Nine Reasons People Aren’t Singing in Worship

The following article appeared on an American Baptist website (http://blog.ncbaptist.org).

Is it True or False reflection of singing in C of E Churches today?

Nine Reasons People Aren’t Singing in Worship by Kenny Lamm

Worship leaders around the world are sadly changing their church’s worship (often unintentionally) into a spectator event, and people are not singing any more.

Before discussing our present situation, let’s look back into history. Prior to the Reformation, worship was largely done for the people. The music was performed by professional musicians and sung in an unfamiliar language (Latin). The Reformation gave worship back to the people, including congregational singing which employed simple, attainable tunes with solid, scriptural lyrics in the language of the people. Worship once again became participatory.

The evolution of the printed hymnal brought with it an explosion of congregational singing and the church’s love for singing increased.

With the advent of new video technologies, churches began to project the lyrics of their songs on a screen, and the number of songs at a church’s disposal increased exponentially. 

At first, this advance in technology led to more powerful congregational singing, but soon, a shift in worship leadership began to move the congregation back to pre-Reformation pew potatoes (spectators).

What has occurred could be summed up as the re-professionalization of church music and the loss of a key goal of worship leading – enabling the people to sing their praises to God. Simply put, we are breeding a culture of spectators in our churches, changing what should be a participative worship environment to a concert event. Worship is moving to its pre-Reformation mess.

I see nine reasons congregations aren’t singing anymore:

1  They don’t know the songs. With the release of new songs weekly and the increased birthing of locally-written songs, worship leaders are providing a steady diet of the latest, greatest worship songs. Indeed, we should be singing new songs, but too high a rate of new song inclusion in worship can kill our participation rate and turn the congregation into spectators. I see this all the time. I advocate doing no more than one new song in a worship service, and then repeating the song on and off for several weeks until it becomes known by the congregation. People worship best with songs they know, so we need to teach and reinforce the new expressions of worship.

2  We are singing songs not suitable for congregational singing. There are lots of great, new worship songs today, but in the vast pool of new songs, many are not suitable for congregational singing by virtue of their rhythms (too difficult for the average singer) or too wide of a range (consider the average singer—not the vocal superstar on stage).

3  We are singing in keys too high for the average singer. The people we are leading in worship generally have a limited range and do not have a high range. When we pitch songs in keys that are too high, the congregation will stop singing, tire out, and eventually quit, becoming spectators. Remember that our responsibility is to enable the congregation to sing their praises, not to showcase our great platform voices by pitching songs in our power ranges. The basic range of the average singer is an octave and a fourth from A to D.

4  The congregation can’t hear people around them singing.  If our music is too loud for people to hear each other singing, it is too loud. Conversely, if the music is too quiet, generally, the congregation will fail to sing out with power. Find the right balance—strong, but not over-bearing.

5  We have created worship services which are spectator events, building a performance environment. I am a strong advocate of setting a great environment for worship including lighting, visuals, inclusion of the arts, and much more. However when our environments take things to a level that calls undue attention to those on stage or distracts from our worship of God, we have gone too far. Excellence – yes. Highly professional performance – no.

6  The congregation feels they are not expected to sing. As worship leaders, we often get so involved in our professional production of worship that we fail to be authentic, invite the congregation into the journey of worship, and then do all we can to facilitate that experience in singing familiar songs, new songs introduced properly, and all sung in the proper congregational range.

7  We fail to have a common body of hymnody. With the availability of so many new songs, we often become haphazard in our worship planning, pulling songs from so many sources without reinforcing the songs and helping the congregation to take them on as a regular expression of their worship. In the old days, the hymnal was that repository. Today, we need to create song lists to use in planning our times of worship.

8  Worship leaders ad lib too much. Keep the melody clear and strong. The congregation is made up of sheep with limited ranges and limited musical ability. When we stray from the melody to ad lib, the sheep try to follow us and end up frustrated and quit singing. Some ad lib is nice and can enhance worship, but don’t let it lead your sheep astray.

9  Worship leaders are not connecting with the congregation. We often get caught up in our world of amazing music production and lose sight of our purpose of helping the congregation to voice their worship. Let them know you expect them to sing. Quote the Bible to promote their expressions of worship. Stay alert to how well the congregation is tracking with you and alter course as needed.

Once worship leaders regain the vision of enabling the congregation to be participants in the journey of corporate worship, I believe we can return worship to the people once again.

Saint Pargoire

There is not a lot of information about this saint. According to one tradition, St Pargoire or as he was known, St Pargorio, was born in the fourth century, in the city of Noli, near Savona in Liguria (Italy). He came from a noble family and embarked upon a military career joining the Roman Legion called Tebea. Along with three other soldiers, Severino, Partenopeo and Parteo, all of whom also came from Noli he escaped martyrdom ordered by the Emperor Massimiano and became a missionary in Corsica. However he was eventually killed on the orders of the prefect there along with his three companions.

However there is another hypothesis, based on the Greek origin of his name and that of his companions, which suggests that he was the captain of a Byzantine ship, part of a naval fleet stationed in Noli which fought against the infidels. This suggests that he lived in the 7th or 8th centuries

A church was built in his honour in Noli in the 8th Century and shows more than anything that St Pargorio actually existed. Inside the church, which was rebuilt in the 11th century there are many tombs and decorations from the Lombard- Byzantine period. St Pargorio is usually shown on horseback, holding the standard of the fleet of Noli and with his three companions at his feet. Between 1239 and 1572, the church of St Pargorio became a cathedral.

                                                                                                                                                                        

 Tomb from the original church (rebuilt in 11th century)

 

St Pargorio's feast day is 7th September

Remembrance Service – Start of WW1 in Europe

Our commemoration was held in Notre-Dame de Capimont, a small chapel up in the hills, a place of pilgrimage and reflection since the twelfth century. The service was held on the 1st August, 100 years after the start of the Great War on the European mainland.

We used many of the readings and prayers from the website of Westminster Abbey but also included poetry and some statistics about the war as well as a historical reflection. 

One of the hymns we sang was a hymn popular with the soldiers on the Western Front. However, because we live in France it focused on the tremendous changes everywhere brought about by the war, all those who gave their lives and had their lives taken, military and civilians, the contribution of soldiers from the commonwealth and colonies, both of Britain and France, the changing role of women in all countries and the understanding of loss everywhere. We remembered the effects of all wars and how we ourselves can be instruments of peace. At the back of the chapel we showed photos and stories of fathers and grandfathers of members of our congregation.

Perhaps there will be grander services with a larger number of people attending but our commemoration was simple yet very moving, up in the hills, with time to reflect on the past as well as the present.

HISTORY of the chapel:

Located on a hill overlooking both Lamalou les Bains and Hérépian the site of Capimont was settled from very early times. Discoveries attest to its occupation in the Neolithic and the Gallo-Roman era.

The site was originally an oppidum, traces of the fortifications can be seen on the northern slopes and northeast slopes. The location was probably chosen as it provided an ideal observation post over the Orb Valley and surrounding terrain.

The name for the site is ancient. It is known that in the 12^th century, the place where the chapel stands today was known by a variety of names including Capimont, Capimon, Cabimon or Caprimon. They all refer to “hill goats”.

Written documents mention the chapel of Capimont from the twelfth century. It appears to have been part of the Abbey Villemagne l' Argentiere remit together with those of St Michel and St Peter Mercoirol Rhèdes. The abbey was responsible for providing the priests and providing spiritual guidance, as defines by the bishop.

At the end of the sixteenth century, the religious wars destroyed the influence of the abbey. However, ND Capimont seems to have been spared from this turmoil, retaining its own priest. However, in the seventeenth century, with the creation of new parishes, ND Capimont was abandon and the parishioners became dependent on the parish of Poujol sur Orb.

On August 22, 1676, Mr. Thézan, Viscount of Poujol, built the " Hermitage " for divine service, served by priests, keepers of the sanctuary, also called " Hermits “, their salaries being paid by the generosity of the Lord of Poujol.

For 134 years, ten hermits lived at ND Capimont until the Revolution, giving way later in volunteer guards. Today, only the buildings remain, No priest is in residence.

Association: Friends of Our Lady of Capimont - Mr Tenza tel. 04.67.95.82.47