[Worship] Multicultural Worship, Part III

["gabrieli gabrieli" <gabrieli@hotmail.com>]

Dear Saints of the Most High God--

     I would like to address the process of acculturation in this
post. I define "acculturation" simply as the process of acquiring
new information about a culture other than our own. Webster's New
Collegiate Dictionary puts it this way:

  "1. cultural modification of an individual, group or people through
       prolonged and continous interaction involving intercultural
       exchange and borrowing with a different culture."

To a certain extent, this process continually happens in American
society. Through the last 30 years, the Euro-American cultural base
has integrated many aspects of African-American culture. Nowhere is
this more so than in music, entertainment and the professional sports
world. It took a long time for this to happen, due to economic and
political disenfranchisement of African-Americans (and other 
populations). However, as opportunities increased for people of color,
African-American cultural forms, expressions and ethnic folkways began
to pervade the wider Euro-based culture.
     I have observed that in the Christian worship context, it is
helpful to understand the PROCESS of acculturation, so we can more
easily educate ourselves and our congregations. It is helpful to
remember that acculturation is not a "one shot deal", but a continual
process of LEARNING and INCORPORATION. I use this easy acronym to
explain it:

     EIS--this stands for:

  EXPOSURE--hearing the music for the first time.
  STUDY--learning, repetition and memorization of the music.
  INTEGRATION--the music becomes a part of both my corporate and
    personal repertoire of worship music. I can now sing/play and feel
    completely comfortable with the music. It is now "second nature"
    to me (and us).

This simple process is used any time we learn ANYTHING, and we don't
really think about it. It is the same process through which we can
introduce and incorporate multiethnic music/dance into our churches
and congregations.
     I have discovered that we often face barriers (in ourselves
and in others) when new music/dance is introduced that is "foreign"
to the culture or cultures represented in the congregation. These
are the most common barriers:

1. HUMAN RESISTANCE TO CHANGE. Basically, we are creatures of habit.
    Sometimes, Christians resist something just because it's NEW
    or UNFAMILIAR. Though we may not SAY it, we think such thoughts
    as:   
         "I like my music. Why do I have to learn someone else's?"
         "What's wrong with OUR songs? Why must I learn THEIR songs?"
         "I really don't FEEL like learning anything new today! I'll
            just kind of lip synch on this one until we get to 
            something I know..."
         "When I come to church on Sunday morning, I expect to hear
            _____________ (fill in with your own expectation). I
            don't understand this other stuff and I don't need it
            to worship God."

2. FEAR OF DISPLACEMENT. This is often the root cause of resistance to
    learning music/dance of another culture--the fear that the "other"
    music/dance will "push out" or "replace" OUR music/dance. Fear of
    displacement is largely behind anti-immigration sentiment, and
    the same emotions often afflict churches struggling to accomodate
    various ethnicities represented in the congregation.
          Worship leaders and choir directors can do much to dispel
    this fear. We need to explain to people that learning the music/
    dance of other Christian cultural groups is ENRICHMENT for us,
    and we will always have "our own" music/dance as well. We are
    always in the process of ADDING TO our knowledge, not DISCARDING
    our particular ethnocultural traditions. Again, the image of
    a "treasure chest", chock-full of beautiful things bequeathed to
    us as children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ, enable
    believers to see the music/dance of the "other" as MINE. In other
    words, I have INHERITED this HUGE TREASURE of Christian worship,
    but I'm still learning ABOUT ALL THE GOODIES I OWN! 



3. STEREOTYPICAL OR RACIST REACTIONS. Unfortunately, Western media
    has done much to promote FALSE and GROSSLY DISTORTED images of
    ethnic groups and religions. I have always resented this, as an
    African-American, a Christian and a Pentecostal. Notice how movies
    depict Christians--either we are wimpy, quasi-religious fools with
    a wishy-washy faith that doesn't demand personal holiness, or we
    are bipolar, demon-possessed hypocrites that preach revivals and
    hide condoms, liquor bottles and assorted detritus in our Bibles
    to use after the crowds have dissipated!
        Italian-Americans are uniformly depicted as either psycho-
    pathic criminals running crime syndicates, or dumb urban hicks
    who can't speak the King's English--ignorant, loud-mouthed boors
    with just enough intelligence to cook pasta and do the Chicken
    Dance at weddings.
        So, when we begin to introduce the folk or indigenous sound
    into the worship context, people may reject it BECAUSE IT IS
    ASSOCIATED WITH NEGATIVE IMAGES AND STEREOTYPES gleaned from
    television, movies and print media.
        Much of what we do as facilitators of worship is to:
          A. Help folks UNLEARN false, sinful or negative things
              absorbed over time.
          B. Help ourselves and others to REPLACE these falsehoods
              with ACCURATE INFORMATION. We can do this orally, and
              we can also use our bulletins to print this information.
              What is heard AND seen is likely to make a greater
              imprint in the memory.
          C. Teach from our own exeriences--we can talk about how
               we felt when we first heard something new, how God
               dealt with us, the lessons we learned, etc. This helps
               the congregation to understand that the choir directors
               or worship leaders ALSO had to "confront the 
               unfamiliar", learn about it, and then LEARN SOMETHING
               NEW. This applies EQUALLY to either "good" or "bad"
               initial experiences.

4. REACTIONS STEMMING FROM OTHER FACTORS. This can occur within
     any congregation, for any number of reasons. One "universal"
     problem found worldwide is the rejection of music/dance
     associated with former "pagan" activity. Far too many Christian
     missionaries have instructed the "heathens" that THEIR 
     INDIGENOUS MUSIC/DANCE FORMS, AS WELL AS THE INSTRUMENTS THEIR
     HANDS CREATED, WERE IN AND OF THEMSELVES "PAGAN."
         For this reason, many Asian, African, Caribbean and Latin
     American Christians FELT GUILTY about incorporating their own
     folk forms into the Christian worship context, and opted for
     whatever the colonialist missionaries brought as "Christian."
         The SAME process happened in Europe--folk carols (most of
     which were DANCES)and folk dance were PUSHED OUT to make room
     for liturgical innovations pushed by Rome. Celtic churches 
     resisted this for centuries--but you rarely see traditional
     Celtic dances as a part of worship, even though this lively
     folk tradition is performed everywhere else.
         Contrast the folk music and dance of Greece with what you
     will hear in a Greek Orthodox church. Although some of the hymns
     and chants are folk-based, where are the lively bouzouki bands
     and where are the dances? OUTSIDE the church! 
         One reason African-American worship remained vital is that
     the FOLK CULTURE WAS THE WORSHIP CULTURE. Since slaves were
     not considered "good enough" to learn "Massa's" religious
     forms--and slaves were forbidden to read the Bible or assemble
     without a white person present--Africans developed their own
     distinct Christian worship patterns of music and dance. 
         Pentecostal churches have always flourished in Latin American
     countries, for the simple reason that the FOLK CULTURE IS ALWAYS
     UTILIZED TO TRANSMIT THE GOSPEL AND IS THE WORSHIP CULTURE. On
     the other hand, some Caribbean churches REFUSE TO UTILIZE THEIR
     INDIGENOUS MUSIC/DANCE because they are accustomed to thinking
     that only Euro-based hymnody is "fitting for the Lord." This 
     creates many problems, and in effect, tells people that their
     own music and dance "isn't good enough" for Jesus and should be
     DISCARDED in favor of "something else."
          Christians need to understand that we were all "born pagan",
     in the sense that we all have the Adamic nature that needs to be
     redeemed by the blood of Jesus. However, music, dance and
     musical instruments are NOT in and of themselves "HEATHEN."
     What is "HEATHEN" is:
        a. Utilizing any art form to worship an idol god.
        b. Worshipping idols, including saints, icons, prestige,money,
             education, fame or anything else we humans adore
             instead of the Living God.

Much heathen activity occurs in America when people "worship" family
instead of God, sports instead of God, and when people choose to
bat their gods around on golf courses instead of attending a house
of worship! One time my father and I were on the way to church. He 
pointed out a man he saw washing his car and said to me, "You see
that man? He's polishing his god." As a young girl growing up, I 
never forgot that!
     Idolatry occurs in night clubs, bars, rock concerts, sports
stadiums and ANYWHERE and at any time people choose to worship some-
thing other than Yahweh! Idolatry also occurs in churches, when
people, things or practices REPLACE worship of the Creator, or when
we "idolize" speakers or "celebrities". Many secular love songs, for
example, contain idolatrous lyrics. Texts that make such claims as:
    "You are my world"
    "Every breath (or hearbeat or whatever) is yours"
    "I can't live without you"
    "My life was meaningless until you came along"
    "I was empty until you came into my life"

should only be addressed to GOD, and not to humans! No wonder 
relationships and marriages fail--humans can't possibly live up to
what we expect Deity to provide!

Again, constant education and "re-education" of believers is essential
to permit the acculturation process to take place. This takes time,
and will occur gradually. However, it must be remembered that this
process is really no different than the learning process in general,
and Christians can successfully integrate ANY form of indigenous
music, if EXPOSURE IS CONTINUOUS and TIME IS ALLOTTED for people to
absorb the new material.
   Just as some churches use a "Hymn of the Month" format, this can
be done also with new ethnocultural material. Just as we do not expect
perfect comprehension and performance of a new hymn the first time
it's introduced in our own language or folk idiom, we should NOT be
discouraged if the new song isn't "received" the way we think it
should be. Remember, ALL CULTURE IS LEARNED, therefore, ALL CULTURE
CAN BE LEARNED. With time and education, we can "sing a new song
unto the Lord" in another language, and "praise Him with timbrel
and dances" in another movement form!
   As choral directors and worship leaders, we have the JOY and 
RESPONSIBILITY of educating ourselves and others about our "treasure
chest" of INEXHAUSTIBLE worship riches in Christ Jesus!

Learning new stuff all the time,

Charity Dell
gabrieli@hotmail.com


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