A Baptist friend of mine recently posted on his Facebook page his concerns over Contemporary Christian Music. It should be noted that my friend is not a casual Baptist, but a fire & brimstone, Creationism street preacher, ask-every-waitress-if-she-knows-whether-she’s-going-to-heaven, KJV-only, variety Baptist. The resultant exchange of Facebook-thread crossfire between his Baptist friends was useful to observe. Not only did some recognize the folly of the bait-and-switch of making Church more like the World, they concluded (in not so many words) that Doctrine and Practice are indeed intertwined.
Is it okay to borrow that lesson from the Baptists? Or should we postpone that lesson and try to Lutheranize church theatrics? (Gee, I wonder why Hoenecke didn't think of using vaudeville acts to pack the pews?)
A curious turn in the discussion was a Baptist quoting the words of Dr. Martin Luther himself to appeal for glorifying hymnody in the Church. They posted Luther’s first preface to the Wittenberg Hymnal, from A.D. 1524, the text of which follows below for your future reference.
That it is good, and pleasing to God, for us to sing spiritual songs is, I think, a truth whereof no Christian can be ignorant; since not only the example of the prophets and kings of the Old Testament (who praised God with singing and music, poesy and all kinds of stringed instruments) but also the like practice of all Christendom from the beginning, especially in respect to psalms, is well known to every one: yea, St. Paul doth also appoint the same (1 Cor xiv.) and command the Colossians, in the third chapter, to sing spiritual songs and psalms from the heart unto the Lord, that thereby the word of God and Christian doctrine be in every way furthered and practiced.
Accordingly, to make a good beginning and to encourage others who can do it better, I have myself, with some others, put together a few hymns, in order to bring into full play the blessed Gospel, which by God’s grace hath again risen: that we may boast, as Moses doth in his song (Exodus xv.) that Christ is become our praise and our song, and that, whether we sing or speak, we may not know anything save Christ our Saviour, as St. Paul saith (1 Cor. ii.).
These songs have been set in four parts, for no other reason than because I wished to provide our young people (who both will and ought to be instructed in music and other sciences) with something whereby they might rid themselves of amorous and carnal songs, and in their stead learn something wholesome, and so apply themselves to what is good with pleasure, as becometh the young.
Beside this, I am not of opinion that all sciences should be beaten down and made to cease by the Gospel, as some fanatics pretend; but I would fain see all the arts, and music in particular, used in the service of Him who hath given and created them.
Therefore I entreat every pious Christian to give a favorable reception to these hymns, and to help forward my undertaking, according as God hath given him more or less ability. The world is, alas, not so mindful and diligent to train and teach our poor youth, but that we ought to be forward in promoting the same. God grant us his grace. Amen.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
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2 comments:
"Great googly moogly!" – those church theatrics, were awful. Speaking of which, here's something just as bad, if not worse, from the other side of the Danube: a Roman "Western Mass" at which "the Confederate Flag was embarrassed to be in attendance." On the basis of this video, perhaps we ought to declare Church Growth shenanigans "too Roman Catholic" to be healthy for conscientious Lutherans – that is, after all, why Hoenecke and other Confessionals didn't approve of liturgical Polka dance and Friday night fish fry's in the Church basement, even though it certainly would have been more culturally inviting in urban areas where immigrant population of the later 19th Century was increasingly Roman Catholic. Never mind that CGM just universally wrong. That seems to be too hard for people to understand. Never mind that it's distinctly sectarian functional Arminianism (what does 'sectarian worship' mean again? and what does Armenia have to do with it?), and fundamentally incompatible with confessional Lutheranism. Maybe if CGM is seen as Papistic some would decide to reject it out of pure anti-Roman bigotry. Then again, maybe just doing the hard work of sticking to sound and distinctive Lutheran doctrine, teaching it, repeating it (over and over again), and demonstrating it in sound and distinctive Lutheran practice, while repudiating false teachings (the same false teachings as they come up over and over again) and the practices associated with them, is the more faithful course of action.
Just thinking out loud...
My curiousity has been raised by the Luther quotation. Why did Luther put the hymns in four part? "because I wished to provide our young people (who both will and ought to be instructed in music and other sciences) with something whereby they might rid themselves of amorous and carnal songs, and in their stead learn something wholesome, and so apply themselves to what is good with pleasure, as becometh the young." It sounds to me like Luther put these hymns in a style that would attract the young people. If Gregorian Chant was the standard church music of the day, 4 part hymns would have been pretty radical. Thanks for the quotation.
Rev. Mark Wenzel, Chaplain
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