Análisis critico

In exploring possible comparisons with current provision and expectation within the Church of England, it was instructive to analyse responses to the same questionnaire from two ministers within the Evangelical Church of Austria and one from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Although no direct dialogue was possible, each was asked questions similar to those addressed in dialogue with the two Church of England ministers52. A number of parallels can immediately be identified: both ministers were women, both had some musical background, and at the time of responding both were ministering in the same church. However, both also had substantial experience across a range of churches, one as a native resident of Vienna, the other as an ordained minister of the Evangelische-lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers53 who had chosen to move to Austria with her family. Their church community at the time of responding was situated in inner-city Vienna, close to the historic centre in an area dominated by shops and businesses. The congregation was eclectic and diverse, with a substantial proportion of students and short-term members.

2.8.1 THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRIA

The first minister was the daughter of a pastor in the Lutheran Church of Hannover, growing up with her family in rural northern Germany during the 1960’s and 70’s. She was profoundly influenced by this lifestyle from an early age, and since childhood had never considered any other career choice. Her initial experiences of music within worship were among her earliest memories, in particular singing the entire Lutheran liturgy, which made a profound impression. Traditional Lutheran hymnody was the norm - “I loved all the ancient hymns and tried to sing them from the score, even if I had never heard them before….I did not like the sermon!” Only at the start of Confirmation classes (which lasted for two years) did children begin to attend adult worship on alternate Sundays. For younger children her mother led a children’s service in the village hall nearby, consisting of “a simplified liturgy without Communion. We sang a collection of core

52 _{Both respondents addressed these questions in English, and any verbatim comments quoted are}

exactly as expressed in their written responses.

53 _{The Evangelical Lutheran Provincial Church of Hannover, one of 22 regional member churches of the}

hymns and carefully selected new hymns.” The question of expectations about church did not arise for this minister as she had never known a time when she expected anything different. The second minister, although brought up in Vienna54, echoed these feelings and experiences with uncanny similarity. She too “loved the parts that I could sing along because they were always the same….I loved the beginning of the lessons most because the teacher always sang some hymns with us. I learned them by heart, just by singing them again and again”. She too struggled to answer the question about expectations because there was no concept of anything different to expect. Even for young children, the musical tradition was clearly both an attraction and a fundamental part of their formation.

2.8.1.1 AVAILABLE RESOURCES

German-speaking Protestant churches use the Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (Evangelical

Church Hymn Book), the standard German language Lutheran book of hymns and musical

settings with a few minor modifications to allow for local or regional variations. The first minister grew up with the edition used in the Evangelische-Lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers, while the second was familiar with the Austrian version. Although neither had any expectations of alternative forms of worship, both acknowledged that part of its attraction at that time was its tradition. For many Lutheran worshippers this is precisely how they expect the liturgy to be conducted. Both ministers also indicated that liturgical change was not high on the agenda55, although there was also the possibility for liturgical experimentation “…the possibility to try new things first and evaluate them afterwards, instead of rejecting them before even trying”. Both had valued greatly this open-mindedness.

2.8.1.2 DEVELOPMENTS AND CHANGES

At the age of 12 the first minister’s father had allowed the youth group to accompany a traditional hymn with guitars – “the Church Council nearly threw him out!” As a teenager she experienced for the first time worship in larger churches with choirs, and even an orchestra for Bach cantatas. Deeply impressed by this, she then struggled with contemporary songs where “the texts did not

54

The Evangelische Kirche in Österreich (Lutheran Church in Austria) is completely independent of its German counterpart, although with comparable resources and structures

55 _{The current version of the Kirchengesangbuch was introduced in 1987, with a supplementary volume published in}

seem to fit into the music lines.” By the time she was ordained in the mid-1980’s, guitars and modern spiritual songs had become commonplace, although there was an enthusiastic response to sung liturgical responses and traditional hymnody56 For the second minister musical resource was sadly lacking, although with no professional musician to play the organ, the congregation had to find an alternative local resource for accompanying liturgical texts and hymns.

2.8.1.3 PREFERENCE AND CHOICE

When asked about their own preferences and tastes and what had influenced them, The first minister was very aware that her upbringing in a clergy family had influenced her preferences and tastes profoundly, and she found most other styles and approaches not to her taste. The second had enjoyed a more varied set of influences and preferred to include a variety of different styles of music, loving traditional hymns if the congregation enjoyed singing them too, but not dismissing newer songs that avoid ‘dumbing-down’ or banality.

2.8.1.4 LITURGY AND MUSIC

The two differed slightly in how they addressed what kind of music might enable worshippers to engage with the text, or might hinder them in this. The second minister felt the congregation would not be affected greatly by how hymn texts were presented, but for the first “good hymns link words and music so that you never forget them…” No doubt she would have left choice of more contemporary hymnody to church musicians, but made the point that “superficial music can lead to the impression that God’s relationship to humankind is superficial as well” The second stressed that worshippers must be able to relate to what they are singing in straightforward texts with music that is easy to pick up and sing, recognising that they might otherwise be distracted from focusing on the text. On hymnbooks and Psalmody, both respondents acknowledged that although there is just one hymnbook for Lutherans it is by no means easy to navigate. They quite liked the new Kirchengesangbuch (1994) and while they loved hearing a church choir singing Psalms well, they were also supportive of metrical psalms as a good alternative.

2.8.1.5 CHOOSING HYMNS

Both respondents were confident about selecting music for a liturgy as a joint exercise with a non-professional musician, but the first firmly believed that “professional church musicians

should choose on their own”, while the second chose hymns, but left other music to the organist, who made initial choices before a shared decision was reached around 48 hours before the service. In Germany or Austria, both agreed that German-speaking Lutheran pastors undergo minimal liturgical training, and that liturgy with music should be a central topic in every pastor’s training.

• Although German-speaking, these two Lutheran pastors were from culturally diverse backgrounds, but they hold much in common:

• There was a strong sense of shared Lutheran identity above and beyond cultural differences. Minor regional variations between hymn-books and liturgical texts were not seen as significant, nor did regional and national differences appear to affect their attitude to worship.

• Neither enthused about liturgical experimentation or updating, both having a great love of traditional Lutheran hymnody from childhood.

• Both agreed that their liturgical formation as ordinands was inadequate, especially on musical aspects of worship.

2.8.2 THE EVANGELICAL – LUTHERAN CHURCH OF FINLAND

The sole respondent to the questionnaire in Finland was a very experienced Lutheran minister, at that time working on ministerial formation, primarily in liturgy and music. He chose to respond in a single more extended paragraph, but his specific knowledge and overview of a wide range of worship styles across the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland enabled him to express views somewhat different to those in parish ministry. There had been a recent new emphasis across the Church of encompassing a wide range of musical styles in order to attract occasional worshippers, which in busier parishes would commonly mean a traditional morning service - “hymns from our hymn book approved by the Synod, organ music” - but an afternoon or evening service in a more contemporary musical style, adapted to changing social trends and technology. The Finnish bishops were looking to widen the traditional formation of organists (cantors) in order to make church musicians more flexible across different styles of music, but while this minister understood what lay behind their thinking, he disagreed with the premise of the argument that if performance was good, any style of music could be used in worship - “It is not insignificant, what style of music is supposed to be used. Certain styles are appropriate to express certain contents.” This was not implying that only certain approved musical styles or instruments were appropriate for specific content, but felt that “much of the music of today is…influenced by entertaining

contents which are not compatible with worship”. He was evidently aware of this being a source of anxiety and concern to a number of church musicians and church ministers.

Having recently returned from a study trip to London during which he explored and experienced worship in the Church of England, his perception was that rather than different approaches co- existing in the same parish or congregation, Evangelical congregations were likely to use ‘contemporary’ worship songs and a variety of styles, with little or no music to carry liturgical texts, unlike Anglo-Catholic congregations, who tended to prefer more traditional liturgical music, including anthems, psalmody and hymns. He did not compare this with the situation in Finland, nor pass judgment on any worship he had experienced in London, although it had clearly given much opportunity for further reflection.