Slow Pray the News

"We should pray with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other." I have heard this quote many times but was never sure who originally said it. Billy Graham said something like this regarding his preaching. Some have attributed the quote to theologian Karl Barth. If it truly came from Barth, it was only a part of a bigger message he was trying to get across. Barth would not advocate that we alternate between the Bible and the newspaper, weighing them both to decide which is most important. Instead, he would have us read the Bible first, trying to understand today's events in light of God's bigger plan in history.

photo from catholicdialogue.com

Praying through the newspaper can be a great spiritual exercise. But with all the bad news, we often run out of words to lift up as intercessions. "Lord, make this better" gets old after a while. This is another way that the Church of England has helped us all by creating the Book of Common Prayer. Its forms of prayer are all written through the perspective of scripture, and they give us words to pray when we have run out of our own.

For instance, the rite for Evening Prayer lists these prayers (known as suffrages) on pages 121-122:

V.    Show us your mercy, O Lord; 

R.    And grant us your salvation. 

V.    Clothe your ministers with righteousness; 

R.    Let your people sing with joy. 

V.    Give peace, O Lord, in all the world; 

R.    For only in you can we live in safety.

V.    Lord, keep this nation under your care; 

R.    And guide us in the way of justice and truth. 

V.    Let your way be known upon earth; 

R.    Your saving health among all nations. 

V.    Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; 

R.    Nor the hope of the poor be taken away. 

V.    Create in us clean hearts, O God; 

R.    And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.

The prayers in the BCP are meant to be read together as a congregation, but they work great in your personal prayer life too. Pray for "saving health among the nations" for Liberia and Sierra Leone. Pray that the "hope of the poor" not be taken away in the midst of changes to MedicAid. "Give peace, O Lord, in all the world" is especially appropriate for Syria and Iraq these days.

Connecting the words of these tried-and-true prayers to real-life events takes some time, causing us to slow down and think about what's really going on around us. Rather than offering up a quick prayer without much thought, laying the newspaper beside the BCP helps us see the world's events in a scriptural way.

Just in case you wondered where the title for this blog post came from, and you have not seen this clip yet...

The Ten Commandments

image from textweek.com

Many people don't know that the 10 Commandments are numbered differently by various faith communities. Growing up as a Protestant, I learned that the first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). The second is in the next verse: "You shall not make for yourself an idol..." Then the numbering goes on for commandments 3 through 10, ending with "You shall not covet..." (Exodus 20:17). However, Roman Catholics and Lutherans use a different numbering scheme. Their first commandment is longer, wrapping up both of the Protestant commandments 1 and 2. Then the Catholic/Lutheran numbering continues on, one number different from the Protestant system, until Exodus 20:17. At that point they split that final verse into two -- making up a ninth and a tenth commandment that are both about coveting. And these are not the only two numbering schemes; there are others for Jewish traditions. Confused? This link will take you to a chart that shows how the verses break down according to 7 different faith traditions.

The 10 Commandments can play a meaningful role in your congregation's worship. My prayer for the worldwide church is that responsive readings will make a comeback. They are a great way for the laity to participate in the service. It strikes me as strange that many congregations aren't using responses in an age when it is super-easy to project words on a screen. In any case, here is a responsive reading/prayer using the Ten Commandments ( from The Book of Common Prayer page 350). Give it a try in your church some Sunday.

Hear the commandments of God to his people:

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage.

You shall have no other gods but me.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not make for yourself any idol.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not invoke with malice the Name of the Lord your God. 

Amen. Lord have mercy.

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

Honor your father and your mother.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not commit murder.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not commit adultery.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not steal.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not be a false witness.

Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. 

Amen. Lord have mercy.

What is Ethnomusicology?

My wife recently asked me to teach a short lesson about ethnomusicology to her high school Music Appreciation class. Here is what I presented.

Playing the gong while dancing in Kalinga, Philippines

Definition
The word "ethnomusicology" is harder to say that it is to understand. You probably already know what the three main parts mean when you break down the word:

• ethno means "nation" or "peoples" or "cultures". You know it from the word ethnic. 
• music is, well, music. See more about that below.
• -ology means the "study of"

Taking those three ideas, the shortest (and best) definition of ethnomusicology is:

 "The study of people making music."

What do we study? : Music
Everyone knows what music is, until they try to write a definition. In general music is "humanly organized sound." But one person's music may be another person's noise. How people think about music, and the roles that it plays in their lives is what ethnomusicologists study. We cannot do that by watching clips online. Ethnomusicology is about going to places where we can learn about music from the people who make it.

Where do we go to study? : Everywhere
You don't have to go across the globe to study music. People right where you live are making, composing, and dancing to music. You can be an ethnomusicologist anywhere, even in your own hometown. You don't have to go to "exotic" places (although that can be fun). An ethnomusicologist is not defined by where they go. Instead it is all about how they approach the study of music.


How do we study? : Methodology
Most often an ethnomusicologist will use the study method known as ethnography. That's a process of studying about a culture for an insider's perspective. It means that an ethnomusicologist participates in the musical life of the people being studied.

Sometimes this approach is called Participant Observation. It means being with people and learning about their music-making in context. (See the picture above of me learning to play the gong while dancing with the group.) It involves watching performances. Like an anthropologist, the ethnomusicologist may conduct interviews with people to learn how they approach their music. He or she might even sign up for music lessons from an expert who knows the music and culture. Ethnomusicology studies almost always include some kind of recording. (That's me on the left, doing one of my first field recordings. I still had a lot to learn back then. For one thing, I should have been much closer to the singers. See the clip below for an example of a video recording.)

Sometimes an ethnomusicologist will want to study how people made music in the past. In that case, when there is no one left to teach them about that style of music, they have to rely instead on historical records. Rather than going to the "field", some of these ethnomusicologists work out of libraries and museums.

A dancing competition in Kalinga, Philippines during a village celebration

Who pays us to study? : Careers
Most ethnomusicologists make their living as academics. They earn a doctorate in ethnomusicology (or a related field) and spend their lives doing research and teaching at a university.

An ethnomusicologist can also work as an archivist. That's someone who preserves and shares recordings of music and dance from around the world. This is a valuable service, sometimes funded by the government or a philanthropic organization.

Community Development is another area where ethnomusicologists can use their training. Many organizations around the world are interested in helping people live in more sustainable and healthy ways. Music is an important part of life that needs to be considered when making changes to a culture. Since music is important in the worship of most religions, some churches and other religious organizations will seek the help of ethnomusicologists to study a society's music and culture.