Christian funerals in a secular society

As someone interested in Christian hymnody and liturgy, I have been taking notes as I go to weddings and (more often) funerals. Members of my parents’ generation have been dying through natural causes, while at the same time there are occasional (and tragic) funerals for family members who have died well before their time.

This Week’s Experience

Sunday I attended the funeral for my aunt (married to my mom’s brother for 60+ years). It was held at the TEC church where she was married more than 70 years ago, in the 1960s-era sanctuary where she worshipped for nearly 40 years. Unlike with my father, at age 95 my aunt has outlived her contemporaries (and her husband and sister) and so the service was about 20 family and friends from having lived in the same community for 90+ years (including some of her husband's former high school students).

The service was Rite II burial from the 1979 prayer book, with four readings (Isaiah 61:1-3; 1 John 3:1-2; John 5:24-27,6:37-40) from the RSV. There was no homily, but remembrances from the family and the rector who knew her for the last few years. The 68-year-old rector vowed his openness and inclusiveness but had the judgement to know that this was not the occasion to promote his modernized theology.

Compared to other funerals, two things stuck out. First, when we had communion only about a dozen people came up, including only five from the family. This was despite the priest’s pronouncement that anyone (not just any Christian) was welcome.

Secondly, almost no one sang the only hymn, at the recessional, despite being an Anglican favorite. In retrospect this should not have been surprising. I was the only practicing Anglican (CoE, TEC, ACNA, Continuing or otherwise) among the family that includes Catholic, nondenominational and a plurality (perhaps majority) of lapsed Christians. There were probably a few of my aunt’s parish friends singing behind us, but he organ drowned out the few of us that knew the hymn: “All things bright and beautiful" (H82: 405). I know why she would have loved it, just as my wife has listed it as a possibility for her own funeral.

However, if the funeral is for the living — not the dead — then picking something that is Anglican (but not ecumenical) for the recessional won’t (IMHO) provide the final closure for those present. That doesn’t mean that such a hymn can’t be used: as with Sunday morning, I like a three (or four) hymn service, so one of these could be placed somewhere earlier in the service (or supported by a choir).

Anglican Hymns for an Ecumenical Funeral

In the last few years, I have attended funerals at (another) cousin’s Lutheran church for her husband and later her son. The latter had two hymns from the Lutheran Book of Worship: “Amazing grace” (in H82 but not H40) and “How great thou art” (not in either one). The former hymn went well, but the latter proved difficult.

My father loved church music all his life and became increasingly devout at the end of his life. At his 1995 funeral, we had three pieces of music:

• “Jerusalem, my happy home” (H40: 535, Tune: Land of Rest)
• Psalm 23 (tune by Malotte) sung by a soloist
• “Eternal father, strong to save” aka the Navy hymn (H40: 513, Tune: Melita)

As a WW II Army veteran, we used the multi-service version (H40: 513) rather than the Navy original (H40: 512)l As a civilian, my service would drop the Navy hymn. I would prefer the Rutter Psalm 23 but (as in my father’s case) few churches have a soloist or choir who could perform it on short notice. That still leaves one or two hymns to be added.

My dad’s service — at his then-ECUSA (now ACNA) parish — brought family, some Christian friends, and many of his church friends. (He was 81, but his friends were a decade younger). Most of the congregation knew the hymns.

After my dad died, I talked with my wife and her parents. We came up with these hymns:

• “Eternal father” (H40:513) for my father-in-law, who was a Korean War Army vet
• “Faith of our Fathers” (H40: 393; H82: 558)
• “Mine eyes have seen the glory” (tune: John Brown’s Body, aka Battle Hymn of the Republic) — something all three of them wanted
• “O God our help in ages past” (H40: 289)
• “Onward Christian soliders” (H40: 557; H82: 562)

Meanwhile, my mother-in-law wants “On eagle’s wings” which clearly requires a soloist.

To this list, my wife added three Anglican favorites

• “For all the saints” (H40: 126.1; H82: 287)
• “All things bright and beautiful” (H40: 311; H82: 405)
• “I sing a song of the saints of God” (H40: 243; H82: 293)

The former is our favorite hymn for November 1, while the latter two were sung at our daughter’s baptism (along with “All hail the power of Jesus’ name”, H40: 355). Now I can see these hymns would be a problem unless there’s a large Anglican turnout.

To this I would add

• “Amazing Grace” (H82: 671), although this is a nonstandard 4-part harmonization
• “Rock of ages” (H40: 471.2; H82: 685)
• “How lovely is thy dwelling place” — an English version of the tune from Brahms’ German Requiem, that was used at the Ford and Thatcher funerals (although it clearly would require a soloist)

Finally, there is the question of where they go in the service. For the processional, I’d love to keep “Jerusalem, my happy home” but this 19th century American spiritual is not all that familiar. “For all the saints” is a great choice but (thanks to Vaughn Williams) even more Anglican. “O God our help in ages past" might be more ecumenical.

There is also the question of the recessional and dismissal. My dad’s funeral used “Faith of our fathers” which might work for my father in law. However, I would say that the two martial hymns (“Onward Christian soldiers”, “Mine eyes have seen the glory”) would work well, as would “I sing a song of the saints of God” with a very Anglican audience.

What's not to like about praise music?

At a recent ACNA workshop, one of the hosts thought it would be a good idea to bring in a guitarist and play some praise songs. This helped crystalize some of my thoughts about what’s not to like about praise music.

I’ll admit an Anglo-Catholic critique of Evangelical music might be a bit biased, but at least it’s a starting point for a conversation about the bad (and perhaps good) of contemporary worship.  I will also try (as best I can) to distinguish between objective defects rather than mere differences of taste.

1. Lyrics

Anglo-Catholic worship has an emphasis (as with the RCC and Orthodoxy) in continuity of doctrine over the centuries. This morning for Easter 2 we sang “That Easter Day with joy was bright.” (H40: 98). The Hymnal 1940 Companion says that it is taken from a a Latin hymn entitled “Aurora lucis rutilat,” via J.M. Neale’s Hymnal Noted and Hymn’s Ancient and Modern. The hymn “may be by St. Ambrose,” and dates to at least the 8th century if not the 5th.

Bad: Many praise songs are “Jesus love songs,” where the lyrics seem to express a (non-Trinatarian) secular affection for the great JC. The lyrics also tend to repeat the same idea over and over again.

This is not to say that all pre-rock band hymns are good. Even though Anglicans are (to some degree) the Via Media, there are major doctrinal differences between the Catholic and Reformed extremes of Western Christianity, such that the hymns of one might not be acceptable to the other. And the emotive (doctrinally suspect) praise songs of the past few decades have their antecedents in 19th century American hymnody.

Good: The first song of the worship “set” was the Trisagion — as Catholic and doctrinally safe as they get — albeit with an unrecognizable modern setting. The 1960s praise hymn “Bread of Life” (by Sister Suzanne Toolan) made the tail end of the hymnal era — musically like a 60s folk song with problematic voice leading and phrasing — but the text is an undeniably Biblical adaptation of John 6.

2. Reverence

Admittedly, this is the most akin to taste. We Anglo-Catholics have a visceral reaction against rock bands on Sunday morning, even though the majority of American Protestants (and more than a few Catholics) have embraced contemporary worship. On weekends, I’ve been known to sing 2- or 3- part Beetles (or Eagles) harmonies, but IMHO they have no place on Sunday.

Still, I think we can agree that there are differences in the degree of reverence to God. Are we in our lyrics, music and style reflecting the omnipotence of our great God?

Bad: There is a common concern that the CCM is worldly and doesn’t belong in church — whether because it’s schmalzy, trendy or faddish . My sense is that the churches that use this music don’t have this concern, so it seems about as productive as asking Democrats to debate Republicans over the role of the free market.

Good: A contemporary favorite is the 2004 Chris Tomlin No. 1 CCM hit “How great is our God” (#6 on today’s CCLI CCM list) The lyrics clearly emphasizes such majesty, althtough the performance style is often more 60s (or 80s or 90s)

3. Performance vs. Congregational Singing

When I go to hear a praise band, usually I have no idea what’s going on. They repeat themselves, they change keys, there’s a different tune for the bridge, they improvise, change tempo etc. For example, at my ACNA meeting the praise guitarist decided to dot the rhythm of a familiar tune.

This problem seems particularly bad when there are more than 200 people in the room: the band is performing for the audience rather than leading the congregation in singing. (TV services are also bad in this regard). There is no music on the screen and the words don’t completely show the meter or what is going on. The net effect is that the congregation — unless they know how this particular band likes to perform this particular song — doesn’t know what to expect and is partially or entirely left behind.

To be fair, organ-based choirs do this too. In either case, the effect is to discourage congregational singing — particularly by new members who are trying to figure out if they belong here.

4. Continuity with Early Generations

The emphasis on praise music seems to conclude that nothing worth playing was written before 1980 (or even 2000). For Anglican contemporary worship, that means we claim continuity of doctrine and belief with the historic undivided church — but not for key elements of the liturgy.

This seems unprecedented for the past 150 years — ever since churches began printing Hymnals. In the US, Hymnal 1940 has content from 1916, 1892 and 1872 US hymnals, as well as The English Hymnal (1906) and Hymns Ancient & Modern (1861-1889). Despite an intentional effort to make major changes in theology, style and inclusive language, Hymnal 1982 still has considerable overlap with Hymnal 1940. In its favor, Hymnal 1982 add some new hymns (“Amazing Grace”, “Joyful, joyful, we adore thee”) that were written well before 1940, and well known to Protestants outside ECUSA.

Good: A few have tried to make compromises with updates to familiar tunes. . Chris Tomlin has an updated “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)” where us old fogies can sing the familiar part even if we get lost at the 21st century bridge that makes it “fresh” (and newly copyright-able).

5. Continuity Between Parishes

With a published hymnal, people are using the same songs, selected and authorized by a central authority. The lack of a hymnal (whatever style) eliminates that likelihood that going from one parish to another will have familiar music. Different churches have different expectations about what is current and relevant; for example, attending contemporary worship in Texas exposed me to music that was very very different.

Good: at our workshop, the final praise song was the 2012 Matt Redman song “Bless the Lord, oh my soul” (aka “10,000 reasons”), #2 on the recent CCM chart. Everyone in the room knew it (I didn’t know it well, but had heard it before). Now these were all people in the same diocese who had worshiped together, met regularly and probably had music directors who shared ideas. Still, I was surprised at the degree of commonality.

Unknown: Will there be a praise song from the beginning of this century that will still be sung at the end of this century? It would be interesting to track how many of the top 20 songs were more than 10 years old. If there are many, then this is like oldies radio, jazz, classical, and consistent with building up a new canon of this different style of writing and performing worship music. If not, it would suggest that contemporary worship music is inherently transitory and temporary — a feature, not a bug.

Favorite Lenten hymns

After starting this blog nine years ago — with 262 posts so far — only a few mention hymns for the first five weeks of Lent. (I did previously comment on appropriate hymns for Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday).

So as I did for Advent, Christmas (in 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2015) and Easter, it seemed like a good time to provide an overview of the hymns available for Lent (including Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Good Friday).

I cross-referenced hymns from these periods from The English Hymnal (COE 1906), Hymnal 1940 (ECUSA) and Hymnal 1982 (ECUSA). I also matched the hymns from these lists to two Missouri Synod (LCMS) hymnals: The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) and Lutheran Service Book (2006).

Eleven hymn texts (twelve combinations) stood out. Because there’s such a small number, I found that I previously wrote about five of these texts.

Title	Tune	TEH	H40	H82	TLH	LSB	Remarks
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended	Herzleibster Jesu	70	71.1 *	158	143	439	Holy Week
All glory, laud, and honor	St. Theodulph	622	62	154	160	442	Palm Sunday
Forty days and forty nights	Aus der Tiefe	73	55	150			Early Lent
Lord Jesus, think on me	Southwell	77	417	641	320	610
Lord, who throughout these forty days	St. Flavian		59			*	Early Lent
O sacred head, sore wounded	Passion Chorale	102	75	168	172	449 *	Holy Week
Ride on, ride on in majesty	The King's Majesty		64.1	156			Palm Sunday
Ride on, ride on in majesty	Winchester New	620	64.2		162	441	Palm Sunday
The glory of these forty days	Erhalt uns, Herr	68.2	61	143			Early Lent
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?	Were You There		80	172		456	Holy Week
When I survey the wondrous Cross	Rockingham	107	337	474	175.2 *	426 *	Holy Week

* Another tune available

Three of the hymns (all with “forty days” in the title) are both written and commonly used for Ash Wednesday or the first Sunday in Lent. Two (“All glory, laud, and honor” and “Ride on, ride on in majesty”) are clearly written for Palm Sunday. Four are about the passion of Christ, which could be celebrated on Lent 5 (“Passiontide” in the 28 BCP) or any time in Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday or (when hymns are used) Good Friday. And in fact, these dates are when the these hymns are assigned by Hymnal 1940: Ash Wednesday, Lent 1, Lent 5, or Palm Sunday.

“…Ride on in majesty” has two tunes: Winchester New is preferred by the CoE hymnals (dating back to the 19th century Hymns Ancient & Modern), and (the considerably more difficult) King’s Majesty which was introduced in H40 and the only one kept by H82.

This is really a list of the top hymns: there are other hymns worth mentioning that weren’t quite as popular. I hope to publish a more complete list at some point in the future.

Funeral for a Catholic traditionalist

Like many American Christians, I was surprised and shocked by the Feb. 13 announcement of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. We were traveling during the funeral, and so caught the rebroadcast on C-SPAN after we got home.

Some 3,000 attended the service at America’s largest Catholic church, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. In the funeral homily, the celebrant — his son Rev. Paul Scalia — described his father’s faith:

God blessed Dad with a deep Catholic faith: The conviction that Christ's presence and power continue in the world today through His body, the Church. He loved the clarity and coherence of the church's teachings. He treasured the church's ceremonies, especially the beauty of her ancient worship. He trusted the power of her sacraments as the means of salvation as Christ working within him for his salvation.

The homily included a mixture of theology and eulogy, consistent with a letter by Justice Scalia, as quoted by his son:

Even when the deceased was an admirable person, indeed, especially when the deceased was an admirable person, praise for his virtues can cause us to forget that we are praying for, and giving thanks for, God’s inexplicable mercy to a sinner.

According to Donald Cardinal Wuerl, the services were in keeping with the wishes of his widow and his family.  The program was posted at several locations, including the Corpus Christi Watershed blog. The readings were Wisdom 3:1-9, Psalm 23, Romans 5:5-11, and Matthew 11: 25-30 with the texts (not surprisingly) taken from the New American Standard.

Not all the music was listed in the program. According to one of the Catholic musicians at the Church Music Association of America, the musical pieces were:

• Hymn "O God Our Help in Ages Past"
• Collect is sung by Father Scalia
• Psalm 23:1-6: sung by the National Shrine choir
• Verse: sung by the National Shrine choir
• Offertory motet: Beati quorum via (Stanford)
• Preface dialogue: chanted
• Sanctus: XVIII (chanted, with organ)
• Memorial Acclamation: When... (chanted, with organ)
• Amen (chanted, with organ)
• Our Father (chanted sonorously by all present)
• Peace Dialogue (chanted)
• Agnus Dei - Victoria, Missa Quarti Toni National Shrine choir
• A treble schola chants the Communion verse "Lux Aeterna" according to the Graduale Romanum
• Communion Hymn: Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All (Faber)
• Communion motets: Franck's Panis Angelicus, Mozart's Ave Verum
• Post-communion dialogue: chanted
• In Paradisum: English, sung by the National Shrine choir
• Recessional: O God Beyond All Praising (Holst)

I must say that I only recognized the processional hymn, the first communion motet and the Holst tune for the recessional (but not its 1982 text). However, the chant for the Lord’s Prayer seemed to share a common origin with the “very ancient” Anglican chant for this prayer (H40: 722).

Communion was administered in one kind. The bulletin quoted a 1996 USCCB policy that discouraged non-Catholics from coming to communion — except for a few specific denominations (including Orthodox Christians) who were allowed but “urged to respect the discipline of their own Churches.”

Scalia was (not surprisingly) a liturgical traditionalist, with a preference for the Latin mass. However, the plainchant in the first part of the service (what we Anglicans call the liturgy of the word) seem to be taken from the modernized 21st century American Catholic liturgy — with the introit and other chants typical of a modern American RCC parish.

I was not the only one struck with the modernity of the service. Catholic organist and blogger Jeff Ostrowski wrote:

It’s difficult to understand why the Mass was Ordinary Form since Justice Scalia was known to attend the Extraordinary Form exclusively. Moreover, while the musical selections were (generally speaking) fine, they were nothing compared to Requiem settings by Victoria, Guerrero, Morales, and so forth. Perhaps the problem is me. I just find the traditional Requiem so powerful & consoling, anything else can’t help but fall short.

While many of us liturgists and church musicians have our preferences for our personal church services, it’s important to put it in perspective: there’s nothing in the choice of the form that would make one iota of difference in the disposition of our eternal soul. If the service was consistent with the family’s wishes — perhaps to make it more approachable to the nation’s 70 million Catholics — then their liturgical choices must be respected and honored.

Antonin Gregory Scalia (1936-2016): Requiescat in pace.

Near-perfect harmony

Today on Lent 1 we sang the #1 Lenten hymn, “Forty Days and Forty Nights.” #1 in that it is the first Lenten hymn in both The English Hymnal (#73) and first in Hymnal 1940 (#55) — as well as the second “Ash Wednesday and Lent” hymn in Hymnal 1916 (#123). Hymnal 1940 Companion says it’s been used in the CoE since Hymns Ancient & Modern and in PECUSA hymnals since 1874. It managed to survive the modernization urges in Hymnal 1982 (#150) and the New English Hymnal (#67). All use the same tune.

Hymn Text

All are derived from the same 1856 text by Rev. George Hunt Smyttan (1822-1870), as altered by Francis Pott. Although the US and UK version differ in the middle, they share the same first and last verses (5 in PECUSA, 6 in CoE).

From a catechetical standpoint, it’s hard to match this hymn for explaining to the new Christian (or newly-liturgical Christian) why we observe (celebrate seems the wrong word) the season of Lent:

Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Tune

Today, however I was struck by the music. The tune Heinlein (aka Aus der Tiefe) is taken from the Nürnbergisches Gesangbuch; Google suggests this is the only hymn from this songbook still being used. According to a German-language book on 17th-century Lutheran hymns (Lorbeer, 2012: 133):

Das Nürnbergisches Gesangbuch, das mir in einer Ausgabe von 1677 vorlag, war 1676 bei Christoph Gerhard und Sebastian Göbel erschienen. Trotz des offiziell klingenden Titels handelt es sich nicht um ein amtliches Gesangbuch, sonder verdankt such einer Initiative des Verlegers Sebastian Göbel, der schon vorher Gesang- und Gebetbücher herausgebracht hatte.

The Nürnberg hymnal, for which I have an 1677 edition, was published in 1676 by Christoph Gerhard and Sebastian Göbel. Despite the official sounding title, it does not constitute an official hymnal, but instead reflects an initiative of the publisher Sebastian Goebel, who had previously released song and prayer books.

Several sources say the tune is marked “M.H.,” which musicologists assume refers to Lutheran pastor Martin Herbst (1654-1681).

Oddly, although this clearly is a German Lutheran tune (written by the country vicar of a tiny English village), it doesn’t appear in any of the Missouri Synod (i.e. German-American) Lutheran hymnals from 1940-2006. I remember singing it for our Wednesday Lenten services during the year I was in the local LCMS choir, but I guess this was the one hymn I requested and won special (doctrinal) permission from the pastor for the choir to use it despite it not being on the approved LCMS list.

Harmony

While the tune is very familiar from decades of singing it, what struck me today was the harmony. Neither Hymnal 1940 nor Hymnal 1940 Companion credits the harmonization, but Hymnal 1982 and The Cyberhymnal attribute it to English composer William Henry Monk (1823-1889).

From my two years of music composition as a music minor decades ago, the D-minor harmony feels more 17th century than 19th century: not as complex as Bach, but definitely consistent with Baroque harmonies. Ignoring the passing tones, the bass line is a very straightforward I-V-I-V-II-V; I-IV-VII-III-VII-I-V-I. According to my copy of Piston (1987: 23), it follows the standard rules for root progressions dating back centuries.

I understand that 19th and 20th century music paved new ground by breaking these classic rules of harmony and counterpoint. However, as a layman singing in the pews — usually not knowing the week’s hymns until five minutes before the service starts — I really, really appreciate predictable harmonies and voice leading that lend themselves to sight-singing. Singing harmony for two or three hymns on Sunday morning is often the highlight of my day and one of the highlights of my week. I like to think that (in my own small way) is part of our broader congregation’s singing to the glory of God.

Lost Harmony

The trend for hymnal harmony has not been a good one. While Hymnal 1982 added a number of descants, it also deleted the harmony for numerous hymns (a tally I plan to make someday). Worse yet, the 21st century video projector churches (when for some reason they sing hymns) project only the words, not the music — privileging the choir (with their hymnals) over congregational singers who don’t have the inside scoop.

I realize that congregation singing dates (at best) 500 years to Luther, and in its modern incarnation 150 years to Hymns A&M and the post-Civil War US hymnals. Still, it’s not something that I think the church — or its musically minded members — should give up without a fight.

References

Lorbeer, Lukas. Die Sterbe-und Ewigkeitslieder in deutschen lutherischen Gesangbüchern des 17. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 104. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012.

Piston, Walter with Mark Devoto. Harmony. 5th ed. Norton, 1987.