As promised, here are some more ideas for enlivening music and worship.
These are all about the Bible…
Hello?
Still there?
Thought I’d lost you for a moment. Because even though I agree with Living Faith that the Bible is is our “rule of faith and life” and the “standard of all doctrine,” if you put me in front of a Sunday school class, I’d rather tell them that the Good Book is full of bad words (that they’ll have to find themselves), good advice, poetry, high drama, low humour , eroticism, mysticism, sword fights, epic battles, spy stories and love stories.
The Bible is one sweet book, sweeter (so it says) than honey from the honeycomb and so here are some ideas for all of us, young and old, to “taste and see” for ourselves.
Wendy and I drove back yesterday from the Worship Symposium in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The main theme was the letter to the Philippians, and in one session nine young people recited the whole letter, accompanied by striking artwork on PowerPoint and interspersed with songs and hymns. It was an idea great for a worship conference, though much more difficult at St. Andrew’s, Anytown, but what about: a Valentine’s Day event of dramatic readings from the Song of Songs with instrumental accompaniment, with songs and hymns interspersed? Hymns such as “O perfect love” or “Love Divine, all loves excelling” along with, say, Elizabethan love songs would give the reading a traditional frame. A more contemporary slant could be provided by songs from the Iona Community, or modern hymns such as Brian Wren’s “As man and woman we are made,” “This is a story full of love,” (both in The Book of Praise) or hymn-poet Richard Leach’s “Waiting for the Bridegroom.” (Check out Selah Publishing.)
Or, what about Genesis 1-2 read with improvised music (jazz or another genre) as accompaniment? As I’ve written in an earlier column, we presented the story of Creation in this way in several worship settings, complete with the congregation singing the line “and there was evening and there was morning, the first (second, etc.) day.” Hilary Donaldson, my daughter, presented it as part of a worship service in Dallas, Texas, with the music performed by high school instrumentalists. However it is presented, the innate drama of the story wields a deep and compelling power.
Jazz vesper services are a great place to combine words and music in innovative ways. At several jazz services, we combined not only scripture but prayers and other readings with improvised music. We found that African-American spirituals and gospel songs made an excellent link between congregational song and jazz (not usually a congregational form). The biblical stories of Daniel along with “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” or of Ezekiel paired with “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel” and “Dry Bones” are a wonderful way to taste these familiar passages in new ways.
Also for those churches with members with a flair for the dramatic: the Second Letter to the Corinthians makes for wonderful theatrical reading. In it, with cut-and-thrust legal argument, bravado, surprising vulnerability and, finally, deep humanity, the Apostle Paul is defending his ministry with the fractious and misbehaving Corinthians.
A secondary theme of this year’s Calvin Worship Symposium – and a present project of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship – is how to encourage people to sing psalms. As a song- and hymn-writer, I have been writing some “dub” — versions of some psalms. (“Dub,” by the way, is rhythmic, spoken poetry from the West Indies). I’ll never be an authentic practitioner, but it doesn’t matter: I love the form. Challenge some of your young people, someone who loves hip-hop, to write a rap version of a Psalm. Don’t shy away from the tougher psalms: pair them with well-beloved hymns – for example “What a Friend we have in Jesus” with Psalm 41 to add an interpretive voice to the mix.
The Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada – and a sister organization, the Southern Ontario Chapter of the Hymn Society – are treasure troves of new paraphrases of biblical passages.
Have an evening of old favourites. Make it a fundraiser for another church event. Sing “Tell me the old, old story” and “Dare to Be a Daniel” along with Brian Wren’s “This is a story full of love” or his “Deep in the shadows of the past”.
In our own wordy, discursive, middle-of-the-road Presbyterian way, we believe the Bible. But some Sundays I long for the passion, the rage, the prophetic flights, the head-over-heels power of it.
Believe the Bible? Better believe it. How about be-love it?
