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TrueLight
Guest
At the reformed Church I sometimes attend, which is a cross between high liturgical and contemporary (We have both a classical/ traditional choir and a gospel choir), our Good Friday service is well attended.
At the Good Friday service the choir is doing:
Dvorak’s Requiem (all Latin - yay!)
God So Loved the World
Stabat Mater (Poulenc) More Latin
The congregation is singing Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded and other beautiful hymns.
It is an awesome service that I think a lot of Catholics would love.
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CatholicZ09
Guest
Sounds better than some of the stuff that will be sung in Catholic parishes around the world this Friday.At the reformed Church I sometimes attend, which is a cross between high liturgical and contemporary (We have both a classical/ traditional choir and a gospel choir), our Good Friday service is well attended.
At the Good Friday service the choir is doing:
Dvorak’s Requiem (all Latin - yay!)
God So Loved the World
Stabat Mater (Poulenc) More Latin
The congregation is singing Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded and other beautiful hymns.
It is an awesome service that I think a lot of Catholics would love.
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Cat
Guest
That’s wonderful! You are blessed.
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Cat
Guest
Not usually, although so much is changing in evangelical Protestant churches.
I remember having our cantata or our Children’s Easter play/program on Good Friday evening.
I also remember doing some Tenebrae services, but there were people in the evangelical churches who questioned these as “too occultish” or “too Romanish.”
Several of the evangelical churches in our city are doing “The Streets of Jerusalem,” or something like that, where they build an entire Bible-times city of Jerusalem in their church, and the congregation dresses up in Bible times costumes. Visitors get to walk through and see what Jerusalem looked like in Jesus’ time, and there are opportunities to talk to the Bible times people and hear stories of Jesus.
A lot of evangelical churches did a sunrise service, and these were held outdoors (to see the sunrise–get the symbolism here?!). I say “did,” because nowadays, we don’t see that as often. But that could be because here up North, it’s still snowing. (Yucko). I’m guessing that the sunrise service is still done at evangelical churches in warmer climes in the U.S.
Evangelical churches are always trying to come up with something “different” that will attract a crowd. My husband’s childhood church always did “the Living Cross.” It was a huge choir loft built into the shape of a cross and decorated with hundreds of lilies, and the choir, usually around 100 people, stood on the risers and presented a cantata or some kind of musical program. There was always a live orchestra, and soloists, and a narrator, or sometimes actors who did an Easter drama. It was quite spectacular, and many busloads of people came from all over the area to see it. It was presented several times during the Easter weekend.
Or sometimes churches would do passion plays, with live actors and a donkey and everything.
But now, these kinds of programs are rare in evangelical churches. People don’t have the time to put into stuff like this. Also, there were lots of complaints that the practices and the actual programs separated families and forced young children to spend the whole weekend with a sitter or at grandma’s instead of with their parents.
Many large evangelical churches hire their musicians now, and the music is professional, not volunteer. (That’s why it’s so good.) Sigh. I miss those Easter programs.
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nhylan
Guest
This is a HUGE generalization and leads to inaccurately formed opinions. Ever heard of “A mighty Fortress is OUR God?” or maybe “Now thank WE all our God?” Its ridiculous to even infer that catholic hymns are somehow more communal than Protestant hymns. More than half the hymns you sing at your Mass are probably Protestant anyways. In fact, one could argue rather persuasively that the modern hymnody is a Protestant invention (in particular Anglican and Lutheran.) Catholic church’s are largely ignorant of the source of their hymns, or in my opinion, good church music in general. I’ve heard Down Ampney referred to as a Catholic Hymn (in the Roman Catholic sense).
On another note: a few of the pieces we will be performing this year: Ubi Caritas, Hallelujah Chorus, Now the green blade Riseth.
I agree with you, nhylan, but I also understand Scoobyshme’s point, with hymns such as Amazing Grace and “I come to the Garden Alone”. My father, who was a Lutheran pastor, usually avoided these types of hymns as theologically unsound. I suspect, however, there are some protestant communions that do emphasis the “me” more than the “we”.
Jon
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cooterhein
Guest
This is a list that I found for Easter hymns. hymnlyrics.org/easterhymns.html These are the ones that I would pick out as most likely to come up, though.
Alive Again, Christ Arose (not on the list), Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Come Ye Faithful Raise the Strain, Come See the Place Where Jesus Lay, Easter Song, He Lives (not on the list), I Know That My Redeemer Lives, Resurrection Hymn (a more recent one; not on the list), The Day of Resurrection, Welcome Thou Victor In the Strife. Oh, and we can’t forget “Up From the Grave He Arose.”
Good Friday hymns: It’s been my experience that there’s a bit more variety and depth to this group of hymns, and there’s been more recent additions in recent years.
O Sacred Head Now Wounded- originally based on Latin text by Bernard of Clairveaux; later translated to German by Paul Gerhardt and arranged at one point by Bach; more recently translated to English by Presbyterian minister James Alexander. That’s the version in most hymnals.
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord- African American spiritual written by
but covered by artists from Johnny Cash to Mahalia Jackson.Alas and Did My Savior Bleed
Depth of Mercy- originally by Wesley; Caedmon’s Call did something cool with it more recently. They adapted it in a song they call “Only Hope.” “God Be Merciful to Me” (from the Redemption Songs Album by Jars of Clay) has the same meter and similar lines as well.
The Wonderful Cross- from Isaac Watts to Chris Tomlin. My summary, in a nutshell.
And Can it Be That I Should Gain- Wesley again.
Calvary Covers It All
Are You Washed In the Blood?- on a Catholic forum, it seems appropriate to add this question: The Protestants want to know are you washed in the blood, not just in the water?
Blessed Redeemer
Jesus Paid It All
Nothing But the Blood- Lowry in the 19th century, Matt Redman more recently.
The Old Rugged Cross
There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood- not my favorite as far as imagery goes, quite honestly.
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross- again, originally by Watts, but Chris Tomlin’s arrangement is more familiar to some. It was an innovative departure from the early English hymn style, although the first couple of lines do paraphrase a passage from Galatians. Watts’ fourth verse is generally omitted, a practice that began with George Whitefield.
Sweetly Broken- Jeremy Riddle. One of my faves.
Forever My Love/The Nails In Your Hands
God So Loved/Worthy Is the Lamb That Was Slain- Hillsong publishing.
The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power
You Are My All In All/Jesus Lamb of God
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cooterhein
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I think it was a bit too much of a blanket statement, although there may be something to it. Catholics do have a soteriological approach that includes “The Church” as an agent that brings about salvation, which does contrast with the understanding of most Protestants.
I agree that it’s a bit too large of a generalization, but it’s not entirely baseless. I can see where that’s coming from. You have a point too, though; “When We All Get to Heaven” comes to my mind as well.
On the other hand…if you look for Catholic songs/hymns that have a more individualistic focus, how many of those would you be able to find? I really don’t know; I’m not that familiar with them. I assume you wouldn’t find that many.
On second thought, though, would the musical prayers like “Kyrie eléison” count as individualistic? I seem to remember something along the lines of “Oh Lord, have mercy on me.” If that counts as individualistic, then you guys really do quite a bit of that. Like, every single time you attend Mass.
Apologies to Scooby if you’re not able to enjoy “Kyrie” as much when you think about that “me and God” mindset that you’re opposed to.
And you could argue very persuasively that the doctrinal truths they express entirely pre-date the Protestant Reformation. So if this is some kind of “I’m-more-important” contest…
Generally speaking, do those kinds of contests really have to happen between Christians? Can’t we just decide that they’re a bad thing?
Even if true, I don’t think that can really be constructive criticism unless it comes from a source within the RC tradition. If Catholics aren’t satisfied with their music, they’ll adapt as needed and they’ll deal with internal resistance to it as best they can. Their music is not like their dogma, in that there’s no claim to freedom from imperfection. The musical situation isn’t always perfect, and they are well aware of this. And as far as this specific topic regarding music that’s done on Easter weekend, Catholic parishes actually do a very nice job. There’s a number of reasons why people choose this weekend as the only one of the year that they’ll spend in church, and the musical performance is one of them. It’s not the most important one, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
I’ve never heard the first one, but I’m obviously familiar with Hallelujah Chorus. “Green Blade Riseth” is an amazing song; you do that one on dulcimer?
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