Jewish worship, prayer, and instruction

Class Lectures

Name and discuss three elements of Jewish worship practice that have influenced Christian worship.

First of all, Jewish worship, prayer, and instruction was opened the service with praise. They praised God to honor Him. The first record of praise was the Moses and Miriam’s Praise when they crossed the Red Sea. Miriam’s praise was dancing and playing the tambourine.

Second element is speaking of prayer. Jewish people expressed God’s love, and prayed for God’s blessing for their needs.

Final element is instruction. The instruction emphasized the Scripture Reading. The congregation read the Laws and the Prophets and the scripture lessons were stated in the vernacular language.

List four of the festivals celebrated by Israel in the Old Testament along with their corresponding observance in the Church Year.

Sukkoth- The Feast of Tabernacles.

This was celebrated within the months of September / October and is comparable with Thanksgiving.

Hanukkah-The Festival of Lights.

It is celebrated in December and often falls close to Christmas. Hanukkah and Christmas share other similarities such as gift giving.

Passover-Remembrance of the Israelite’s deliverance out of Egypt.

It usually happens in March/ April and is closely tied to Easter. The Lord’s Supper was a Passover meal.

Pentecost-The Jewish celebration 50 days after Passover.

It occurs in May or June. The first Christian Pentecost took place on this Jewish holiday.

What is the Church Year? Discuss in detail the major celebrations of the Church Year.

The Church Year is an official set of worship services and observances outlining the earthly life and ministry of Jesus. It is used to teach church history and doctrine and serves as a reminder of these elements.

Concerning the tradition of the Western church, Hustad remarks that the year can be broken into two parts: “the Life of Christ” and “The Christian Life”, which the church would refer to as the Proper of the Mass and the Ordinary of the Mass, respectively. The life of Christ is remembered from Advent through Easter. Pentecost would then be the beginning of “The Christian Life”, with the emphasis on the ministries and missions of the church.

Advent. Hustad lists this as the start of the Western Liturgical Year. The Advent Season begins four Sundays prior to Christmas. On the surface, it looks to commemorate the events leading to the birth of Christ, but it also focuses on all of Christ’s reign, both past, present and future.

Christmas. Christmas was introduced into the liturgy of the Roman church sometime during the Fourth Century. The date of December 25th was the last day of a pagan Roman celebration known as Saturnalia. As many pagans had been converted and brought into the church, the church claimed the date as being Jesus’ birth to “Christianize” the feast. In reality, Jesus birth is more likely to have occurred in early spring. The choice of December 25th also puts the celebration of Christmas in relation to the Jewish celebration of the Feast of Light, Hanukkah.

Epiphany. This begins January 6th and continues until Ash Wednesday. The term comes from Greek, meaning “appearance” and commemorates the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as well as the arrival of the wise men to Bethlehem.

Ash Wednesday. This is the beginning of the season of Lent, forty days prior to Easter. It is a call to repentance, remembering the “sackcloth and ashes” response of the Old Testament.

Lent. The season covers forty days prior to prior Easter. It is a time of repentance and remembrance of Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the wilderness and prepares the hearts of believers for the events of Holy Week.

Holy Week. These are the most detailed days of the life of Jesus in all of the Gospels. Including the events of Palm Sunday, the week is a reminder of the final days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. During this week, among many other things, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper, prays and is betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, is brought before Pilate and led to Golgotha for His crucifixion and then burial.

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Easter. This is the keystone day of all history. Hustad remarks that Easter is often referred to as the “Christian Passover”. It parallels the Jewish Passover celebration and is the focal point of Christianity. Paul reminds believers of the importance of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”

Pentecost. This is so-named from the Jewish festival of First Fruits, which occurs fifty days after Passover. It is the birthday of the church, the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

List the three major reformers of the 16th Century and summarize the philosophy of church music of each one. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each reformer’s philosophy of church music.

Luther, Cranmer, and Calvin were the three major reformers of the 16th century. Luther who loves the use of music in worship is one of important figure in the Reformation. He accepted the doctrine of believer-priesthood. He also translated Bible language into German, so congregation could understand more about Bible. He used music to represent God’s Word. There are three aspects which are liturgical, biblical, and educational approach in his philosophy of church music. He used various music styles in the church and from Gregorian chants to secular tune were used for music.

Strengths of music can be found in Lutheran worship. The music led congregation to participate in worship. The congregation could experience various style of music from the old one such as Gregorian chant to the new songs composed by their 5 own languages. People could know through music about the God’s word and His instruction. The weakness of music in Lutheran worship is limitation of the use of organ, so people used their voice to sing hymns without accompaniment. One the other hand, Calvin’s philosophy of church music is to focus only on God’s Word. Therefore, the glory of God can be expressed by God’s Word. He who emphasized on only Bible thought music is harmful in worship. In other words, his opinion was that people in worship can be distracted by music. As a result, he limited the use of music in worship completely. He focused on the Word of God, so only psalms can be sung in worship in his time, not hymns. The people only could praise God with God’s Word in worship. As they could not use the musical instruments, so worship was very dry in the church. Cranmer who was an important figure in English liturgy accepted a Protestant style than Roman style into English liturgy. He wanted to have congregational singing in worship. Calvin influenced on the music in Cranmer’s time about speaking of music. Therefore, people could sing Calvinistic metrical and add to sing psalms, anthems, and canticles with Book of Common Prayer in worship. Therefore, the Calvinistic influence on the music in Cranmer’s time made similarity to strengths and weakness of Calvin’s philosophy of church music.

Discuss the role of music in worship, nurture, and outreach. What types or styles of music are most suitable for each? Why?

God is the center of the triangle, he is the focus of the worship, edification and outreach

Worship – Ministry always begins with God – His glory and satisfaction primary. Music of worship should emphasize the Trinity, salvation. Worship is needed for the sake of feeding of His Word, encouraging brothers and sisters in Christ, and forgiveness of our sins.

Nurture – Ministry is demonstrated within the community of faith with the love and edification of God’s people-brotherly love and mutual benefit. Music of edification is an incredible tool in teaching and in bringing people together. This brings fellowship. Rocks polish each other. Church is like a tumbler and rocks bump into each other and get refined: bad rocks becomes powder, good rocks become more glistening. If you deny church, you forfeit the chance of refining. Abrasive Word of God refines. That is the reason that the law of church is love and forgiveness. Paul mentions togetherness and community (Rom. 12:1-2) and this is the essence of church. It includes ass aspects of education, discipleship, teaching doctrine, even the counterpart of the doctrine.

Outreach – Ministry continues by impacting the unbelieving world with the witness of the Gospel and everyone’s need to know Christ in a personal way. Music of evangelism is not the same as music of worship or edification. The center here is the Gospel: you need to be born-again to meet Jesus. It should be the music of culture that you are going to reach. The saved people will bring music of worship to God.

Discuss ways that music can prepare a church for evangelism. Give examples of some specific activities that can help the church to evangelize the lost.

To witness is to reach the whole world to the vicinity. Non-verbal communication express more than verbal. Walking should proceed the talking. If life does not show one cannot be a witness or witness. People would not be converted by that witness; moreover, it will disprove what we’re saying.

Evangelical worship music should be both objective and subjective, expressing our awesome wonder and praise of God who is above and beyond our imagination and also our love of, and communion with, God in Jesus Christ who lives in us through the Holy Spirit.

Jubilate II: Church Music in Worship and Renewal by Donald Hustad

How does Hustad define: 1) high art church music, 2) traditional church music, 3) folk music, and 4) popular church music? Compare and contrast these styles and discuss the potential usefulness of each in the life of the church. (59-61)

1. High art church music, which is also called as “classical” or “serious music,” represents the well (or best) identified liturgical music through history by recognized art critics who have the ‘high’ knowledge about standard aesthetics in their academic/aesthetic community. High art church music is not for everybody but for very limited people who has abundant knowledge in aesthetics.
2. Traditional church music is the liturgical music which is simple and easy in style and form but originated from high art music. The term can be also used for the music just for liturgy in church.
3. Folk music means the music including a common understanding in a community and orally carried over in the community from generation to generation as its own way. The characteristics of folk music are simple and reflect the nature or a common and that there is a large population understanding the music.
4. Popular church music is any music that most of community members can accept and has more affinity to secular entertainment. This form of music usually disseminated through commercial media.

The most distinguishing difference among the four types of music is who can understand the music. Obviously, the audiences’ levels are very different according to Hustad’s definitions, so that the way how people use their musical talent given to each individual and how they approach to the music would be very different.

There are two things in common between high art church music and the traditional church music which are they pass the acid test and last long in history, and both were composed for worship. Traditional church music is, however, more accessible to people than high art church music since high art church music is more sophisticated. Presenting this kind of sublime church music once in a while, church lets the congregation experience solemnness and transcendent God through music. Music leaders can choose this kind of high art church music carefully for special occasions or thematic services such as Christmas. On the other hand, traditional church music can be sung more often. And this music connects the geriatric with the young and enables people to look back the history.

Moving on to folk music, folk expressions are closely related to the culture, so folk music can be more meaningful and attractive to each ethnic or culture group. There are two different things observed between traditional church music and folk music. First, traditional church music was composed for strictly liturgical purpose while folk music as a secular music but adopted by church and the new sacred text added to its tune. Secondly, traditional church music does not show specific national characteristics much while each folk music has its own color and often the composers are anonymous. However, both music genres can be used commonly in church since both were sung from generation to generation. Borrowed folk tunes can serve church as traditional church music.

When it comes to contemporary popular church music, it is generally attractive to younger group people compared to traditional church music or folk music which are more appreciated by older generations. The contemporary church music is sung in many charismatic churches. Of course, traditional churches can use this type of church music. I believe it is the best way to serve church that church musicians select music carefully and place various types of music properly when worshiping to magnifying the glory of God.

List and discuss the “sins” which best non-liturgical evangelicals in their use of music in worship. (65-66)

The sin of pride.

When we truly concentrate on music itself to give the best thing to God, we may make a serious mistake because our effort for music can turn into an activity to show our musical technique and talent rather than praise Him if we cannot keep our heart focusing on God. We should focus on the glory of God with our best effort and try to avoid the temptation that ‘my music is better than others and worthy to be applauded.’ The quality of music plausible to our ears is not a matter to God. He is looking at our heart first so we should throw away the thought that ‘my music is much better than others’ (‘my music will be accepted by God’) and be humble. God says that He brings down the proud who have arrogance. If we fall into arrogance in our music ministry, God would never be pleased with our music and worship and even will not accept them.

The sin of hedonism.

Here, the hearing of the music becomes the issue rather than the glory of God. Instead of a heart being changed by hearing what God has prepared the pastor to speak, more attention is given to the enjoyment of the music.

The sin of spectatorism.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts believers in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake “the assembly of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” It is apparent to this writer that being a Christian requires participation. Hustad points out that many in today’s churches “would rather be sung to than to sing for themselves.” Very simply put, Christianity is not a spectator sport.

The sin of sentimentalism.

An old pair of shoes is much more comfortable than a new pair that has yet to be worn-in. It follows then, that people would desire to remain in their comfort zones, not willing to be open to changes in music and worship. Enjoying what is familiar is not bad in itself, but as with all things, it must not become the focus or the issue. God must remain the focus, not our singing of favorite hymns.

List and discuss the “evangelical” standards of church music suggested by Hustad. (68-69)

1. It should express and communicate the gospel in text and music languages that are contextualized to the culture for which is intended.
2. It should offer a worthy “sacrifice of praise,” for the individual and for the corporate body in worship experience. It should be their “best” performance. It should be offered with love, humility, gratitude, and grace.
3. It should express and enhance the best Christian theology of each particular culture, supporting all doctrines of that faith in proper balance.
4. It should express and support all the activities related to the group’s beliefs-worship, proclamation, education, pastoral care, and fellowship-with due consideration of musical needs of each.
5. It should speak from the whole person to the whole person, carefully balancing the physical, intellectual, and emotional while avoiding sentimental.
6. It should be genuinely creative, avoiding the out-of-date as well as too much sophistication.

Communication in text and music language is very important. Sometimes, we say that the gospel is our confession of our heart to God. This is true. In a culture, there are lots of things we feel in the same way and we share them in its own language. This often deeply touches others’ hearts so that church music becomes a very good method to share and proclaim the evangelism to believers and non-believers. Therefore, church music should be expressed in richly understandable way and communicable in a culture.

Hustad also pointed out a worth ‘sacrifice of praise.’ In the Old Testament, God wanted faultless lambs for sacrifice. He wanted everything to be faultless. Church music is also a kind of sacrifice we give to God. In other words, our music should be the praise itself and intended for our devotional sacrifice to God. Evangelically, church music should include love, humility, gratitude, and grace with no arrogance. This idea might include the creativity of church music. Using our creativity endowed from God would be one thing to make our music faultless as a sacrifice.

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Culture might be an important ingredient in evangelical church music. As mentioned, music is another type of communication method in a culture. However, common components in a culture should be used in church music for more effective communication, so that theological and evangelical components can have more power with the proper balance of common components to touch people hearts in a culture. In fact, the direct import of church music from the Western to Asian showed a large problem in understanding the evangelical message in music. This discussion includes the fundamental that church music always delivers the core of evangelism.

Evangelical church music should express the Christian theology, as well as all activities found in the Bible such as worship, proclamation, education, pastoral care, and fellowship. Many churches tend to show they are leaning toward certain specific aspects. If only one or two things are standing out, the balance would be broken, which means the church is not healthy.

Compare and contrast the contributions of “revivalist” and “formal evangelical” churches to worship and church music. By what names are these traditions identified among Southern Baptists? (219-223)

Revivalist and formal evangelical churches are categorized by several distinct characteristic. Revivalist seemed to adopt more informal styles in worship so that it naturally pulled more concentration onto God. In the textbook, it says that ‘it was directed toward heaven, not earth. The object was to praise God, not entertain people.’ Also, its style is ordered and stately. Revivalist had more dynamics in worship so Hustad described its characteristics as informality, noise, disorder, energetic, passionate, loud proclamation style, and charismatic variety of worship. Naturally, the worship was being highly emotional. This does not indicate that revivalist worship was human-oriented. Revivalist worship rather focused on horizontal praise of God, spreading the work of the Holy Spirit in us to the congregations/friends/neighbors through themselves. There are two types of Baptists derived from revivalists: Regular Baptist, the more-Calvinistic, i.e., Charleston church, and Separate Baptist, the more charismatic, i.e. Sandy Creek group.

On the other hand, the formal evangelical churches are more rooted in history having more consistent themes in sermon, music, and prayer. They appreciate the liturgy, other formal elements found in historical churches besides the work of Holy Spirit while revivalists mainly focus on the work of Holy Spirit and redemption. Hustad pointed out the tendency of the theological integrity for the formal evangelical churches, so that the churches had highly developed ritual. One of the typical formal evangelical churches is the Broadway Tabernacle Church (Methodist).

However, the liturgical contents for both of the churches have the most common elements discussed by Hustad; for example, sermon/preach, prayer, hymn, and benediction. Also, the influences from the both churches are currently being continued in our churches. Churches not only keep the formal evangelical style of worship but also expect the strong power of the Holy Spirit. Also, with the requiring elements by Hustad, current churches try to use a common language for the congregations to bring up the power of the Holy Spirit in church music.

Briefly discuss the impact of the following on church music: (204, 223-276)

Pietist Movement in Germany.

This was a movement born out of the Lutheran church in the late 1600s. The viewpoint was that the goal of worship and music was the “edification of humanity”. Pietists taught that music was “for every person” and should be kept very simple.

George Whitefield

George Whitefield was the Calvinistic Methodist who was associated with the Wesleys in England, and brought 18th-century revivalism to the colonies. He was influenced by the Anglican tradition so that hymns began to be sung widely, especially those of Isaac Watts, and strict psalm singing was broken in England.

Camp meetings

Camp meeting were outdoor gatherings without regard to the gender, denominations and races. People mixed, socialized and worship together so simple so music showed a tendency to be simple. As black slaves brought their musical heritage, “Spiritual” became popular. Songs were not only simple, but also frequently improvised, and very repetitive. In the improvised manner, some words were changed with each repetition. Camp meetings music helped church music to get more freedom in terms of the form.

Lowell Mason

He was a prominent figure in public school music education in the mid 1800s and assisted in developing the first public school music programs in the United States, around the Boston and New York City areas. His teaching emphasized the use of standard notation (referred to by Mason as “scientific music”), rather than the shape notes used in the frontier areas of the 1800s. He also composed and arranged many hymns, of which 13 are included in the 1991 Edition of The Baptist Hymnal. Among those he composed are BETHANY (“Nearer, My God to Thee”), OLIVET (“My Faith looks up to Thee”) and HAMBURG (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”).

Gospel Songs.

This style of music was so-named by Philip Phillips and was patterned after the music heard in the camp meetings. They could also be known as “experience hymns” or “hymns of witness and testimony”. Names such as Fanny Crosby, William Bradbury, B.B. McKinney and Phoebe Palmer Knapp are now synonymous with Gospel Songs.

Radio and television.

According to Hustad, radio and television “contributed to the passive culture of recreation in our culture.” This change would also encourage the lack of participation in church life. Now distant from the church, the music broadcast over the air would need to encompass a broad spectrum of music styles and tastes.

The celebration era.

This time begins in the 1960s and is characterized by an emphasis on “celebration” in worship and places high value on one’s experience. Hustad refers to this as “The New Pietism” and even “The New Worship Hedonism”, the latter with an emphasis on having an enjoyable experience.

List and briefly discuss Hustad’s twelve suggestions for worship renewal today. (308-312)

1. Study worship thoroughly: its scriptural basis, theology, history, psychology, in a “full revelation of God and a full human response.”
2. Regular worship should contain all the elements in the New Testament churches: scripture reading, preaching, prayers, acts of dedication, and musical expressions.
3. Worship should use as much language of scripture as possible: worship words should be chosen, so that it may speak to all age groups in the congregation, to the typical cultural levels represented, revision of old sermons, simplifying language for declining literacy. Completely “secularized” worship language is not healthy.
4. Worship should conform to the basics of historic liturgy: basic historical worship outlines are the products of the accumulated wisdom of almost 2,000 years during which the Holy Spirit has been present and working in the church. One of the requirements of liturgical worship is congregational action. Worship is the “work of the people,” this is the most important. Worshipers should be involved in as much speaking, singing, and bodily action as possible.
5. In making changes, don’t follow the “madding” crowd unless you are convinced they are following the Holy Spirit: Follow your tradition based on your own theology.
6. Be sure that “the joy of the Lord” shows in your worship, is modeled by the service leaders, and is evident in the congregation: the “unbelievers come to church, not primarily to investigate the claims of Christ, but to investigate the Christ in us.”
7. Add ample right-brain language in emotive-intuitive symbolism, not for fun or for aesthetics, but for truth’s sake: Ever-present danger of idolatry-the worship of self or of cultural icons in the place of God. it is important to keep old ones, like hymnal-the repository of the church’s memory, preserving the heritage of its greatest singers and important hymn literature.
8. In music, sing as wide a spectrum of song as did the first-century church with musical styles that will meet the expectations of today’s congregation:

9. New worship choruses (high emotional experience and release)

   – Taize minimalist music (cognitive and emotional expression)

   Older gospel songs

   – Contemporary ballads (experience of Christ)

   Psalms settings (full language of prayer)

   Classic hymns (identity with the historic church and doctrine, the perpetuity of God’s covenants, and the continuity of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of God’s people)

10. Worship changes should aim to unite a congregation, not divide it: worship must include a full range of emotions, including penitence and sober reflection, the spirit of celebration based on thanksgiving should be predominant.
11. Teach the significance of each worship experience in the context of regular services: teach the meaning of worship words.
12. Protect music education in the church, because Christians are stewards of God-given talents: God expects the talents to be returned to him by giving glory.
13. Be sure that worship is finally incarnational, in that men and women become more perfectly human as Jesus Christ was perfectly human: as a result of their encounter with God, in the name of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Outline and discuss the elements of the Genevan Order of Worship (Isaiah 6). (330-338)

Preparation for worship- instrumental prelude is a “curtain” which we draw to shut out life’s busting distractions so that we may sense the presence of the numinous, powerful, loving God. But this does not function since folks tend to talk over the music. Informal music may be directed by a songleader and may be interspersed with personal witnessing, and this may conclude with a time of greeting one another. The minister may say “Now let us worship God” as a call to worship.

Confession, Forgiveness- The call to confession may be preceded by reading or paraphrasing 1 John 1:9. The call could be “Let us admit our sin before God, first in a verse of a hymn and then in our united confession.” An “assurance of forgiveness” is an announcement that, if we confess, God forgives our sins, as he has promised to do.

God Speaks – Scripture reading are given to keep both ancient and modern practice (Old and New Testaments), psalm is followed after to be response to the reading. In many congregations it is customary to close a scripture reading with the phrase “This is the Word of the Lord” and the people’s response “Thanks be to God.” a gospel reading would be followed with “This is the gospel of the Lord” and the response, “Praise be to you, O Christ.” the virtue of Geneva order is that scripture reading is followed closely by its interpretation in the sermon without a lot of intervening numbers. However, it is considered appropriate to follow any scripture with the Gloria Patri, with a canticle, or with a psalm, hymn, or anthem. It is appropriate for the minister to follow Calvin’s example by prefacing the homily with a “Prayer of illumination.”

We Respond- the response hymn in this instance is a parallel to the opening hymn, in keeping with the sermon emphasis, the first speaks of transcendent God, second speaks of the immanent Jesus Christ as a “friend.” It is also appropriate as an “invitation” to Christian decision. Offering is placed after the sermon and response hymn, one way of saying “Amen” to God’s will expressed in his word, read and preached. This is based on a song of praise to Christ for his incarnation and self-emptying, or any other text of adoration. Another type is the reciting of a doctrinal confession, we stand to state our belief. The preferred form is the short Apostle’s Creed.

We Pray- prayer is placed after the hearing of and responding to, the Word of God. It is because God called the meeting to order to reveal himself, his actions and his will. It is good etiquette to “hear God out” and to offer a full affirmative response. And it is a moving experience for believers to pray together as the closing act of a community at worship. These could be “bidding prayers” that leader calls for silent, personal petition for church, for ministers, and Christian workers around the world, for peace and justice among nations, and for the sick and bereaved persons.

We Celebrate Communion- The prayer should contain both bread and drink part of Jesus’ command. In recent years, many churches added central memorial acclamation after the statement of remembrance: “Christ had died; Christ had risen; Christ will come again.”

The Close of Worship- Hymn is sung proclaiming the Cross, because it is only through Christ’s death on the cross that we may know God, both transcendent and immanent. The instrumental postlude is generally exuberant in tone, reflecting thanksgiving for the opportunity of worship and the movement of the congregation into the week of continuing worship, witness, and service.

List and discuss the emphases of evangelistic