"Incarnational" Church

I had major questions to raise after reading Sally Morgenthaler's response to Best's article. She speaks of North America being a "print-plus-image-and sound world"(pg 93) and she thinks eventually it will become "image-plus-sound-and-print"(pg 93) in nature. I do believe this may be true, but the implications of what she concludes is dangerous. She concludes that having an emphasis on text is the antithesis of being incarnational(pg 93). I'm not exactly sure that is true, considering the fact that God decided to reveal Himself to mankind through text-a book- and has preserved His Word (the term "Word" being textual in nature) in language. To say that the Church (universal) should be incarnational through multiple mediums leads to questions of what is allowed in church (the "Regulative Principle"). For Sally, she would say that the church should include "poetry...dance, meditations" and should also include "digital art, photography, and video; neotribal, techno, and popular music." Where do we draw the line in the name of being "incarnational"?

AM I WILLING TO WORK?

Worship is not a game. It is not something to pass over lightly. I think that is very clearly demonstrated in the responses that the Faculty of the University of Wittenberg (pg. 46-50) gave upon looking over Freylinghausen’s Hymnal. The seriousness in which they set out on their task is incredible. They understood the implications of not having worship to God being anything but excellent. Not only the Faculty of Wittenberg, but the vast majority of the sources read, purposefully deal with worship in a God glorifying way. Based on this, it is a travesty to think that it is o.k. or acceptable to throw together a time of worship in half an hour with zero planning, forethought, or devotion to God. It's work. But it is work with a reward like no other.

Hymns vs Contemporary songs.....

From our reading, it is clear everyone agrees with Best that hymns do possess rich texts and styles, but what is the balance between using hymns vs choruses and contemporary songs in church? I believe that it is important for worship leaders to plan the service songs with God in mind without worrying too much about how the congregation “feel” about the song, and how a particular hymn or chorus fit into the service. Exploring for hymns that have fallen out of use, that have great texts and putting new melodies to these hymns can be helpful and in the end, we must be careful to let the style of music prevent us from entering into worship.

Luther and the Arts

I once again found the reading to be a great reminder of the joy and priviledge of singing songs of praise to God. Martin Luther makes an excellent point in showing that we join in the great line of history that includes "the prophets and kings of the old testament..."(pg39), Moses and Paul (pg 40) in a long-standing tradition of making it "that Christ is our praise and song, and that we ought to know nothing to sing or say but what Paul says, 1 Cor. 2, that Jesus Christ is our Savior." (pg 40). This again speaks to the "church language" that we discussed yesterday in class. It is interesting to me that Luther also suggests that some form of Christian music be created to "make them [young people] abandon love tunes and carnal songs and in their place learn something wholesome, and thus fill the good with pleasure, as is best for the young." Here, Luther really gets to the heart of hymns, that they use the truth of God to draw our affections upward toward Him and away from that which is worldly and carnal.

Choice Words

“I would prefer that you omit new words and those used at court, in order toappeal to the masses of plain people, yet at the same time using words that are choice and proper to be sung,having a clear meaning and related as closely as possible to the psalm.” (p. 39, Letter to Georg Spalatin)

At first glance you could argue our friend Mart was advocating mass-marketable popular songs! Yet he advises the poet that the aim of his craft should be, firstly, to use language fitting the “elevated” style natural to hymns, and secondly, to produce an understandable and accurate representation of the selected Scripture.

LEARNING TO FLY

Reading the responses today I thought of this illustration, hopefully it will convey the message I felt while reading.

Once upon a time in the land of ducks there was a small Duck church called Little Pond First Baptist Church. The good ducks of Little Pond went to church every Sunday to hear Pr. Pekin’s sermon. One Sunday, After three glorious verses of “I’ll Fly Away,” Pr. Pekin stood and began his message saying, “Flock, we are blessed to have wings.” To which Mr. Mallard exclaimed, “Amen!” Pr. Pekin continued, “With our wings we can reach safety, We can fly south in the winter and return in the spring.” Mr. Hookbill cried, “Halleluiah!” The Pr. Continued, “we can fly travel great distances with our wings with nothing in our way but beautiful sky!” Mrs. Loon nodded sharply her consent. “Yes, the good Lord sure knew what He was doing when he gave us wings! Amen?” continues the pastor, “what a blessing to have wings. All of the congregation exclaimed hearty amens to this and at the end of the service all thanked the pastor and silently walked home.

Did you get it? They WALKED home! My frustration with some of these responses is that several of the authors agree and say the hymn is such a beautiful tool, and the worship leader may never forget its use, or the hymnal is full of deep singable texts, yet, if everyone is on the same page of how the hymnal is such a wonderful gift, how come I haven’t heard it? Are we still walking home? Or are we learning to fly?

Updated the Gadsby link

You should be able to get to the preface of Gadsby's Hymns. I updated the link on DAY TWO of the daily calendar. But here's the link if if you want to get it from here.

http://www.truegospel.net/Gadsby/Preface.htm