d20

The early church kept many synagogue worship traditions, which included the singing of psalms, predominantly in the context of prayer. According to Hughes Oliphant Old, Psalm 118:27 provides a good example of the changing use of psalms: “Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” In temple worship the action sung about here was literal; the animal would have been bound. In synagogue worship this was symbolic, since a sacrifice was not actually being tied down to the altar. In the early church, this psalm verse would have been understood as a celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ had fulfilled God’s demand for blood sacrifice and thereby abolished the need for such a practice in worship.

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: page 100

d19

From the dedications in the psalm ascriptions, it appears that a director of music was entrusted with the inspired psalms used in worship. this fact clearly supports the concept and importance of such a position existing for every body of believers – something that churches today would be well advised to notice. It also implies that the director of music would preserve these holy songs, would determine how and when to employ them, and would be responsible for teaching them to the people. It makes the case (along with the passages in 1 Chronicles) for a trained, highly skilled professional musician to organize, teach, and lead the choirs and instrumentalists in this calling.

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: pages 90-91

d18

At the same time, we should note that two of the psalm authors were divinely appointed kings (David and Solomon); one was a prophet and leader of his people (Moses); and the others were the chief Levitical musicians who were appointed by David and who also “prophesied” (Asaph, Ethan, Heman, and the Sons of Korah). In other words, not just anyone should be writing the prayers and praise of the people of God, and highly skilled, consecrated, theologians musicians should write most of them. While those in Psalms are all men, one also finds scriptural examples of women singer-composer-poets, such as Miriam (Ex. 15:21), Deborah (Judg. 5:1), Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1-10), and Mary (Luke 1:46-55).

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: page 90

d17

Hymns regularly teach fundamental Christian doctrine. This teaching is one of the great benefits derived from singing them. Martin Luther recognized that writing hymns and teaching them to this people was an efficient and effective way to disseminate the gospel to the Germanic lands. Little did he realize how important this would be for all of Europe in what became the Protestant Reformation. But Luther was not the first to appreciate the pedagogical power of hymnody. The second-century hymn writers had worked to counter the heretical teaching of the Gnostics by writing hymns of Christ to affirm his deity, which was in dispute. Later, the Council of Nicaea met in 325 A.D. to formulate a doctrinal statement concerning the Trinity because the nature of our triune God was under attack. This even, in turn, led to the development of hymnody that championed the Trinity, Ever since, the doctrine of the Trinity has held an important place in the hymnody of the Christian church all over the world.

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: page 71

d16

The name “Mass” came from the Latin service’s dismissal formula “Ite, missa est” (“Go, the gathering is dismissed”). So the “Mass” is simply the gathering of the people for worship, centered on the Eucharist. When most evangelicals hear the word “Mass,” they associate it with Roman Catholicism. This is not incorrect. But the Mass is not limited to the Roman liturgy. For what, then, of the English Catholics (the Anglicans/Episcopalians) and the Lutherans, and other Protestant Denominations that have made use of the Mass and adapted it over the years? Indeed, most of our Protestant services are, at some level, indebted to the formulation of the Mass, and many still employ it or sections of it in daily or weekly worship. Reformers who used the Mass include Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, and even John Calvin (who abhorred it in its Roman manifestation, but based his own order of service on Bucer’s Strasbourg liturgy – which Bucer had adapted from the Mass itself).

When it comes to the Mass “Ordinary” (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei), other than one line or two of the Credo that can be mishandled theologically, the text is tremendously rich in biblical language and true doctrine. In its essence, the Mass is a memorial to the passion of Christ, a celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and a sacrifice of the church. It was in this last “sacrificial” sense that error most profoundly asserted itself. When the Mass came to be said or sung for the dead, for travelers, for wealth, or for whatever else people could think up (and pay for), the Mass took on a sacrificial, works-centered sense of oblation. This was blasphemous and was decried by the Reformers.

But this does not mean, in any sense, that the text of the Mass itself was suddenly unbiblical or not useful. It was simply misused. Many aspects of evangelical worship evidence their origins in the liturgy of the Roman and Sarum rites of which the Mass was central (e.g., the Introit,  the Offertory, the Gloria Patri, and Communion). So as to defuse undue concern about the Mass as a text (itself not laden with the trappings of Roman works-righteousness) – and at least briefly to expose ourselves to its value – let us survey the basic elements of the Ordinary.

• The Kyrie is a simple prayer for mercy that is positioned at the beginning of the service and acknowledges our dependence on the mercy of God (“Lord, have mercy; Christ have mercy; Lord, have mercy.”).
• The Gloria is the angelic hymn of praise capturing language from the angels’ declaration to the shepherds at the advent of Christ (Luke 2:14) and from the Te Deum.
• The Credo is a statement of the cardinal beliefs of the Christian church, based on the Nicene Creed, approved by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. Many times it is spoken rather than sung, chiefly on account of its length.
  
• The Sanctus and the Benedictus that accompanies it are based, respectively, on the trice-holy lauds of the heavenly angels in Isaiah 6 and the New Testament statement “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Ps. 118:26; Matt. 23:39; Mark 11:9; Luke 13:35).
  
• The Agnus Dei restates John 1:39 – “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” It also recalls the Kyrie in asking God for mercy at the end of worship.
  
• The Mass is a marvelous structure for organized worship – it is liturgy at its finest, imbued with Scripture, carefully honed and internationally utilized for centuries. It begins with acknowledgement of our need for God’s mercy, moves into praise and thanksgiving, declares our faith, reminds us of God’s holiness and the significance of the one who speaks in his Name, and finally confirms the finished work of Christ while recalling our daily need of him. We should not fear the Mass as liturgy but I feel the liberty to employ it or elements of it to aid our gathered worship.

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: pages 65-66

d15

Solo music in worship, as we know it, is primarily a phenomenon of the twentieth century, although it certainly existed previously in other forms (e.g., the solo cantatas of Bach). The twentieth-century “crusades” and tent meetings of Dwight Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham, among others, often featured the song leader or a designated soloist in a well-loved hymn or a gospel song (e.g., George Berverly Shea and “I’d Rather Have Jesus”). The rise of the pop-music industry, particularly in the 1930s to 1970s, exalted the soloist (as well as bands) to previously unheard-of popularity. Before that, the closest corollary to this kind of “singer celebrity” may have been the reception of great opera singers in Italy, but opera had little effect on modern solo music of the church. Christian radio broadcasts often featured soloists as well. It was principally the influence of the superstar singer in American culture that brought soloists (as we think of them) into the church. For generations, cantors (chief singers) or priests have led services in Jewish, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal worship by chanting (as soloists of a sort, but unlike those we are discussing).

The manner in which modern solo song came into the church does not negate the possibility of its proper use, but it does make it more difficult to overcome the baggage associated with it. By this I refer to the cult of celebrity, the focus on the individual, the pressure to “perform,” the importance that we arbitrarily attach to this activity over choral or congregational singing, and so forth. Yet it is entirely possible for a soloist to have an effective ministry in the context of corporate worship and for the solo, as a category, to fill a niche.

In order for these postulations to be true, however, the focus of both text and delivery (including placement of the piece in the service and the singer in the room) must be on God and his Word, the song sung must be capable of being universally applied to the congregation, and the event should actually be more of a nonevent that does not interrupt or estrange one from the momentum of the service. There should be no applause, no excessive talking or testimonial from the singer, no accompaniment tracks, no use of singers who are unprepared (musically, spiritually, or emotionally), and no expectation on the singer’s part of being publicly lauded for this ministry. Unless one has trained soloists in the church who are mature believers and who understand the function of a soloist in worship, this is a service component that should probably be avoided. Some would argue that all music in corporate worship should be congregational.

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: pages 61-62

d14

Hymns (or “chorales,” if they are of Germanic or Lutheran origin) have come to be known as the primary music of the church and specifically of the congregation. In its earliest Greek usage, hymn referred to a poem or ode of praise to a divine being, hero or mythological figure. One can therefore find in literature hymns that are not expressly sacred or linked with music. In the church, however, Martin Luther and subsequent theologians were convinced of music’s power to transmit theological substance. They believed that hymns, as music of the people, would serve to bolster faith and carry the gospel. Luther held that one realization of the “priesthood of all believers” was that the common people should sing in worship. So he wrote 37 chorales for his congregations to sing and subsequently became known as “the father of evangelical hymnody.”

::

Paul Jones (2006) Singing and Making Music. P&R: page 60