Anglican Music?

This Sunday we celebrate the life and witness of the Rev’d Martin Luther King, Jr. Using the Hymnal 1982 and its supplement, Wonder, Love and Praise, we sing music from the African American tradition. We do this not because we are a primarily African American congregation, but precisely because we are not. The work of the Civil Rights movement, both in the church and in the culture, is not finished. It is important to be reminded of this and seek those places where we can make justice and further the work in our own time and place. It is also important for us to sing music from other traditions.

New music, especially music from traditions and places not our own, can raise the question, what is Anglican music? While some might disagree, I think it is music written by Anglicans, primarily for use in Anglican liturgy, and music from other traditions appropriated and/or modified for Anglican worship. This definition includes a lot of music. What unifies it, however, is liturgy. Anglican music is music used to worship God when the community gathers to pray. It does not exist solely for the edification of people (though that may happen); it does not exist primarily to move us (though it may); and it is not to entertain us. The object of Anglican music is God, not us. While we may seek to make the best music possible, it is not for the sake of the performance but to offer the best to God.

So using music in our liturgy from other times and places is an Anglican thing to do if the music is made in praise of God. In the experience of this new music we may be changed. Music has the power to transform: individuals into community; strangers into friends; the weak into the empowered. Throughout time and space music has formed people into cohesive groups, even empowering them to fight oppression. Central to the Civil Rights movement, and other movements around the globe, is the power of music in the resistance of injustice.