as a text. By careful selection of hymns it is possible to create a really cohesive service which flows easily from one element to another. I have found congregations to be very responsive to this approach.

Ideally, it is best to choose a service which has a very particular theme. I have used this approach for a Harvest service, on a Mothering Sunday and at a church anniversary. Any Sunday which has a very precise place in the church calendar would be appropriate for this approach. Pentecost or Advent, for instance, would be ideal. In all cases there is a wealth of suitable worship music available, from traditional hymns to contemporary worship songs.

This approach is particularly effective in an all-age worship situation. A ‘blended’ worship approach would be most appropriate for this kind of service so that both hymns and worship songs can be used; – something for everyone. Also, this way of doing things means that the young people don’t have to sit through any lengthy talks by the preacher. There is a lot to commend it!

To give an example of how this all works I will refer to a Harvest Service I did in this way a couple of years ago. I took the twin themes of “Thanksgiving” and “Caring”, two topics which we associate with Harvest. I then used three of the hymns as texts for my ‘mini’ sermons. These three hymns were:

- “For the fruits of His creation” – This hymn relates to both the chosen themes. The two main quotes from this hymn which I used were “The just reward of labour” which led logically to the issue of the Fair Trade movement. The line “In the help we give our neighbour” led me neatly into the importance of caring and sharing.

- “For the healing of the nations” – This hymn contains the line, “For a just and equal sharing of the things that earth affords”. I made the point here that the earth has the richness to easily feed, clothe and resource all its people yet so many go on living in poverty, in despair and, sometimes, in virtual slavery. The hymn then goes on to give us the answer, “To a life of love in action help us rise and pledge our word.” The reference to “love in action” is, of course, at the very heart of the Christian faith.

- “God in His love for us lent us this planet” – Sung to the tune ‘Stewardship’, this is a relatively recent hymn which focuses our mind on the resources which our world has and how we should be doing better in preserving it for future generations. It has been said that we don’t own the planet we just have it on loan from our children.

By using these hymns in this way and expanding on the main points I have mentioned, (I have just given you the ‘bare bones’ here) I got across the message of my twin themes in a concise way which the congregation found easy to follow.

As I said earlier in my article, I have found this approach very successful and I intend to use it more when leading worship on appropriate occasions. A secondary issue with this way of doing things is that it makes the congregation very aware of the words they are singing, perhaps giving them a whole fresh understanding of hymns they have sung for many years.

Copyright (c) 2010 Robert Hinchliffe