When two worlds collide . . .
I regularly attend a collegiate chapel which clearly is
not catering to my taste. It is, after all, a worship service that students are
required to attend, with music planned by and led by students, for students. I
get that. In fact, I celebrate that. But when I assert that it is not catering
to my taste, I am not referring to the musical style.
What I care about is the content of the typical chapel music set. Again I will say it (I don’t
know where I got this phrase, but I use it all the time) “there is no praise
without proclamation.” So when students are only offered words to sing that are
general or vague praise phrases--however artfully put together, or not--we are
not actually, you know, praising God.
Of deeper trouble to me is that many songs do not even
get as far as a string of praise phrases. Because they are stuck in expositing
the emotions that we have, or wish to have, in this time and place. Presumably
evoked by and directed to God; but I use the word presumably intentionally.
That’s one world. The other is writing a program note for
a campus performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria.
And while writing about the hymn, “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” I was struck with
how this ancient model might serve as a pattern for contemporary student chapel
worship.
By the third century A.D., the hymn, “Gloria in excelsis”
was an established part of worship in the Greek-speaking eastern churches. In
the fourth century it was translated into Latin, and in this form became a
permanent feature in the liturgies of western Christianity. The anonymous hymn
begins with the angels’ words to the Judean shepherds:
“Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men.”
To this simple, bold declaration, the unknown author
added a rich doxological theology in
direct, exalted poetry. The resultant
hymn is still said or sung regularly in many worship traditions.
So, it has some legs. And maybe, as C. S. Lewis
and G. K. Chesterton might argue, we owe our ancestors the respect of learning
from it.
The hymn begins where much contemporary praise singing
gets to, and where most of it ends. With ecstatic expressions directed to God: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will to men. (Thus far, the familiar Luke 2 angels) We praise you, we bless you, we adore you,
we glorify you; we give you thanks for your great glory. There is nothing
wordy, or academic, or stodgy about this. In effect, this is what much new
worship music expresses. But note that neither we nor listeners nor angels (1
Peter 1:12)necessarily know what all this emotional fuss is about. Yet.
The hymn continues, and it is in the body of Gloria that actual praise is expressed. This is a hymn to Jesus, who is: Lord God, heavenly King; Lord Jesus Christ,
only begotten Son; Lord God; Lamb of God, Son of the Father who takes away the
sins of the world. (Have mercy and hear our prayer!) Jesus, seated at the right
hand of the Father, the only Holy One, the Most High, with the Holy Spirit in
the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Gloria is a great
model for our sung worship. It is emotionally charged; it is biblical; it uses
simple, direct, powerful language. It shows us Jesus as we are meant to know
him, whom we approach with humble confidence. It wouldn’t hurt to actually sing
this hymn . . . but I am arguing here for Gloria
as a model “worship song set,” much in the way we can both say the Lord’s
Prayer and use it as a model for our
praying.
Our worship will be enriched, we will actually be
praising God, we will come to know Jesus more clearly, we will have ample emotional
expression, and (least important of all) no matter the musical style, my taste (my thirst) will be satisfied.
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