Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Music and Religion




(David Crowder has a really awesome beard and equally amazing hair! He's also one of my favorite people to watch perform. He's so in love with what he's doing!)

Throughout my childhood, I was raised in a baptist church that used praise and worship music on a regular basis. While the church did sing hymns, most of them had some variations to make the songs more contemporary. In typical service, the church would use music as a call to worship. Music would also be used right before a sermon as a way to prepare one's heart for worship. Typically, these songs would be slower, less upbeat songs. During songs, people would pray over the scripture that was about to be preached on. After the sermon, a song or two would be sung as a way for people to pray silently and to allow people to confess their sins. It was also used as alter call for those who felt led to ask Christ to be their savior. Music was always used to symbolize different parts of the service. It was used to lift people up, prepare them for worship, and put them in awe of their Savior. It was always such a powerful thing to see how music can change someone emotionally and spiritually throughout an entire church service.



(Here's the lovely doxology that I had the privilege of singing every Sunday at the end of service.)


As I entered my junior year of high school, I began singing at my choir director's home church, where he was the music director. He happens to be Presbyterian. I quickly learned this was very different from the church I had grown up in. However, this was not a bad thing. I looked at the bulletin and realized that every song we were singing would be out of a hymnal. Coming from a baptist church, this was not always the case. I realized that the call to worship would be spoken instead of sung. I also recognized that the music to enter into worship was not going to be sung, but rather played by the organist or pianist that Sunday. Throughout the service, the anthem was always sung by the choir or by soloists. It was always music that corresponded with the message for that day as well. I enjoyed that, essentially, after every aspect of the service, there was music.


(Here's the Episcopal Church of the Advent. Isn't it beautiful?)

When I started at Converse, I was asked by our lovely organist to sing at the Episcopal Church of the Advent. Honestly, I had no idea what an episcopal was or what there traditions were. I absolutely love the time I spend singing there though, now that I have gotten the hang of things. Being at Advent is similar to being at my choir director's church in terms of structure, but there is even more sung! I feel that music is used to encourage worship whenever possible and I love that aspect!

I am extremely attached to music in the church and how beautiful it can be when used in a church setting. I do believe that religion and the music played within the church do, in fact, have a direct correlation with what I enjoy listening to. I have also found that true with my mom. She loves listening to Contemporary Christian music and I think that is a result of what she was also raised with. I, on the other hand, like to hear hymns and the more traditional side of worship. I love listening to hymns in any shape or form. I also believe that the values of the religions can be a very big aspect of how music is experienced. For example, my mom doesn't enjoy secular pop music as much as she does religious pop music. The biggest reason being that secular pop music does not involve topics that interest her. Therefore, she prefers to stick to the Contemporary Christian.




2 comments:

  1. This is all really interesting, Rebekah, if not surprising. I like that you're considering what each type of service is using music , and I also appreciate your willingness to experience different forms of worship. And yes, Advent is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rebekah, I really appreciated how in depth you went when describing each type of service you had experienced. As someone who hasn't experienced a lot of different services, I thought it was a great snapshot. Also I liked your view on how the Advent uses music in their services. I have recently participated in the choir there and saw it more as just a way to break up the monotony of the service.

    ReplyDelete