Why They Don’t Sing on Sunday Anymore

[spedteacherita]

Outstanding article. As a Lutheran, I am more and more discouraged by the musical direction within the Lutheran Church, primarily with its move away from the solid liturgical music on which the Lutheran mass has long been renowned. There is no greater liturgical music in the western Church at least than in Lutheranism, and yet we are discarding it for no liturgical music at all (spoken), abbreviated music (and liturgy ), or the kind of loud, professional, new music folks don’t know.
There is less standing to sing than there once was. The tradition of a processional and recession hymn is all but gone in many Lutheran parishes. The Lutheran service book often gathers dust in the pew racks because “worship and music directors” think they can do better than decades of musicians.
The vast majority of church attendees still is over 35 or 40, and for them (us), the liturgical music and hymnody they grew up with was/is, frankly, just fine.

In short, if people are not singing in church, they are effectively voting against the more contemporary worship, at least in liturgical church settings.

Jon

I was going to say, “Check out the Lutherans singing.” I don’t think I’ve been a member of a church that the people didn’t sing loud and strong. I love to stop singing sometimes to just listen to everyone else sing. My most favorite experience of all was when we had a teacher’s conference in Colorado Springs and we went to a worship service in the Air Force Academy’s chapel…It was awesome!

Sorry, I digressed a bit.

Blessings,

Rita

 

[pianistclare]

I’ll add in all fairness…Catholics never really sang to begin with.
Not like what the most people are talking about.

 

[Mumbles140]

Please don’t judge. Perhaps some people like me think that more contemplative prayer is more natural and sincere. Unfortunately this is not taught in schools much anymore, yet it’s in the catechism. Only the reciting of things in unison, which IMO focuses only on trying to keep with certain cadences rather than thinking about what the prayer really says.

I wasn’t trying to judge - I was rather sincere when I said “I don’t understand”, and I appreciate your answer. I do pray contemplatively, but often before/after communion and before/after Mass. I also agree that (it seems like) a lot of Catholics are taught to simply recite prayers without reflecting on the meaning.

 

[ProVobis]

I’ll add in all fairness…Catholics never really sang to begin with.

That’s not entirely true. I still remember in the 50’s where the priest, after the Leonine Prayers, would start with “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” (or something else they were familiar with or taught) and the congregation would join in, sometimes without the organ. I don’t think we had an overload of hymns at that time, which I think we have today.

 

[ComplineSanFran]

I was going to say, “Check out the Lutherans singing.” I don’t think I’ve been a member of a church that the people didn’t sing loud and strong. I love to stop singing sometimes to just listen to everyone else sing. My most favorite experience of all was when we had a teacher’s conference in Colorado Springs and we went to a worship service in the Air Force Academy’s chapel…It was awesome!

Sorry, I digressed a bit.

Blessings,

Rita

And I would add ‘Check out the Anglicans/Episcopalians’ also. We love our hymns. On St David’s Day, I always listen to a YouTube clip of a congregation in Wales singing * Cwn Rhondda*. Let me see if I can find it. I know they are undoubtedly Chapel and not Anglican, but just LISTEN to them sing! Makes you swell with joy.

youtube.com/watch?v=Z97BvFq4_Tc

 

[pianistclare]

That’s not entirely true. I still remember in the 50’s where the priest, after the Leonine Prayers, would start with “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” (or something else they were familiar with or taught) and the congregation would join in, sometimes without the organ. I don’t think we had an overload of hymns at that time, which I think we have today.

How can 4 hymns be “overload” when in many Latin Masses the entire thing is sung?

 

[ProVobis]

How can 4 hymns be “overload” when in many Latin Masses the entire thing is sung?

The processional and the recessional hymns are in vernacular at my FSSP Mass. Lot of it is contemporary. It’s probably more of a formality, though. Most everything else is Gregorian chant. Some but not many sing along at the Asperges, Gloria and the Credo. “Et cum spiritu tuo” is the hallmark. Other EF Masses are different. At Low Masses, for example, there is no singing except perhaps at the end as I mentioned. Those who complain generally find a Sung Mass.But then the Chicago & Joliet dioceses have these choices.

 

[mjwise]

We sing our heads off every Sunday.

• Processional hymn
• Gloria
• Chanted or sung psalm
• Sequence hymn
• Offertory anthem from choir
• Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy)
• Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us
• At least two communion hymns (sometimes three)
• Closing hymn

We do not skip or omit verses either. When we sing it, we sing the whole thing.

 

[JustaServant]

I just found it interesting that when I, in other threads, get slammed for criticizing mega-church worship as ‘sitting and staring’, this PROTESTANT writer uses the same terminology.

 

[theropod]

I just found it interesting that when I, in other threads, get slammed for criticizing mega-church worship as ‘sitting and staring’, this PROTESTANT writer uses the same terminology.

Not sure why you’d get slammed for that. It’s a pretty tame description.

In my experience, those mega-church environments have a combination of “sitting and staring” and people who are singing their hearts out. I would only add that those who are apparently singing their hearts out can’t be heard by anyone else, nor can they hear anyone but themselves and the band. So there is effectively no corporate worship, only individuals worshiping by themselves in a crowded auditorium.

 

[Son_of_Niall]

Not sure why you’d get slammed for that. It’s a pretty tame description.

In my experience, those mega-church environments have a combination of “sitting and staring” and people who are singing their hearts out. I would only add that those who are apparently singing their hearts out can’t be heard by anyone else, nor can they hear anyone but themselves and the band. So there is effectively no corporate worship, only individuals worshiping by themselves in a crowded auditorium.

I can count on one hand how many MCs I was in years ago. I was there mainly to hear a guest speaker, who himself didn’t seem comfortable.
In one of the them, the pastor spent a 45 minutes ‘leading the worship’ while doing the “Benny Hinn Bunny Hop” (you can’t make this stuff up), introduced the speaker, who he apparently did not know, and then disappeared the rest of the service.