Stairway to Heaven Or Highway to Hell?: the Potential Missiological Efficacy of Liturgical Rock Music in Canada

Stairway to Heaven or Highway to Hell?: The Potential Missiological Efficacy of Liturgical Rock Music in Canada by James Keith Nisbet Gale A Thesis Submitted to Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Theology and Religious Studies March 31, 2021, Halifax, Nova Scotia Copyright James Keith Nisbet Gale. 2021 Approved: Rev. Dr. Robert Fennell Supervisor Approved: Rev. Dr. Andrew O’Neill Examiner Approved: Dr. Alyda Faber Examiner Date: March 29, 2021 ii Dedication This one goes out to all the overlooked freaks and geeks, the kinds of wild souls who have always been the ripest and most dangerously receptive recipients of the Gospel. iii Abstract Stairway to Heaven or Highway to Hell?: The Potential Missiological Efficacy of Liturgical Rock Music in Canada by James Keith Nisbet Gale Music is a sacred language that facilitates divine encounter. The church has developed a unique musical language which is distinct from other contemporary genres. This thesis explores the efficacy of liturgies that use vernacular, functional, and communal forms to fulfill a missiology of radical welcome. Living in the midst of a consumer-driven environment, the church can employ popular forms to facilitate life-changing encounters with the living God, but it also must wrestle with a populace who has been raised to believe that relationality is expressed transactionally. Contemporary rock artists have already been authentically grappling with this reality for decades, making their music an ideal liturgical choice to facilitate contemporary peoples’ encounter with the paschal mystery which is the eternal rhythmic heart-beat of Christ’s living Body. March 31, 2021. iv Acknowledgements This essay is one of the missing puzzle pieces I found under the couch of my young adult skepticism regarding the church and its eternal hypocrisy. In the midst of the verses of modern popular disdain for institutions, I have found inspirational choruses of God’s grace in the congregations of the churches I have served in ordained ministry. I would like to acknowledge the courage of the United Church of Canada congregations of Murray River, Brookfield, and Middle Stewiacke for being bold enough to embrace a move toward vernacular music in their liturgies, and for any who have shared their surprise in the movement of the Spirit through contemporary forms in sacred spaces. These congregations emboldened me to explore what it is about music that is so powerful both in liturgies and contemporary culture. I would also like to thank Rev. Dr. Robert Fennell for his wisdom and guidance as my thesis advisor, and Dr. David Deane for encouraging me for over a decade to believe that this topic could be a thesis. Most important, I am grateful to my wife for persistently goading me to pursue academics even when feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a life in service of the church. Without the relentless support of all these faithful people, this work could have never happened. v Table of Contents Chapter 1: Come as You Are ....................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Church and Culture: A Framework of Ultimate Concern ......................................................... 6 Post-Christian Evangelization: From Duty to Authenticity .................................................... 18 Chapter 2: More Than a Feeling ................................................................................................ 24 A Brief History of Church Music: Controversy Through the Ages .......................................... 24 Sacred Rock Music: The Priesthood of All Headbangers ....................................................... 38 Secular Spiritual Formation: Music for Lost Souls ................................................................ 52 He is Risen: Christiformative Ontological Encounter ............................................................ 61 Chapter 3: Wish You Were Here ............................................................................................... 70 Liturgical Efficacy: Venerating the Vernacular, Flaunting the Functional, and Contemplating the Communal ....................................................................................................................... 70 Missiological Efficacy: The Potential Power of Power Chords .............................................. 77 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 88 Epilogue: The Encore................................................................................................................ 96 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 99 Chapter 1: Come as You Are Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run There's still time to change the road you're on Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven,” from Led Zeppelin IV, 1971 Introduction As the joke goes, the fact that there is a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic.1 The mission of the church, through the redemptive power of Jesus the Christ, is to stand as witness to Creation of the opportunity to take the narrow path to achieve not only otherworldly rewards, but to orient our lives toward our purpose, which Christians believe is following the Way of Jesus.2 The church is not immune to the same challenges that individuals face in choosing the broad, fast highway over the narrow, arduous stairway. This thesis provides evidence of how the church’s resistance to theomusicological reform has contributed to its missiological inefficacy in Canada. How each denomination and congregation chooses to live out its missiology varies. This thesis is interested particularly in addressing churches who claim a missiology of radical welcome through public worship. Radical welcome is a way of embodying the Great Commission of Christ to the church to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 1 This joke has been attributed to Darynda Jones, Karen Marle Moning, and Bill Murray. 2 Mt 7:13-14. 2 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”3 As worship is the ecclesial expression most recognizable to the average Canadian, it is an ideal place for a congregation’s missiology of radical welcome to be expressed. One example of a denomination that explicitly claims a missiology of radical welcome is the United Church of Canada [UCC]. Evidence of this is everywhere on the church’s website. The UCC has publicly declared: - United Church faith communities welcome people from all backgrounds and orientations.4 - Respectful of the religious practice of all people of goodwill, we are a welcoming church that is challenged to ongoing renewal.5 - Jesus welcomed everyone, whether they were poor, rich, or just getting by; ill or healthy; self-made or educated; popular or a loner; secure or full of doubts.6 - The United Church prides itself on being open and welcoming as Jesus was, regardless of age, race, class, gender, orientation, or physical ability.7 - Today, we are challenged by our intercultural vision to go beyond inclusion to a radical welcoming. This vision calls us to renew the ways we worship, live, and work together, with the leadership of people who may previously have been on the margins.8 - Our faithful and lively congregations are key witnesses to God's inclusive love in the world.9 - Grateful for God’s loving action, we cannot keep from singing.10 3 Mt 28:19-20a, New International Version [NIV]. 4 “Welcome to the United Church of Canada,” The United Church of Canada, 2019, accessed April 9. 2019, https://www.united-church.ca/community-faith/welcome-united-church-canada 5 Ibid. 6 “Relationship and Inclusion,” The United Church of Canada, 2019, accessed April 9. 2019, https://www.united-church.ca/community-faith/welcome-united-church-canada/relationship-and-inclusion 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid., italics added for emphasis. 9 “Strengthening Congregations,” The United Church of Canada, 2019, accessed April 9. 2019, https://www.united-church.ca/community-faith/being-community/strengthening-congregations 10 “A Song of Faith: A Statement of Faith of The United Church of Canada,” The United Church of Canada, 2006, https://www.united-church.ca/sites/default/files/resources/song-of-faith.docx 3 Although the UCC proclaims radical welcome, it, like all other mainline Christian denominations, has experienced significant decline in the midst of a culture which has remained spiritually curious.11 Despite this decline, the mission of the church remains to live out these stated values and to share them with those who are seeking to take the ramp off the highway and climb the good stairway. Whenever the term ‘church’ is used in the context of this thesis, it should be interpreted through the lens of a church which aspires to the kind of missiology of radical welcome as expressed by the UCC, and also to the historical context from which this kind of missiology arises. Worship is the central expression of the vast majority of communities of faith in the church. The UCC’s Articles of Faith state that the purpose of the church is “for the public worship of

Load more