Music and Religion

Music and Religion

           

          I grew up in a Methodist church in Arlington, and from an early age, I have been quite exposed to the music of the church. When I was little, my family and I always attended "big church" in the sanctuary, where we sang traditional hymnals, and there was always an organ playing, and it was the type of music that comes to mind when you think of church music. These hymns were used at various times throughout the church service, and during different times of the liturgical year, the hymns would vary. The texts would be indicative of whatever point of the liturgical year we were in. Sometimes the hymns would coincide with the topic that our pastor would be speaking about, and they would reinforce those same ideas. Sometimes the hymns were just about praising God, or something of that nature. Other times, the hymns would serve almost as a filler during longer parts of the service, such as communion. We have some hymns that we pull out for special occasions, such as baptisms. In the Methodist church, the music serves as a communal activity that the congregation can participate in that serves the worship experience as a whole. I believe it is meant to enhance whatever else is going on in the service. We also always have some choral group perform during our offertory time, and, although that serves more as pleasant entertainment, the songs still coincided with the liturgical year and the topic of the sermon. The music has always been used, in my experience, as a way to help center those who are there to worship and to offer another outlet in which to connect with God. 

          In some of the churches I have attended, there has been a pretty significant emphasis on contemporary Christian music to be used in worship. These songs usually followed the same practical patterns as the hymns did, but they really changed the atmosphere of the service. In almost every service that I've experienced that has used contemporary music instead of hymns, almost everyone attending the service has been younger. Contemporary music has not been accepted by many church goers as acceptable for a formal worship service, but it is becoming a lot more widespread, and I find it fascinating. While I don't think it necessarily changes the theological aspects of the worship service, I think that incorporating contemporary music changes the way that music is perceived for some people. In high school, I was a part of our youth group's band, and that was an incredibly fulfilling experience. There was a new added level of intimacy and passion in our youth group as a whole when we used music that was more similar to pop music. In our youth services, the music served as a tool to get the youth group excited to worship, and then to focus and center their minds on the sermon that was presented by our youth minister. Although we did not always achieve our goal of centering people, it was astonishing to see how well it worked when it worked. I think that was a really good example for me of how music can truly manipulate peoples' emotions and actions, and that was always really cool to experience. It makes sense that music is used heavily in religion, in my experience, because it is such a moving force, that it really adds a whole other dimension to the worship experience. 

          As far as aesthetics are concerned, I know that many people find hymns to be incredibly beautiful and comforting, and so they do have some effect on what is found aesthetically pleasing. However, the contemporary music kind of coincides with whatever popular music sounds like at the time it is written, so I'm not sure how much that influences aesthetics outside of the church.