Liturgy of life versus liturgy of worship serviceLiturgy (from the term latreia) in broader context refers to the liturgy of life, while in narrower context it refers to the liturgy (order) of the worship service (Louw & Nida 1989:9). Within this article, liturgy is used in the narrower context referring to the liturgy of the worship service.Apart from all the other functions of liturgical singing and music, it also has a pastoral function or aim. Within the normal Sunday-to-Sunday liturgy, singing and music aims at promoting and restoring spiritual well-being. Within communities struck by disaster or grief, liturgical singing aims at healing people and processing their loss and ultimately promoting spiritual wellness by restoring or reshaping their picture of God. A brief look at liturgies in a lamenting congregation by means of an autoethnography illustrates the functional use of music and singing in the process of spiritual or emotional healing, thus illustrating the role of music in worship as an in-between experience: between laughter and lament. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications:The article explores the role of music and singing in healing liturgy in a descriptive way, using ethnography and autoethnography to describe the process. Although the article refers to insights from pastoral therapy, it only makes suggestions for liturgy and in a lesser sense, hymnology.
Liturgical singing is more than text and melody; it is also symbol and ritual. It is part of the ensemble of rituals within the worship service. As a ritual symbol, it is closely connected to the culture or subculture where it is conducted. Meaning is not only immanent in the text (lyrics), but assigned on a continuous base and differs from culture to culture. As a ritual symbol, liturgical singing does not only point to another reality, but presents the other reality within the cultural context of the worship service; within ritual the music and melody are more important than text and lyrics. Liturgical singing as a ritual symbol is never static, but in a continuous process of change.
Musiek en sang binne die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NG Kerk) is in ’n proses van radikale verandering. Binne ’n ‘global village’ kan die ses strominge van kerkmusiek soos Paul Basden (2004) dit beskryf het, van groot waarde wees om die huidige prosesse in die NG Kerk te identifiseer en te beskryf. Hierdie prosesse word dikwels oorvereenvoudig deur die gebruik van die term ‘blended worship’. ’n Dieper kyk na die bedoeling en betekenis van die term ‘blended worship’ wys dat die term in baie gevalle nie vir die huidige situasie of prosesse in die NG Kerk geskik is nie. Die huidige situasie veronderstel nie net die gebruik van nuwe vorms van musiek naas die oue nie, maar in baie gemeentes impliseer dit ’n wegbeweeg van die oue na die nuwe. Die uitdaging bly steeds om binne hierdie situasie getrou aan die Woord van God te bly, maar ook om effektief na die behoefte van die mense van ons tyd te handel.Landscape of congregational singing in the Dutch Reformed Church at the beginning of the 21th century: Preliminary exploration. Music and singing in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) is in a process of radical change. Within a global village, the six views of worship as identified by Paul Basden (2004) could be of great value in understanding die processes and streams within the music of the DRC. Variations and combinations of these views (streams) could be observed within the present-day liturgical singing within the DRC. This process is often oversimplified by using the term blended worship; a closer look at blended worship illustrates that the term blended worshipin its original intention does not fit the current situation or process. The current situation does not only imply new forms of music combined with the old forms, it often implies a move away from the old in the direction of the new. Within this process the challenge of the DRC will be to stay faithful to the Word of God as well as contemporary society.
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