Charles Wesley's Christmas Hymns

Charles Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement in the 18th century, touched on almost every possible aspect of the Christian life in his approximately 6000 hymns. One of those topics was Christmas, resulting in its own published collection of songs. Wesley's volume of Nativity Hymns was originally released in 1745 and was re-printed several times throughout his life. (That link opens a pdf that contains the entire collection.)

There is an art, of course, to writing hymns. The composer can't just say what they want—the metrical restraints of the stanza lines require an economical use of words. It is therefore quite beautiful when a hymn is able to accomplish more by using just a few lines than is sometimes communicated in an entire sermon. Charles had a knack for doing just that, and two aspects of his Christmas hymns make them especially compelling even today: an emphasis on the freedom from sin that Jesus provides, and the paradoxical contrasts between humanity and the divine that occur in the incarnate Christ.


Salvation as freedom from sin and death:

From one of the hymns that survives in common usage today—"Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus":

 Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.

Riffing on the post-Edenic promise in Genesis 3:15 that the child of Eve would trample the head of the serpent, we have these lines from Nativity Hymn #6 (stanza 5):

Gaze on that helpless object

Of endless adoration!

Those infant-hands

Shall burst our bands,

And work out our salvation  

Strangle the crooked serpent,
Destroy his works forever,
And open set
The heavenly gate
To every true believer

The paradox of the human meeting the divine:

Excerpted from the first two stanzas of Hymn #4:

Glory be to God on high,
And peace on earth descend;
God comes down: he bows the sky:
And shows himself our friend!

God th’ invisible appears,
God the blest, the great I AM
Sojourns in this vale of tears,
And Jesus is his name

Emptied of his majesty,
Of his dazzling glories shorn,
Being’s source begins to be,
And God himself is BORN!

Some modern-day song-writers still attempt to capture these aspects of Charles's songs. Check out, for instance, this track from Cardiphonia that is inspired by the hymn quoted above: "Glory Be to God on High." 

Of course, Charlie Brown provides the best popular culture portrayal of one of Wesley's Christmas hymns—"Hark! the Herald Angels Sing." Like the hymns mentioned above, this one grandly proclaims our freedom from sin and death ("born that we no more may die") while playing with the paradox of God-as-man ("veiled in flesh the God-head see").

For more on Charles Wesley and Christmas:

The United Methodist Church has set of devotions based on these hymns, on this site.

If you want a very detailed scholarly treatment, read Frank Baker's article "The Metamorphosis of Charles Wesley's Christmas Hymns, 1739-88."

Ambrose: Teaching the Church through Song

Ambrose of Milan (339-66), painted by Mattias Stom (17th c)

Ambrose, the bishop of Milan in the 4th century, is remembered for how he guided the church through the Arian controversy. The Arians, in contrast to the orthodox Christians that Ambrose shepherded, believed that the Son of God had a beginning. In other words, this heresy maintained that Christ was created by the Father at a certain point in time, thereby making the Son one of God's creatures (albeit the most important one). Ambrose was committed to the truth that Christ is co-eternal with the Father (John 1:1), and he taught that the second person of the Trinity is not less than the first person. Although Ambrose has history on his side, he was actually in the minority at the time, with Arius leading many people away from the church's official teaching. The Arian heresy was denounced by the bishops who convened the council of Nicea in 325, but Ambrose had to spend a considerable amount of time and energy winning over opponents who weren't convinced by the council's vote. Ambrose wrote brilliant theology in his quest to guide heretics back to the truth, but one of his most effective teaching strategies came through songs.

In this way Ambrose was fighting fire with fire; Arius had grown so popular, in part, through singing. The Thalia, for instance, was sung in a variety of settings, probably at weddings and other occasions for drinking. Its lyrics taught some of the primary points of Arius's heresy, declaring that the Father created the Son as a creature. There are no existing copies of the Thalia that remain today, but we have Athanasius's criticisms of it. This other orthodox church leader not only disliked the content of the lyrics, but he felt that the song's musical components were themselves debased, thereby linking the Thalia to idolatry and various forms of immorality. His arguments against these tunes sound very much like fundamentalist attacks against rock music in the 20th-century. These songs did not simply reflect poor taste—their melodies and rhythms were seen as inherently bad.

Ambrose knew that he couldn't just criticize Arius's songs; he needed to respond with better songs of his own. Brian Dunkle, in his book, Enchantment and Creed in the Hymns of Ambrose of Milan, tells how Ambrose used songs as weapons in his fight against the heretics. Like Athanasius, he thought that music had great power that could be wielded for good or evil. So he did not simply create rally songs with doctrinally sound lyrics that could be used as propaganda against the Arians. Rather, Ambrose set out to create hymns of high quality, knowing that teaching orthodox theology was only a secondary outcome. Of primary importance was the fact that these songs should honor God with an inherent beauty. Ambrose set a new course for music in the church, composing songs were more than musical containers for theological content. They would not only teach accurate theology, but their beautiful melodies and rhythms would also spark the singers to worship the true God.

Ambrose's tunes haven't survived, so we don't know what they sounded like. But the fact that we still have some of the lyrics indicates that the hymns were beloved by many successive generations. The United Methodist Hymnal contains one of them, translated to English in the 19th century and set to a tune from the 18th:

O splendor of God's glory bright,

O thou that bringest light from light;

O Light of light, light's living spring,
O day, all days illumining.
 

O thou true Sun, on us thy glance
let fall in royal radiance;
the Spirit's sanctifying beam
upon our earthly senses stream.

The Father, too, our prayers implore,
Father of glory evermore;
the Father of all grace and might,
to banish sin from our delight.

  To guide whate'er we nobly do,
with love all envy to subdue;
to make ill fortune turn to fair,
and give us grace our wrongs to bear. 

Notre Dame Cathedral: The Importance of Gothic Architecture

The fire that ravaged the Notre-Dame de Paris in April 2019 was a devastating loss from many perspectives. At least one firefighter and two police officers were injured in the attempt to rescue the building. While most of it was indeed saved, important parts were lost, including the entire roof. The damage was emotional as much as physical, since the building serves as a national symbol for France. The reason for this pride has to do with the building's history—it was one of the first to be built in the Gothic architectural style.

The construction of Notre Dame began in 1160, at a time when architecture was changing from an older Romanesque style, so called because it borrowed heavily from the designs of ancient structures of the Roman and Byzantine empires. Sanctuaries were a simple rectangle design, with a the nave (the place where the worshipers congregated) stretching out from a rounded apse that stood at the eastern end of the room. Over the 300 years or so of the Romanesque period, churches began to add wider cross-sections just west of the apse, making the sanctuary into the shape of a cross. These portions of the sanctuary, extending to the north and south, were known as transepts. Gothic churches would continue this basic layout of the building, but they would sometimes extend the transepts out even wider than the floor plan shown here:

Gothic cathedral floor plan. From wikipedia.org.

Romanesque churches were also noted for the arches and columns that supported their high ceilings. In the 12th century, however, architects discovered that pointed arches (rather than rounded or semi-circular ones) could support even higher buildings. These new arches allowed for Gothic churches to be taller, creating a more vertical perspective to the overall worship space.

Rounded arches of the Romanesque style. From wikipedia.org

Gothic pointed arches in Notre Dame. From wikipedia.org.

In order to keep these stratospheric Gothic walls from falling over, designers came up with another innovation: the flying buttresses. These exterior supports were first used at Notre Dame, and they transferred a significant amount of stress from the walls themselves, allowing them to be thinner.

Drawing of a flying buttress at Notre Dame. From wikipedia.org.

14th-century flying buttresses at Notre Dame. From wikipedia.org.

The higher and thinner walls allowed for more windows, which let in more light to the church building. Gothic churches, therefore, were able to experiment with new techniques in stained glass. One of the most striking designs is the rose window, which is a characteristic of the Gothic style.

Rose Window at Notre Dame. From wikipedia.org.

Higher ceilings, thinner walls, and more light meant that Gothic churches took advantage of the worshipers' visual capacities more than their auditory ones. Christian worship would mirror the adaptations to the designs of the buildings, changing into an event that is seen more than heard. Priests would say the mass, but parishioners who gathered many yards away would not be able to hear what was said. They instead watched intently for the moment when the consecrated host was lifted up to be gazed at. Just like today, when churches are designed to be more functional than beautiful, Christian worship has always adjusted itself to match the values that are reflected in its buildings.

Sing the Psalms: Contemporary Settings

My previous posts about singing the psalms outlined ways of setting these important scripture passages to music by using a metrical psalter and chanting psalm tones. There is, of course, another way to bring musical settings of the psalms into your worship services: compose new tunes to fit them. Thankfully, there composers out there who are willing to share their songs with the rest of us, doing the difficult work of putting their new melodies to ancient verses. Here are a few of the artists who are hoping that new musical settings of the psalms will revitalize our worship:

Richard Bruxvoort Colligan runs the site psalmimmersion.com, where he offers his own settings of various psalms. Some even have more than one setting to choose from—take Psalm 126, for instance. Colligan's songs are meant to be used, and he clearly explains the licensing agreements on his page. He provides both recordings and sheet music, the latter of which can be purchased and downloaded from the site.

Cardiphonia works at the intersection of contemporary music and liturgical worship. Their site provides several newly composed settings of the psalms. Check out their many compilations, including more than psalm-based compositions, at: https://cardiphonia.bandcamp.com/.

Hal Hopson has composed settings for church groups, sold as a collection titled The People's Psalter. Settings range from simple unison melodies to more advanced four-part choir pieces. The publisher also sells downloads of the individual scores for each psalm for just $1.00.




As a final note on this three-part series on the psalms, let me also recommend the following sites:

• Ashley Danyew is a church musician who has written about the various ways to sing the psalms. Check out her excellent blog post at: https://www.ashleydanyew.com/posts/2016/singing-the-psalms-a-guide-for-modern-worship
• The site Contemporary Psalms provides an index of contemporary worship songs, according to the psalms that inspired them.

Sing the Psalms: Chanting Psalm Tones

In my first post about singing the Psalms, I discussed metrical psalms, which are translations that allow these scripture verses to be sung to standard tunes. Another way to guide a congregation in singing the psalms is by using psalm tones. These simple melodies provide a way for congregations to sing any set of words, no matter how they are translated or arranged. By using these simple tones you can sing any passage of scripture—or even lines from a novel or a cookbook (not that you would want to).

The basic requirement for chanting psalm tones is a song leader who can guide a congregation in a simple melody. The United Methodist Hymnal, which borrows from the Lutheran Book of Worship, provides five of these melodies on page 737. In the psalter section that follows that page, the psalms are printed with red dots above the third-to-last syllable in each line. For all the syllables that precede this dot, the song leader (and the congregation, if they are joining in) chant the words to the same note. When they reach the red dot, this signals them to begin the final sequence of the tone's melody.

This is a very simple way for a congregation to sing the psalms, but it is admittedly an acquired taste. Not every church is going to embrace this style. Check out one of these short video clips from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to hear a chanted psalm.

An extensive and detailed description of how to sing psalm tones, using the resources of the United Methodist Hymnal and its companion Keyboard Edition, can be found here: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/the-work-of-singing-the-psalms.

Sing the Psalms: Metrical Psalms

We know that the Psalms are songs, originally meant to be sung in Hebrew by worshipers in ancient Israel and Judah. Some of the original performance instructions still remain in the current manuscripts. For example:

• Psalm 6  begins with a heading: "To the Leader" and indicates the use of stringed instruments. 
• Psalm 22 was meant to be sung to the tune of "The Deer of the Dawn."
• Psalm 32 is called a "maskil," which is apparently some kind of musical style.

These days we don't know what "The Deer of the Dawn" sounded like or how to perform a maskil,  but modern composers have come up with a variety ways for us to sing the psalms. One involves translating the words into English, carefully arranging the syllables so that they can be sung to well-known tunes. These translations are known as metrical psalms.

Psalter: a book of singable psalms

One of the most well-known metrical psalms is called the "Doxology." It begins with the line: "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow"—a setting of Psalm 134 which is sung to a tune called "Old 100th." (It's actually more than just a translation—it is an adaptation of the original psalm, adding Trinitarian language that was not in the original Hebrew text.)

Singing the psalms together as a congregation can revitalize a worship service while simultaneously offering a way to engage more deeply with scripture. Here are a few examples of metrical psalm texts available in English: 

Seedbed offers metrical settings of all 150 canonical psalms, set to popular meters (that is, syllable arrangements). For example, Psalm 113 is set in a 87.87D meter, which means that it has alternating lines of 8 syllables and 7 syllables. This number is important when looking for a tune; most good hymnals will provide a metrical index showing which tunes fit each specific syllable count. Seedbed's site actually provides musical notation for popular hymn tunes. So for Psalm 113 there are four tune suggestions, including HYFRYDOL, which most people know as "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus." Seedbed offers these settings freely for use in worship.

The Free Church of Scotland publishes a psalter called Sing Psalms, offering its full text online, along with its meters and suggested tunes. Some psalms even have more than one metrical setting. The Common Meter (86.86) is used for many of these psalms, which provides many options for singing, such as AZMON ("O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing") and "Amazing Grace."


Pastor Dale Shoening has also translated the psalms according to meter, which he also offers free of charge to houses of worship.

Psalter.org is a companion site to help you use a number of psalters. It is helpful for finding a tune that fits the meter of a given metrical psalm.



Here's a short Youtube clip that explains how to match a metrical psalm text with a tune that fits the words, using the psalter from the Free Church of Scotland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqFuGjzV-iA

Worship Ways: Worship and Mission

Tom Bandy and Lucinda Holmes's book Worship Ways: For the People Within Your Reach got my attention when I read, in a sidebar on page 4: "Worship is the purest form of God's mission, and God expects our collaboration to make it happen." I've spent most of my adult life trying to make worship and mission fit together, so this statement immediately put me on the side of the authors. While searching online for more information about this book, I became even more excited. I saw a recent blog post by Bandy that criticizes the "church growth leadership model," warning that it results in worship that is too focused on the performance of a few key leaders. This subject, too, is close to my heart. Recently, while researching the growth of contemporary praise and worship music in the 1990s, I found that many pastors sought to replace "traditional" worship, not so much as a mission strategy, but as a way to exert their leadership in the congregation. This book seemed to have it all: worship's integral relationship to mission, paired with a caution for centering worship around one strong personality.

Indeed, Bandy and Holmes, both clergy and leadership consultants, want to shift the conversation away from how we worship to why we worship. That necessarily means paying attention to the worshipers themselves. I'm guessing that the very title of the book—Worship Ways, just a letter off from the phrase "Worship Wars"—is intentionally calling readers to look past the battle lines of worship styles that were so rigidly drawn and defended in the 90s and 00s. Often those "wars" were more about exercising a pastor's personal leadership, and less a desire to reach new people. This book wants to give tools to a current generation of church leaders that will help them focus on the needs of those very people.

Bandy and Holmes lay out seven worship options for churches, with each one addressing a specific set of needs that might be found in a given congregation:

1. Coaching worship, for those who are lost and seeking direction
2. Educational worship, for the lonely who are looking for relationships
3. Transformational worship, for those who feel trap and need deliverance
4. Inspirational worship, for the dying who need renewal
5. Healing worship, for those who are broken and need restoration
6. Mission-Connectional worship, for the abused who need vindication and justice
7. Caregiving worship, for those who are discarded and need compassion

In describing these seven styles worship, the book's chapters list specific categories of people who are most likely to respond to each one. It was quite surprising to me to learn that these categories were created from identification codes used by the credit-reporting agency Experian. For instance, Healing Worship services (#5 above), which are focused on restoring the sick and broken, tend to resonate with this category of people:  the "M45: Diapers and Debit Cards" crowd. These are people who are "young, working-class families and single-parent households living in small, established city residences." Similarly, Mission-Connectional Worship (#6), designed for those seeking to correct injustices, is a good option for "younger, up-and-coming singles living big city lifestyles located within top capital markets." These folks fit into category G25: Urban Edge.

The categories are so numerous—more than 70, that I could tell—that the descriptions have to get quite creative: "A02: Platinum prosperity"; "H27: Birkenstocks and Beemers"; and "I32: Latin Flair." (By the way, these are all considered good fits for worship option #1: Inspirational Worship.

I have mixed feelings about applying consumer categories to worship programming. On the one hand, the sheer number of categories is overwhelming and confusing, and none of these Experian lifestyles fit any categories described as spiritual gifts in the New Testament (see Romans 12:6-8 or 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 or Ephesians 4:11). The apostles built their first-century congregations around these gifts of the Holy Spirit, not on consumer preferences.

On the other hand, it is a good thing to examine the motivations and desires behind our worship designs. If we are really thinking about the missional impact of our worship services, then we ought to consider ways to really get to know our neighborhood. For instance, designing a high-church, Anglo-Catholic service with choral anthems and weekly Communion might not be a good idea if you are trying to include people who have never been inside a church building before. Similarly, we would not want to focus on teaching and education if the community actually needs to work on healing and reconciliation. If these Experian categories can indeed help us think through the needs of others, then maybe they can point us in the right direction.

I imagine that people will respond to Worship Ways in the same way that they see the Myers-Briggs typology or the Enneagram. I know many people who have been helped by these tools, using them to work through their own personality tendencies, showing why they react to certain people and situations the way they do. Bandy and Holmes offer this same kind of assessment, bringing a different set of lenses for looking at a community. If you are looking for something grounded in scripture, this book is not for you. If you need to shake up your programming staff, forcing them to think about worship as a mission, Worship Ways might work.

What is Epiphany?

The Christmas season reaches its final conclusion on the day of Epiphany. After the twelve days of Christmastide, on January 6 the Christian church remembers that Christ was revealed to the entire world as the Son of God. Some people call this Three Kings Day, signifying the account from Matthew 2 when the magi arrived in Bethlehem to worship the infant Jesus. In honor of these first Gentile worshipers of the Messiah, some parts of the world use this day for giving gifts, imitating the wise ones who brought gold and incense. It is appropriate to sing The First Noel and We Three Kings on the Sunday closest to January 6. The refrain of that latter song so beautifully and succinctly links the light of the star with the light that Christ himself bore.

Most scholars agree that Epiphany is actually an older holiday than Christmas. It was established as a way to mark the beginning of the world's awareness of Jesus's sonship. For that reason, Epiphany has also been linked with Jesus's baptism in the Jordan River (read Luke 3). At that moment the voice of the Father and the presence of the Holy Spirit acknowledged who Jesus is, launching his public ministry throughout Galilee and Judea.

On Epiphany we live into the global nature of the Christian faith, acknowledging how God's plan for salvation has been revealed to both Jews and Gentiles. In Matthew's gospel it took both Gentile astrologers and Jewish teachers to find the Christ's birthplace. Today we have our own cultural categories that must be transcended by the Word, and the church is constantly working to overcome barriers of language, status, gender, race, and age. In this season we remember that the gospel message should never be so much at home in a society that it fails to agitate. When the truth is revealed, it takes on cultural forms in order to be meaningful, but at the same time it also works against social norms to drive out sin and oppression.