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All Saints' Episcopal Church
Lakeland, Florida
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Tuesday, June 30th 2009
11:43 AM
Liturgy
John Seybert is our 8:50 a.m. Sunday music director. He and I were talking the other day about worship music, new and old, comparing what we’ve seen in praise and worship music in various churches over the years, both liturgical and non-liturgical.
I had asked John to describe some of the considerations he has in mind as he prepares music for a service at All Saints’. As he ticked off elements from his list, I began to see that liturgical worship was, itself, somewhat like a song of worship.
John pointed out how a worship song imposes an order, even a kind of “patience” on the congregation. You can’t rush the song! It has its own tempo, and the tempo itself carries a purpose. It grants permission to celebrate or it helps us slow down and get in step together.
Even in a “free worship” service, we don’t get to make up our own lyrics to the music. They have been prepared in advance. They direct our thoughts and attention. They help us get in step together. It is a ministry of direction that we already wanted, or we would not have gathered together.
All these qualities of a worship song are true of liturgy. During a given week in my own prayer time, I pray in my own words and sing my own songs. Sunday mornings, I gladly pray in unison with my Christian family, sharing a common confession, petitions and praises. There’s no rushing the tempo and I don’t want to rush. I’ve come to find permission to linger in the presence of Jesus, to express my love and gratitude, and enjoy the extra moments of His joy in us.
On my own I would probably miss all that. The music and the liturgy protect me from the weakness of my short attention span. They protect me from myself.
CS Lewis noticed another benefit in Letters to Malcolm:
“Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they [parishioners] don’t go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it… to receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore… and it ‘works’ best when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance… The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
But every novelty prevents this… You know what I mean. Try as one may to exclude it, the question ‘What on earth is he up to now?’ will intrude. It lays one’s devotion waste. There really is some excuse for the man who said, ‘I wish they’d remember that the charge to Peter was ‘Feed my sheep’; not ‘Try experiments on my rats,’ or even ‘Teach my performing dogs new tricks.’ ‘ “
After I had been meditating on these things for a few days, I came across a very interesting article on the power of language to shape our perception of reality. The report by Lera Boroditsky can be found here.
Joe Carter added some further thoughts on the matter here.
Lera and Joe notice the effect in the culture at large. I am noticing how the visual and symbolic language of liturgy shapes our perception of God.
I had asked John to describe some of the considerations he has in mind as he prepares music for a service at All Saints’. As he ticked off elements from his list, I began to see that liturgical worship was, itself, somewhat like a song of worship.
John pointed out how a worship song imposes an order, even a kind of “patience” on the congregation. You can’t rush the song! It has its own tempo, and the tempo itself carries a purpose. It grants permission to celebrate or it helps us slow down and get in step together.
Even in a “free worship” service, we don’t get to make up our own lyrics to the music. They have been prepared in advance. They direct our thoughts and attention. They help us get in step together. It is a ministry of direction that we already wanted, or we would not have gathered together.
All these qualities of a worship song are true of liturgy. During a given week in my own prayer time, I pray in my own words and sing my own songs. Sunday mornings, I gladly pray in unison with my Christian family, sharing a common confession, petitions and praises. There’s no rushing the tempo and I don’t want to rush. I’ve come to find permission to linger in the presence of Jesus, to express my love and gratitude, and enjoy the extra moments of His joy in us.
On my own I would probably miss all that. The music and the liturgy protect me from the weakness of my short attention span. They protect me from myself.
CS Lewis noticed another benefit in Letters to Malcolm:
“Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they [parishioners] don’t go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it… to receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore… and it ‘works’ best when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance… The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
But every novelty prevents this… You know what I mean. Try as one may to exclude it, the question ‘What on earth is he up to now?’ will intrude. It lays one’s devotion waste. There really is some excuse for the man who said, ‘I wish they’d remember that the charge to Peter was ‘Feed my sheep’; not ‘Try experiments on my rats,’ or even ‘Teach my performing dogs new tricks.’ ‘ “
After I had been meditating on these things for a few days, I came across a very interesting article on the power of language to shape our perception of reality. The report by Lera Boroditsky can be found here.
Joe Carter added some further thoughts on the matter here.
Lera and Joe notice the effect in the culture at large. I am noticing how the visual and symbolic language of liturgy shapes our perception of God.
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