You tell them, Dr.
This weeks chapel @ CUCA is focused on visting sholar, Dr. Carl Schalk, Distinguished Professor Music Emeritus at C.U. River Forest, Ill.
Yesterday (Monday) Dr. Schalk walked us through his hymn "Now the Silence" LSB 910,LBW 205. The part I smiled at the most was when he explained that text writer, Rev. Jaroslav Vajda, asked Dr. Schalk to please end the tune on a "G" note. Why? Well because naturally the Pastor would be chanting in "G" right after the hymn was through, so this will give him a warmup. Dr. Schalk then looked up and said "those of you who are pastors and those who will be, sing the liturgy, Why? Because we're Lutherans, and thats what we do." Awesome, thanks Dr., some of us needed that.
Note: Chapel Liturgist Rev.Dr. Drombrosky chanted "let us pray" in a decent G after we sang "Now the Silence" the second time, he got the hint I guess.
Yesterday (Monday) Dr. Schalk walked us through his hymn "Now the Silence" LSB 910,LBW 205. The part I smiled at the most was when he explained that text writer, Rev. Jaroslav Vajda, asked Dr. Schalk to please end the tune on a "G" note. Why? Well because naturally the Pastor would be chanting in "G" right after the hymn was through, so this will give him a warmup. Dr. Schalk then looked up and said "those of you who are pastors and those who will be, sing the liturgy, Why? Because we're Lutherans, and thats what we do." Awesome, thanks Dr., some of us needed that.
Note: Chapel Liturgist Rev.Dr. Drombrosky chanted "let us pray" in a decent G after we sang "Now the Silence" the second time, he got the hint I guess.
posted by Ritewinger at 11:35 AM
4 Comments:
Do ALL Lutherans sing the liturgy? If so then my congregation better get used to listening to a voice that sounds more like a cat being castrated than a trained cantor.
kgp
Do all Lutheran sing/chant the liturgy? No, but chanting the liturgy is Lutheran. I guess what I'm saying is if you want your congregation to do true Lutheran worship, then chanting is in order.
Surely you can hold a note enough to at least chant the basics of the liturgy.
Yes, chanting the liturgy is Lutheran. But not chanting the liturgy is also Lutheran. We have the freedom in Christ to worship as we feel God is leading us. So, most Sundays we craft our own, indigenous liturgies.
Those seasons where we use a prepared liturgy I have one of our many talented singers step up and share their gifts.
I may have a music degree, but it was not in singing.
kgp
I both agree and disagree with you, Rev. Kevin.
You of course are free of rules on how to worship, your Bishop isn't going to come around with a big stick and make you chant, or not chant. Thankfully this is true, no one should want that.
But, when you do a "indigenous liturgy" there is a good chance that you are Lutherans worshiping, but not Lutherans doing Lutheran worship. Our worship reflects our theology, and the Liturgies we use have been created by Lutherans much smarter than I. I have said on this blog before that those who want to remove parts of the liturgy should have to explain why, for each part.
There is also the slippery slope. A low view of liturgy often reflects a low view of Scripture, and a low view of the Confessions, both of which I think are common in your Synod.
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