From the Music Ministry….

Changing Congregational Song

This article is the beginning of a three months series on change in congregational song in worship. The first two articles will present the thoughts of Harry Plantinga. Harry Plantinga is the Director of Hymnary.org and is a faculty member at Calvin College. On March 11, 2019 he posted a blog entitled, “The Future of Congregational Song”.

This blog post will be quoted and will present a brief history of congregational song (this month’s article) and the current state of congregational song based on hymnal publishing trends (April’s article). The third article in this series will be what I believe to be essential to congregational song and, in fact, all music used in worship. This article, published in June, will draw from my forty plus years’ involvement with, observations of, and contemplations on congregational singing.

To present a brief, selective, and broad overview of the history of congregational song, I present Harry Plantinga’s,“Theology of Congregational Song,” from his March 11, 2019 blog post (see link above).

Theology of Congregation Song by Harry Plantinga

Augustine generally approved of the use of singing in the church, though his opinion was not unmixed.  He believed that the beauty of music could overpower reason and lead to error.  Nevertheless, Augustine concluded that singing in the church is so moving that the benefits outweigh the risks when used appropriated:

However, when I call to mind the tears I shed at the songs of thy Church at the outset of my recovered faith, and how even now I am moved, not  by the singing but by what is sung (when they are sung with a clear and skillfully modulated voice), I then come to acknowledge the great utility of this custom . . . by the delights of the ear the weaker minds may be stimulated to a devotional mood. Yet when it happens that I am more moved by the singing than by what is sung, I confess myself to have sinned wickedly, and then I would rather not have heard the singing. 1

For Augustine, then, music must be in service of the text, enhancing what is sung and promoting a devotional mood. When the music is more in focus than the words being sung, it is harmful rather than helpful.

Calvin presses the point a bit further:

And certainly, if singing is tempered to a gravity befitting the presence of God and angels, it both gives dignity and grace to sacred actions, and    has a very powerful tendency to stir up the mind to true zeal and ardour in prayer. We must, however, carefully beware, lest our ears be more      intent on the music than our minds on the spiritual meaning of the words . . . If this moderation is used there cannot be a doubt that the practice is most sacred and salutary. On the other hand, songs composed merely to tickle and delight the ear are unbecoming the majesty of the Church,            and cannot but be most displeasing to God. 2

For Calvin, congregational singing adds grace and dignity to sacred actions and stirs up ardor. Yet he also warns of the risk that the music itself can distract from the prayer. In addition, Calvin’s strict focus on the word and his particular interpretation of the principle Sola Scriptura led him to advocate unison singing of Psalms and a few other scripture passages only, without adornment that may distract.

Luther was a musician, author, composer, and lover of music. He believed that

The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them. . . . In summa, next to  the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits. . . . Our dear        fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches.

Hence we have so many songs and psalms. 3

For both Luther and Calvin, “stress on congregational participation in worship became a lynchpin of the Reformation.” 4 Yet while Calvin advocated unadorned unison singing of Psalms, Luther advocated the use of hymns as well as Psalms, with harmony and instrumental accompaniment. 5

John Wesley also promoted congregational singing as an expression of corporate prayer. He included a short list of seven “directions for singing” in his collection of hymns for Methodists, Select Hymns: with Tunes Annext (1761). 6 In it, congregants are encouraged to “join with the congregation,” “sing lustily and with good courage,” and “attend strictly to the sense of what you sing.”

In the Catholic Church, music is understood to play a “ministerial” role in the liturgy, “helping the assembly to rejoice, to weep, to be of one mind, to be converted, to pray.” 7 While the music may at times be performed by musicians, Vatican II also placed an emphasis on congregational participation, stating that bishops and other pastors of souls must be at pains to ensure that whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation that is so rightly theirs. 8

Congregational song therefore fulfills a number of roles and provides a number of advantages over spoken prayer in worship gatherings:

  •         Music helps express the affective content of a prayer
  •         Music helps some toward a “devotional mind”
  •         In singing together, a congregation prays in unity
  •         A musical setting makes a text more memorable
  •         The beauty and affect of music can be attractive

The primary risk is that the music or musicians draw attention away from the prayer being sung rather than enhancing it. To that extent it is harmful. Music that draws attention to itself or its performers is harmful. Loud instruments that prevent us from hearing each other sing detract from the experience of praying in unity. Light shows or images or video or other elements that don’t serve to draw attention to the text and the affect of the prayer are harmful and even “wickedly sinful,” according to Augustine’s way of thinking. On the other hand, when these elements are used to stimulate a devotional mood of the communal prayer, they may be a valuable aid to worship.

1 Confessions of Saint Augustine, tr. Albert C. Outler, Book X, Ch. XXXIII, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/confessions.xiii.html

2 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion III.20 http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.v.xxi.html

3 Luther, Forward to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae http://www.eldrbarry.net/mous/saint/luthmusc.htm.

4 Fromm, “New Song: the sound of spiritual awakening,” Oxford & Reading Research Conference, 1983, as quoted in Barber, “Luther and Calvin on Music and Worship,” Reformed Perspectives Magazine 8:26, 2006, p. 1.

5 Barber, p. 7.

6 https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/wesleys-directions-for-singing

7 Liturgical Music Today: Guidelines for The Catholic Church Liturgical Musician http://www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/13/12/17/11-52-27_0.pdf

8 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html)