Words and Melodies: Christian Music and Art

Reflections on Inclusive Yet Discerning by Frank Burch Brown chs. 4-7

I don't think I have ever been to a church service where there was no music at all. It may have been reflective, loud, played by organ, or any number of things but there was always some kind of music as a part of the worship experience.

Even when I was in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert with my traveling companions we sang hymns, praise songs, and spirituals as we felt led as a form of our worship while watching the sun set. I feel like there are few elements that are a vital part of the worshipping community: Prayer, Scripture Reading, and some sort of music. The order of worship, the way the word is proclaimed, all of that may be different in various ecumenical settings but there are these few things.

Music does something to us we when worship. Music speaks not just to the mind but to the heart and soul as well.

What we need to do is discern. Discern what the purpose of the art: music, technology, dance, or drama. Things that help us imagine beyond what we can experience in a static place like a sanctuary. Good discernment can aide in our prayer, proclamation, and other ways to think about how visuals and other art can speak through, into, and out of scripture and the worship experience.

We may choose a song for worship because of how it relates to the scripture text used but the mood of the music. We need to discern if we are exploiting the emotions of the those in worship or if we are enhancing the mood and emotions in order bring people to a place in worship.

Sometimes the melody has been the important driving part of the song. In the season of Lent in the PCUSA church there are many times that the hymnal or the selections are in minor chord but at the end of the season is the Resurrection where we turn directly toward the major chord with joyful and triumphant words. The melody is the movement of the service and the season. It brings us to a place of reflection.


In class this question was asked:
Could it not also be part of our calling to compose and sing music that is as varied as the people and communities who lift their hearts to God in song?
"Part of our calling is to sing the songs of peoples in communities not only in our own time but other times because we are expressing the unity of the body of Christ throughout time and location." -Kim Long

It is important to think about the long standing traditions of words, lyrics, or melodies that have now crossed time but what is beautiful is how artists and composers have looked at old words and created tunes that are accessible to the people. God has created people to express and how wonderful that the people of God are creating still; creating new and reclaiming the old.

God is working through artists, composers, and all humanity that join in the arts; whether it is by participating in or appreciating with the artist(s).