Music in the Liturgy
The Rev. Dr. Paul G. Bieber, sts
We gather around word and sacrament to be strengthened for mission and for our daily lives, but worship does not exist for the sake of something else. Offering our sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving for all that God has done is the primary thing the church does.
Worship, then, is central to our life together. And music is central to worship. As the Holy Spirit calls and gathers us, it is not only to hear the word proclaimed and to experience the visible word of the sacraments, but for mutual conversation and song. Music unites our hearts and voices so that we may, as St. Paul says, "with one voice" proclaim and respond to what Christ has done for us. Music in the church is not entertainment, it is integral to the liturgy.
Church music is liturgical song. From the canticles of the liturgy — the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Nunc dimittis — through the psalmody and the choir's propers, verse and offertory, to congregational hymns ancient and modern, liturgical music focuses our attention on the Triune God. We offer our best, our first fruits in the liturgy. Those who plan and lead the liturgy try to help to make that happen by focusing text and music on the heart of our faith and so opening our hearts and voices to praise God according to our talents and abilities.
In music as in so many other aspects of church life, Jaroslav Pelikan's maxim holds true: Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Our song of faith is part of a living tradition that brings out of the treasury old things springing forth ever new, and new things that are in unity with the witness of the ages.
An earlier version of this article appeared in Benedicite, the publication of the Brothers of Saint John the Evangelist, Tanglewood Hill Monastery, Whidbey Island, Washington.
We gather around word and sacrament to be strengthened for mission and for our daily lives, but worship does not exist for the sake of something else. Offering our sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving for all that God has done is the primary thing the church does.
Worship, then, is central to our life together. And music is central to worship. As the Holy Spirit calls and gathers us, it is not only to hear the word proclaimed and to experience the visible word of the sacraments, but for mutual conversation and song. Music unites our hearts and voices so that we may, as St. Paul says, "with one voice" proclaim and respond to what Christ has done for us. Music in the church is not entertainment, it is integral to the liturgy.
Church music is liturgical song. From the canticles of the liturgy — the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Nunc dimittis — through the psalmody and the choir's propers, verse and offertory, to congregational hymns ancient and modern, liturgical music focuses our attention on the Triune God. We offer our best, our first fruits in the liturgy. Those who plan and lead the liturgy try to help to make that happen by focusing text and music on the heart of our faith and so opening our hearts and voices to praise God according to our talents and abilities.
In music as in so many other aspects of church life, Jaroslav Pelikan's maxim holds true: Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Our song of faith is part of a living tradition that brings out of the treasury old things springing forth ever new, and new things that are in unity with the witness of the ages.
An earlier version of this article appeared in Benedicite, the publication of the Brothers of Saint John the Evangelist, Tanglewood Hill Monastery, Whidbey Island, Washington.
About the organ...
The Johannus Ecclesia organ was made in The Netherlands. It is a digital pipe organ, which means that thousands of pipes of organs in Europe and the United States have been individually sampled (recorded) and their actual sounds made available for the organist's choosing among the 56 stops.
Here is the list of stops on the Ecclesia organ, which can be played from Baroque, Historic, Symphonic, or American Classic voices. The asterisked stops also play the pipes of All Saints' original Wicks pipe organ, which have been incorporated into the Ecclesia.
Here is the list of stops on the Ecclesia organ, which can be played from Baroque, Historic, Symphonic, or American Classic voices. The asterisked stops also play the pipes of All Saints' original Wicks pipe organ, which have been incorporated into the Ecclesia.
| Great | Choir | Swell | Pedal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Diapason | 16' | Principal | 8' | Bourdon | 16' | Contra Violone | 32' |
| Principal | 8' | Erzähler | 8' | Open Diapason * | 8' | Diapason | 16' |
| Geigen Diapason | 8' | Erzähler Celeste | 8' | Rohrflute | 8' | Subbass * | 16' |
| Stopped Flute | 8' | Octave | 4' | Viola da Gamba | 8' | Lieblich Gedackt | 16' |
| Flute Celeste | 8' | Rohrflute | 4' | Vox Celeste | 8' | Octavebass | 8' |
| Gamba | 8' | Nazard | 2 2/3' | Octave * | 4' | Gedackt * | 8' |
| Octave | 4' | Flute | 2' | Koppelflute | 4' | Choralbass * | 8' |
| Open Flute | 4' | Octave | 1' | Flute Twelfth | 2 2/3' | Rauschpfeife | IV |
| Twelfth | 2 2/3' | Mixture | 3' | Octave * | 2' | Bombarde | 32' |
| Octave | 2' | Corno di Bassetto | 8' | Waldflute | 2' | Contra Posaune | 16' |
| Mixture | IV | English Tuba | 8' | Tierce | 1 3/5' | Trumpet | 8' |
| Contra Tromba | 16' | Tremulant | Larigot * | 1 1/3' | Clarion | 4' | |
| Tromba | 8' | Scharff | III | ||||
| Vox Humana | 8' | Contra Trumpet | 16' | ||||
| Tremulant | Trumpet | 8' | |||||
| Zimbelstern | Oboe | 8' | |||||
| Clarion | 4' | ||||||
| Tremulant |