Calvin Institute of Christian Worship - Christian Reformed Church

III. EDUCATION IN LITURGY AND CHURCH MUSIC

A. Material: Report 34

B. Analysis:
The Joint Sub-Committee of the Liturgical Committee, the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee, and the Education Committee was appointed by the Synod of 1977 to make recommendations for motivating and assisting the membership of the CRC "to study the history, theology, and practice of Reformed liturgy and music." The Synod of 1978 recommended that the committee continue to fulfill its mandate and at the same time "directed the chairman of the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee and the Director of the Education Department to discuss and coordinate their various efforts in liturgical and musical education" (Acts of Synod 1978, Art. 60, p. 68). The Joint Subcommittee found so much overlapping in the work assigned to it and the work of the coordinating agency that it now asks to be discharged.

C. Recommendations:

1. That the Director of Education be given the privilege of the floor when Report 34 is considered.

-Adopted

2. That synod endorse the cooperative efforts of the Education Department and Calvin's Music Department in sponsoring a major Church Conference of Music and Liturgy to be held at Calvin College, July 18-20, 1979.

-Adopted

3. That synod direct continued efforts in educating our denomination in the history, theology, and practice of reformed liturgy and music through the coordination agency appointed by Synod of 1978 (Acts of Synod 1978, Art. 60, page 68).

-Adopted

4. That synod discharge the Joint Committee on Liturgy and Church Music with thanks for its work.

-Adopted

IV. PSALTER HYMNAL REVISION COMMITTEE

A. Material: Report 35

B. Recommendations:

1. That the chairman, Jack Van Laar, and the reporter, Jack Reiffer, of the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee be given the privilege of the floor when matters pertaining to this report are discussed.

-Granted

2. That synod take grateful note of the progress made by the committee in fulfilling its mandate.

-Adopted

3. That synod reaffirm the statement of principle for music in the church as follows:

The music of the church should be appropriate for worship—that is, it should be liturgical and have aesthetic integrity. The music of worship should serve the dialogue between God and his people. It must be true to the full message of the Scriptures and reflective of biblical Christian experience. Along with this biblical motif, the music of worship should give expression to the other motifs of liturgy: the catholic, the confessional, and the pastoral. The music of worship should satisfy the aesthetic laws that are conditions of good art, such as imaginative craftmanship and seriousness of expression. It should reflect the church at worship today and throughout the ages in ways that are relevant, enduring, festive, and dignified. -Adopted

REPORT 34
EDUCATION IN LITURGY AND CHURCH MUSIC
(Art. 21)

Report to Synod of 1979 from the Joint Sub-Committee of the Liturgical Committee, the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee, and the Education Committee.

Membership
Our study committee consisted of two members of the Liturgical Committee, two members of the Psalter Hymnal Supplement Committee, and the Adult Education Editor, who represented the interest of the Education Committee.

Mandate
In 1977, synod adopted a joint proposal from the Liturgical Committee and the Psalter Hymnal Supplement Committee:

That the Liturgical Committee and the Psalter Hymnal Supplement Committee together with representatives of the Education Committee present to the Synod of 1978 recommendations (1) for motivating the membership of the CRC to study the history, theology, and practice of Reformed liturgy and music, and (2) for assisting in liturgical and musical matters those who desire such assistance.

Grounds:
1. Our Reformed heritage in worship cannot be taken for granted. Without stimulating the general awareness of our people as to the crucial nature of song and liturgy in congregational worship, there is a possibility that our Reformed faith will be undermined by non-Reformed hymnody and liturgy.

2. In our day of pressures toward congregational authority, there is a need to foster a common Reformed mind on liturgy and music for worship. Consequently, a way must be found to give sustained educational leadership to keep liturgical and musical order in the churches.

3. The modest attempts at education in hymnody and liturgy by denominational committees and agencies suffer from being too fragmented. For more effective service, these attempts ought to be better coordinated.
(Acts of Synod 1977, Art. 59, p. 85).

In 1978, Synod recommended that our committee continue to work on this mandate.

At the same time, synod directed the chairman of the Liturgical Committee to meet annually with the chairman of the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee and the Director of the Education Department to discuss and coordinate their various efforts in liturgical and musical education. (Acts of Synod 1978, Art. 60, p. 560).

Report of Committee Action
There seemed to be such an overlap of effort between our committee and the coordinating agency named above that our committee had no remaining function. We concur in the recommendations from the Education Department re plans for education in liturgy and church music.

Recommendations to Synod

1. That the Director of Education be given the privilege of the floor when these recommendations are considered.

2. That synod endorse the cooperative efforts of the Education Department and Calvin's Music Department in sponsoring a major Church Conference of Music and Liturgy to be held at Calvin College on July 18-20, 1979.

3. That synod pursue the study requested from the Board of Trustees of Calvin Seminary re a course offering in Reformed liturgy (Acts of Synod 1978, p. 559).

4. That synod direct continued efforts in educating our denomination through the cooperative agency named above.

5. That synod discharge our study committee.

Joint Committee on Liturgy and Church Music
Nelle Vander Ark, chairperson
Bert Polman, secretary
Clifford Bajema
John Hamersma
Edwin Walhout

REPORT 35
PSALTER HYMNAL REVISION COMMITTEE
(Art. 21)

This is the second report from our committee, appointed by the Synod of 1977. We have benefited in the past year by several additions to our committee: Dale Grotenhuis, Verlyn Schultz, and Dale Topp were added as regular members by Synod of 1978; and the Synodical Interim Committee appointed Bert Polman to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Barend Fioole.

In our report to synod last year we established four areas of our mandate, namely:

1. to formulate a statement of principle for music in the church;

2. to specify guidelines for establishing and judging the music of the church;

3. to state the procedures which will be followed in the work of revising the Centennial Edition of the Psalter Hymnal; and

4. to revise and improve the Centennial Edition of the Psalter Hymnal.

Since the fourth step is the final product of our committee's efforts, we limit our interim report to the first three areas in the three sections of this year's report.

1. PRINCIPLE
We were asked to report last year on the principle for music in the church, as well as the guidelines and procedures to be followed in the work of revision. We proposed that the principle for music adopted by Synod of 1953 be reaffirmed in a rewritten form, with language updated to contemporary standards and in a way that conforms to the language and concepts of the 1968 report of the Liturgical Committee. Synod recommitted our proposed version so that a few matters raised in the discussion at synod might be reflected in a version "easily understood." The 1953 "Statement of Principle for Music in the Church" is as follows:

Principle: The Music of the Church Should Be Appropriate for Worship
1. The music of the church should be liturgical—In spirit, form, and content it must be a positive expression of scripturally religious thought and feeling. It should serve the ministry of the Word.

2. The music of the church should be beautiful—Its religious thought or spirit should be appropriately embodied in the music as music, the poetry as poetry, and the blending of these in song. It should satisfy the aesthetic laws of balance, unity, variety, harmony, design, rhythm, restraint, and fitness which are the conditions of all art.

We propose that this principle be reaffirmed as follows:
The music of the church should be appropriate for worship—that is, it should be liturgical and have aesthetic integrity.
The music of worship should serve the dialogue between God and his people. It must be true to the full message of the Scriptures and reflective of biblical Christian experience. Along with this biblical motif, the music of worship should give expression to the other motifs of liturgy: the catholic, the confessional, and the pastoral. The music of worship should satisfy the aesthetic laws that are conditions of good art, such as imaginative craftsmanship and seriousness of expression. It should reflect the church at worship today and throughout the ages in ways that are relevant, enduring, festive, and dignified.

II. GUIDELINES
We have continued studying the "Implications of the Principle" frorn 1953 and the "Principles" and "Guidelines" from 1972. Before we cornplete our work of the guidelines for music in the church, we need to have the principle adopted.

The conference on church music planned for July of this year will provide an excellent opportunity to discuss these matters with a broadly representative group of church musicians and pastors. We will report our progress in this area next year.

III. PROCEDURES
We presented to synod last year procedures by which the work of revision is being done. This year we report our progress in these areas:

1. Regarding the Psalms (numbers 1-310), the first of our poets' workshops was held on November 23-24, 1978. In our plan to strengthen the singing of the Genevan Psalm tunes, we assigned a variety of the best psalm melodies to persons skilled in versification. Seven poets responded to invitations and the ad in the Banner and came with prepared versifications. They exercised mutual critique on the work in progress and listened to several resource people who spoke on the historical context of the Genevan melodies, on the problems of modes and rhythms of these tunes for English language settings, and on principles for using Old Testament Psalms in current New Testament worship.

As a result of this workshop about a dozen Psalms are now in final stages of completion, with contemporary English language that fits the Genevan melodies in their original rhythms. The poets hope to continue on Psalms assigned to them as our committee works toward a revised Psalter.

2. Regarding the hymns (numbers 311-493), we have completed our preliminary analysis of each song and have begun making lists of songs from other sources for possible inclusion.

3. We were especially helped this year by a working session with Dr. Ford Lewis Battles, visiting lecturer at Calvin Theological Seminary. Among his many accomplishments in the field of Calvin study is his knowledge of Calvin's work on music and worship. He served on the hymnal revision committee in his own fellowship and was able to share experiences and advice with us. We have been able to organize both our analysis of the current collection and our search for other songs far more efficiently as a result of his advice.

It has become clear to us that we ought to concentrate on this study of the entire collection and on the development of lists of songs to meet specific needs. We have therefore postponed production of any small collection of songs for trial use in the churches.

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS
The following matters in this interim report call for synod's action:

1. That the chairman and reporter of our committee be given the privilege of the floor when matters pertaining to this report are discussed.

2. That synod reaffirm the statement of principle for music in the church as follows:

The music of the church should be appropriate for worship—that is, it should be liturgical and have aesthetic integrity. The music of worship should serve the dialogue between God and his people. It must be true to the full message of the Scriptures and reflective of biblical Christian experience. Along with this biblical motif, the music of worship should give expression to the other motifs of liturgy: the catholic, the confessional, and the pastoral. The music of worship should satisfy the aesthetic laws that are conditions of good art, such as imaginative craftsmanship and seriousness of expression. It should reflect the church at worship today and throughout the ages in ways that are relevant, enduring, festive, and dignified.

Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee

Jack Van Laar, chairman
Jack ReiHer, reporter
Shirley Boomsma
Emily Brink
Dale Grotenhuis
John Hamersma
Anthony Hoekema
Bert Polman
Marie Post
Verlyn Schultz
Calvin Seerveld
Dale Topp