One of the things about contemporary Christian music (CCM) is that it sounds like most other music folks listen to. It has the sound of pop, rock and roll, folk, or even bluegrass music. What distinguishes it are the lyrics (not that you can always make them out). The sound, the rhythm, and the feeling of the music are all pretty indistinguishable from their secular counterparts.
What struck me in this old clip from Chicago in 1934 is the sound. You have the church bells that sound like no other sounds on the street and the sound of the chant coming from the church -- again, sound like nothing heard on the radios of the passing cars or in the pubs down the street or in the dance hall on the corner. It is the sound of heaven because it is heard ONLY in the church.
I wonder if the growing secularization of our culture and the way the church seems to fade into the background is not due, at least in part, to the fact that many have attempted to mirror the world around them instead of being distinctive. Architecture, art, music, vocabulary, and even language were once things in which the church presented to the world something not found anywhere else. That has certainly changed. Roman Catholics as well as the non-Roman liturgical churches have all experimented with buildings, visual images, music, vocabulary, and language that is common, ordinary, and even casual. Things are changing in some parts of Christendom but in large measure only the Orthodox have retained much of their distinctiveness. It does not seem to be hurting their witness to younger folks. Maybe we should look and learn.
You are free to disagree and probably will but when watching a bit of this clip, I heard how the sights and sounds of a Roman Catholic Church more than 80 years ago clearly signaled the presence of a heavenly reality. I fear that this is not the intention of many Christian communities today and, in fact, this would be considered passe at best or contrary to the Gospel at worst -- at least by those in the church more than those outside.
22 comments:
Hear, hear! This is so true!!
I recently invited a distant relative-by-marriage to our parish, a fellow with a theology degree from the Moody Bible Institute. His main comment on our service was that there really was not enough of a beat to the music, it did not sound like what he thinks people want to hear. I was appalled!
Fr.D+
Continuing Anglican Priest
Pastor, it couldn’t have been said any better. That is why I attend only the traditional mass, anglican use mass or novus ordo celebrated by the Oblates of BVM in Boston.
There is silence, liturgically appropriate music, and reverence for God and things heavenly.
Pastor Peters, you will probably think I am a bleeding liberal by my comment, but I consider myself conservative and orthodox in all matters of theology. In music, well, if you have ever been in a small Lutheran congregation (rural & urban) the traditional hymns sound more like a funeral dirge than a joyful worship experience. Blended services combine the traditional and contemporary very well.
Catholics do an excellent job of combining their music , without sacrificing any of the Mass. There is room for both in Christianity.
God Bless!
"without sacrificing any of the Mass"
Great turn of phrase there :)
But I have to disagree. "Contemporary" worship is utterly vapid. And blended, even worse. Like putting a ribeye and a cupcake in a blender. If I see a guitar or drum set in a sanctuary of the Lord of Hosts, I'm out. Let the Romanists have Vatican II.
Did you mourn when they played a dirge?
Anonymous, I agree but Romanists? Come on.
It's short for Roman Catholics ;)
I'll use Papists next time, sorry :)
My point was Vatican II is binding for RCs, irrelevant for Lutherans.
Praise Song Cruncher, Table Talk Radio
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oiNEpA319eHFc4HjrR4s_parE7Y2yFYz3pU94Fch1A/pub
Just listen to an episode where a song is crunched to hear the criteria.
Actually anonymous, what is V2 and what was promoted as V2 are two very different things. Since the topic is about music, V2 stated explicitly thet Gregorian Chant was to have pride of place. What we got from the hijackers was “On Eagles Wings.”
And don’t ya know that That vapid, saccharine, trite, so called hymn was written by a priest. A Spirit of Vatican II priest that is.
I'm not disagreeing with that. Put another way, Lutheran's have no business following the Post- VII Roman church.
Lutherans have received the Gregorian chant tradition and utilize it.
Well I won’t argue with that. But we do agree that there should be appropriate music.
Did you notice how the streets were overflowing with hundreds of people because the building was completely full? When was the last time that has ever happened during a church service?
That being said, how would you respond to this comment from a millenial non-Christian about the traditional way of doing church:
"Christianity in Northern Europe just has a stale smell to it. A stench of marxism and welfare. It's not cool and it won't be cool for a very long time."
Conversely, how would you respond to these comments from millenial non-Christians about the "modern" way of doing church:
Statement: "To be honest mates, all this makes me want to become Christian more than ever."
Response: "Before you do that, make sure you know what 'becoming a Christian' actually means. The modern, feminised Church by treating Christ as women's alpha and omega boyfriend whilst singing flaccid love ballads will rarely tell you what the core meaning of Christianity is."
I am not sure why Pr. Peters allows anonymous posters? It takes away from the integrity of dialogue. Is there some way to have restrictions on such comments? At least get them to come out from the dark shadows.
Anonymous Lol, right?
Just to be clear about matters: this wasn't a typical Roman Catholic parish on an ordinary Sunday morning in Depression-era Chicago. It was Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago, at that time the home of the very popular Cardinal Mundelein. I don't know what the occasion was, but clearly it was an event that pulled people from across the diocese.
By the way, there still are very beautiful bells ringing in Chicago. I could mention the bells from a number of Roman Catholic and Ukrainian churches in my neighborhood. But my own church's bells are quite lovely. They chime on the half hour during the day and play a hymn--always something from our hymnal and quite often a Lutheran chorale--at noon and at 6 p.m. (Today, for example, they played "O Grosser Gott.") Even in our hard-drinking, fairly secular Wicker Park neighborhood, our bells have been generally well received by the surrounding community.
Person who only identifies himself as "Cliff" complaining about anonymous comments.
Got it.
:)
Cliff, your whining about anonymity would have a bit more credibility (would remain silly), but at least would not be hypocritical if you were to use your full name and identify who you are and where you are.
Anonymous: you= pot calling kettle black.
At least put a first name.
You guys are funny. YOU are the ones whining about anonymity and don't use your full names, effectively making yourself anonymous.
You can't have it both ways: either use your full names and identify yourselves, or stop whining.
I think you prefer whining.
On the other hand at least they aren't hiding behind someone else's name.
Perhaps Pr Peters can restore the live traffic feed and then we can at least know where the person lives?
Anonymous, you’re a tired buffoon.
David Gray: tired old man
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