Basic Questions

I've had a lot of stuff going through my head recently, but these questions keep coming to the top.

Why does God like music? Why does he command us to praise him through music? How does "praise" differ from "musical praise"? What's so special about words set to pitch and rhythm? Why does God delight in musical worship?

I don't really have answers. But I have some ideas...

Psalm 32

We learned the version of Psalm 32 found in the Book of Psalms for Singing in preparation for Ash Wednesday this year. My congregation can now sing versions of all 7 penitential Psalms.

The progression within the Psalm from suffering to shouting for joy is remarkable. The Psalm seems to be about how humans deal with sin. The first verses don't even leave room for humans who don't sin. "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven," not "Blessed is the one who never transgresses." We all sin, but the Psalm says that when we confess our sin to God and forsake it, God will bless us and give us joy.

Psalm 32

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

The Song Report

Every January I look back through the records of the liturgies for the year to review the songs we have used at Reformation Covenant Church. 

This year we sang 145 different hymns, which is a little up from last year at 131.

We sang 84 different Psalm settings, but 11 were duplicates (we know different versions of one Psalm, or we know different portions of one Psalm in different settings-like Psalm 119). So we sang 73 different Psalms last year. Not as good as the Medieval monks who sang through the Psalter every week, but we are making progress (we sang 64 different settings last year). Most of the 84 different settings are metrical Psalms, but we also know a few through-composed Psalms and an Anglican-chant setting or two.

In the future I would like to see that number of Psalms go up at a faster rate compared to the hymns, and eventually get the numbers closer to equal and maybe even more Psalms than hymns.

Joseph Funk Research Project

I was notified last week that I did receive the research grant I applied for! They awarded more money than I asked for, so they must have thought it would take more time than I thought, or my travel budget was unreasonably small.
I narrowed my research to two basic questions:

1. How does Funk's hymnal, the Harmonia Sacra, differ from other tunebooks, and why was it more successful than so many similar publications of the era?

2. What methods did Funk incorporate in his teaching and musical publications that made his efforts in spreading musical literacy so successful?

I have started to read through the material I got through my initial library search. I found a couple of published dissertations that look like they will prove very helpful. I'm hoping to get a lot of the reading done during Spring semester so I can travel to Virginia and Indiana early in the summer. That way I will have more of the summer to work on getting my research together.

It will be a lot of work, but I am very excited for this project!

Why Every Christian Should Sing

I'm still working through Jones' collection of essays (Singing and Making Music: Issues in Church Music Today), and I just ran into another portion I thought was excellent and very applicable to the Church today. I would like to post a few quotes from his essay "Why Every Christian Should Sing."

Frequently I encounter men and women who say that they "do not sing." There are many reasons for their lack of vocal participation, but I have yet to hear one from anyone with working vocal folds that would be an adequate excuse before God. Fear is the least-cited but generally all-inclusive reason. It takes many forms: fear of error or embarrassment, fear of what others think, fear of losing control, fear of criticism, fear of offending others. Such self-conscious behavior may be appropriate to certain situations, or aspects of our person, but it has little place in the corporate worship of the Almighty God. God never said, "If you feel good enough about yourself, sing to me," or "As long as you have a peer-approved voice, praise me in song." According to Scripture, the praise of God is not an optional activity.

Most of the rest of the essay contains examples of singing saints in the Bible, specific commands to sing (mostly from Psalms and Isaiah), examples of heavenly beings singing, and of Jesus himself singing.
Jones ends the essay with a summary list of reasons we should sing:

We should sing because of God's attributes and acts in creation and redemption. We should sing because this was the exemplary response of biblical saints. We should sing because God has commanded us to do so. We should sing because it is a Christian and heavenly activity of eternal duration and significance.
If we do not sing, we disobey God and miss out on the rich blessings derived from this activity.

Paul S. Jones on the Mass

I have been reading Paul Jones' book Singing and Making Music: Issues in Church Music Today which was recommended to me by Mark Reagan. I am enjoying it very much so far! I ran across a paragraph on the Mass as way to organize worship, and I found it very refreshing after several discussions about worship styles and organizational techniques in my Music and Christian Faith class.

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 acknowledgment 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 feel the liberty to employ it or elements of it to aid our gathered worship.

Wake, Awake for Night is Flying

One of my favorite pieces we performed at my school's Christmas Concert this year was "Wake, Awake for Night is Flying." We have used it in worship for years at my Church, but practicing it so intensely and performing it made it make more sense to me.

Wake, awake, for night is flying;
The watchmen on the heights are crying:
Awake, Jerusalem, at last!
Midnight hears the welcome voices
And at the thrilling cry rejoices;
Come forth, ye virgins, night is past;
The Bridegroom comes, awake;
Your lamps with gladness take;
Alleluia! And for His marriage feast prepare
For ye must go and meet Him there.

Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing;
She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious.
Her Star is risen, her Light is come.
Ah come, Thou blessed One, God’s own beloved Son:
Alleluia! We follow till the halls we see
Where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee.

Now let all the heavens adore Thee,
And saints and angels sing before Thee,
With harp and cymbal’s clearest tone;
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where we are with the choir immortal
Of angels round Thy dazzling throne;
Nor eye hath seen, nor ear hath yet attained to hear
What there is ours, but we rejoice and sing to Thee
Our hymn of joy eternally.