Elements of Liturgical Style
Most of us have probably heard of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White — those terse commands like “Omit needless words.” Recently I came across Elements of Rite: A Handbook of Liturgical Style by Aidan Kavanagh that had the same directness toward rite and liturgical style as Strunk and White had to writing.
And he is direct. Rule #11 of Elementary Rules of Liturgical Usage – “Churches are not carpeted.”
Dr. Arthur Just presented a paper at the 2008 Good Shepherd Institute – Confident Liturgy: Presiding with Hospitality and Grace that referenced Kavanagh’s “An Approach to Liturgical Style”. While Kavanagh comes from the Roman Catholic tradition and is looking at the role of the presider in the liturgy, I think portions of his list can serve equally well for church musicians.
- Place yourself in the background.
- Do things naturally.
- Know the assembly’s liturgical tradition thoroughly.
- Do the liturgy with directness and vigor.
- Beware of particularizing the liturgy.
- Beware of liturgical fundamentalism.
- Do not over-ceremonialize.
- Do not affect a loose informality.
- Do not explain too much.
- Strive for simplicity.
- Do not get too relevant.
- Learn to live with symbol.
- Adapt culture to the liturgy rather than liturgy to culture.
For example, church musicians (and architects!) should take item #1 into account. How does the placement of the musicians serve (or distract) from the proclamation of the Word? Does a particular location put more emphasis on the musician rather than the message?
Or take item #3: I would expect a Lutheran musician to make different musical choices than a Baptist or Pentecostal musician. An introit, gradual, or psalm chanting/singing/saying might be foreign to a Baptist (and some Lutherans), but they offer an important insight and reflection on other parts of the Divine Service.
I don’t want to give the impression that this list is a LAW, but I do offer it as an opportunity to reflect on how we provide musical leadership in the worship service. Our actions and choices do make a difference.
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