Protestant worship/praise music

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jeannetherese said:
I tend to think of hymns as a form of catechesis and worry about what some lyrics may be unintentionally teaching at Mass.
I’m unfamiliar with the song,but the lyrics, as presented here, seem to suggest panthiesm? Air =God?
Not everyone will make the connections assumed by the songwriter and I
worry that the result may be catechesis that confuses Our Lord’s creation with Our Lord Himself.
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Isn’t God described also as a Rock, Lion, etc? I don’t think the song literally means oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen are God.
 
EIF5A said:
Isn’t God described also as a Rock, Lion, etc? I don’t think the song literally means oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen are God.
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And doesn’t the Psalmist say “Your Spirit is water for my soul”?
 
I meant no offense. In these days when secularization is such a powerful force, I think that considering clarity of message can be an important issue as we seek to catechise.
Some metaphors are more readily recognizable and helpful than others. As we consider this, we might also consider that those assisting at Mass run an age spectrum from still in the womb to the upper 90s.
The words we chose to sing make a difference. As noted in a previous post, it is important to choose carefully-and I think worrying about who might be poorly served by the choice is part of that process.
 
Rock music uses rhythms which are designed to ignite sexual feelings in the listener. I believe these 4/4 timings are a serious source of temptation.
 
exnihilo said:
Rock music is as you pointed out a wide genre. But I believe that at least some rock music does induce violence or a violent spirit. I had a colleague who told me about the affects he noticed from different types of music on his young boy. If he was listening to harder forms of rock his boy would jump around violently. With softer forms of music he would not.

Really if you think about it most people are inclined to move their body in some sort of way when they hear music. I’m not much of a dancer but I can say that bluegrass makes me want to tap my foot. For those who do dance we certainly don’t expect a violent, headbanging dance to classical music. It wouldn’t be congruent and it is not what came naturally from the music.

I think there is something very much spiritual about music. It is like language. It is communicated between men via physical means, but what underlies it is really spiritual. In fact Professor Peter Kreeft mentions the idea of the music of Bach being an argument for the existence of God.

For these reasons I do believe that some forms of music are more suited for the worship of God.
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And I disagree with your final sentence, although I fully recognize that the Catholic Church has praised Gregorian chant. But the Catholic Church has NOT stated that Gregorian chant is the ONLY music suited for the Mass.

IMO, it depends on a person’s background and upbringing, and also a person’s temperament.

For some reason, my husband finds Bach and other Baroque composers “frantic”. He doesn’t like Handel’s Messiah because of this frantic-ness–gives him a headache. He actually doesn’t like much of any classical music. To him, Baroque music is “headbanging!”

Some people on this board find Gregorian chant highly spiritual and worshipful, but I do not. I wasn’t raised with it, and the only exposure I’ve had to it in my first 47 years was in movies, and of course, back when it became “pop music” during the 1980s. So to me, Gregorian chant and other forms of chant are “secular-sounding” and theatrical. I simply don’t have the background to be able to appreciate chant as “religious music.” I have no association with chant as “church music,” and so that part of me is not there. I’ve been Catholic for eight years now, and I still don’t “get” chant.

OTOH, I do find some contemporary worship/praise music highly worshipful, because that is what I was raised with in church. I was raised Baptist, and we did not go to bars, lounges, or “parties,” and we didn’t listen to much secular rock music. So I do not associate contemporary Christian music with any kind of secularism–to me, it’s “worship music.” I can be brought to tears by certain Christian rock songs, but be left stone cold by Gregorian chant.

But I certainly understand and appreciate why other Christians who grew up with alcohol and parties in their homes, and who went to bars and lounges when they were (hopefully) of legal age, would find any contemporary music “secular” and have a very hard time worshipping or seeing it as appropriate for a Mass.

And I can certainly understand and appreciate why other Catholic Christians who were raised in a traditional Catholic home and attended a traditional Latin Mass would long for the “religious” music and Mass of their upbringing, and find traditional music styles highly worshipful. So do I, only my “religious music” is gospel and rock!

I can also understand why young Christians who were not raised in traditional worship settings would find contemporary Christian music jarring because to them, it sounds like the secular music that surrounds them everywhere they go. They understandably want their church to be different from their everyday experiences. I get that.

I think it’s wonderful that Holy Mother Church encourages all kinds of music in the Masses, and leaves the decision up to the territorial authority (the bishop) instead of making a grand, sweeping pronouncement applicable to all Catholic churches world-wide.

Like I said, it’s all a question of upbringing, background, and temperament.
 
Indifferently said:
Rock music uses rhythms which are designed to ignite sexual feelings in the listener. I believe these 4/4 timings are a serious source of temptation.
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Do you have any sources from the bible for this belief that you have?
 
Indifferently said:
Rock music uses rhythms which are designed to ignite sexual feelings in the listener. I believe these 4/4 timings are a serious source of temptation.
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How about a 3/4 waltz? A 12/8 shuffle? 4/4 was “common time” long before the recording industry and technology lead to the rise of rock music.
 
I love casting crowns. I don’t think they have a song I don’t like. I listen only to contemporary Christian music but that is my favorite group. I also like kutless, Chris Tomlin, Mary Mary I can’t think of all the names right now though there are so many. The music makes me feel good and is inspirational. I listen to this type of music because of Philippians 4:8. I do like traditional music at church though.

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Lifesong:
Quote:

Originally Posted by peace2u2

I love Third Day- also love Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher (he is Catholic!), Tenth Avenue North and Stephen Curtis Chapman. I listen to a lot of Contemporary Christian music these day on the radio- even more than when I was Methodist as we had the songs in church and as a Catholic they are not at our Masses at our parish (which is fine, music is not why I became Catholic). I find that Christian music enhances my prayer life and connection with the Lord. While I don’t listen exclusively to Christian music it is a large part of my radio listening (along with EWTN).

Blessings,

Val
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Also same for me!

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JonNC said:
Andrew, I wish you hadn’t pointed this out. :o

In the Lutheran Service Book (LCMS) it still says “Holy Christian Church”. Frankly, its embarrassing. :o So much so, that they feel the need to place next to it an asterisk and note at the bottom of the page the fact that it originally says “Holy Catholic Church”.

President Harrison, if you read this, its time for us to outgrowth this silliness. 🤷

Jon
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Jon, when I recite the Creeds, I always say Catholic instead of Christian, but interesting when we recite the Anthanasian Creed, we always say Catholic.
Acording to the book Lutheran Worship: History and Practice, it states that the use of the German chrisliche (Christian) was a common and accepted practice among all German-speaking people before the Council of Trent. Lutheran service books in practically all lands have followed using Christian instead of Catholic. It also stated that it was not of anti-Catholic bias. The ELCA church that I came from always used Catholic.
 
hn160 said:
it states that the use of the German chrisliche (Christian) was a common and accepted practice among all German-speaking people before the Council of Trent.
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That’s true - the German form of the Creed is: (From here: ekd.de/glauben/bekenntnisse/glaubensbekenntnis.html )

Ich glaube an den Heiligen Geist,
die heilige christliche Kirche,
Gemeinschaft der Heiligen,

In the traditional German version, they’re using ‘christian’ and not ‘catholic’ - Given the strong German roots of the LCMS, I would certainly expect this in historical documents.

For me, I think it’s silly to keep it especially 70 years after most German speaking American Lutherans changed their services to English . Given not only how incorrect it is, but how it makes it look like we’re scared to even utter the word ‘catholic.’
 
I remember at my confirmation rehearsal the Bishop had to explain what the ’ holy Catholick Church’ was.
 
“if we judge the music itself on the lifestyle of individual artists, then we’d better avoid the jazz and classical stations on the radio as well.”

And paintings by Caravaggio. And Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. 😉
 
Praise music? In terms of Contemporary Christian music?

I don’t really care for much of it. There is some I find “tolerable” but none I actually enjoy a lot.

There is some good Country Christian music and that is certainly Protestant-related, but that is usually ballad-style such as “Three Wooden Crosses” or some of Johnny Cash’s religious music.
 
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