Churches make a joyful noise
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BY BOB REEVES/Lincoln Journal Star
The worship service at Allon Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church began with pianist and choir director Deah Harriott repeating the opening words from Psalm 100: "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord."
Joyful sounds followed as the six-member praise team belted out a peppy praise song accompanied by Harriott's gospel-jazz piano styling.
"I call you holy, your name is holy," they sang. "Your name is holy to me."
The multiracial congregation rose to its feet to sing and clap along with the singers, swaying and waving their hands.
"Put your hands together because he's truly mighty," Harriott said, as the congregation began slapping out the second and third beats of each three-beat measure.
"When your way seems dark and drear, don't have to worry 'cause God is here," the room of more than 150 worshippers sang as the words were flashed on a screen. "If in your heart there is no song, just keep the faith and keep holding on," they continued, their jubilant voices making the small room reverberate.
Then Harriott began a slower, more contemplative melody on the keyboard and the room moved into a prayerful mood. People stood with eyes closed, arms raised in reverence.
"I love you Jesus, I worship and adore you," they sang. "I just want to tell you Lord I love you, more than anything."
The music is an integral part of the worship experience, said the Rev. Furman Fordham II, the church's black pastor. Traditional gospel music, standard hymns and contemporary praise songs combine to help people connect with one another and come closer to God, he said.
The service included several readings from scripture, group prayers with most of the congregation kneeling, a sermon by Jared Wright, a student minister from Union College, and an altar call with personal testimonies and an invitation for anyone to come to the altar and bring their cares to God.
The sermon and testimonies were peppered by calls of "amen," "that's right" and "oh, yes," from people in the pews. Those responses, traditional in the black church, show that people aren't just an audience but co-participants, Fordham said.
"Our objective in the worship service is to try to merge the intellectual with the emotional so there's a real experience," he said. "God's word needs to be understood intellectually, but we need to receive it emotionally to really make a decision in our will to do something."
The music, though it has a spontaneous feel, is carefully planned to guide people's feelings from praise to prayer, to a commitment to go out and serve the world, he said.
In recent years, the music at Allon Chapel, 2301 Y St., has become much more exuberant, with a jazz or blues flavor. The music appeals to younger worshippers, but people of all ages feel moved by both the sounds and the words, Fordham said.
"The music stays with them afterward," he said. "The next day they'll find themselves whistling a tune and it reminds them of what they've heard in church."
Fordham added: "Everything in the service is planned to minister to the reception of God's word, the experiencing of God's word and the commitment to follow or live God's word. Music is a tool to help us do that."
Allon Chapel has many black members, but also attracts many college students, especially from Union College. Students like the music and intimate style of the service and the family-like atmosphere of the small church, said Tonya Wright, Jared's wife.
Harriott also leads the choir at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 3301 N. 56th St., a predominantly black congregation that worships on Sunday mornings. The larger choir there, dressed in formal robes, makes the rafters ring as worshippers clap, tap their feet or sing along.
That service, too, has moments of joy and moments of meditation. During the consecration prayer on a recent Sunday, nearly all of the more than 200 worshippers came forward to gather before the altar, many raising their arms to God.
As the Rev. Michael Combs led the prayer focusing on God as a source of light in a world of darkness, people responded with "amen" and "hallelujah."
Afterward, Combs urged his congregation to pray for people all around the world — not just in Iraq, Palestine and other places in the news, but everywhere that people are hurting and in need of God's peace. "God loves the whole world, and we should pray for all people," he said.
A high point of the service was when the choir sang an upbeat anthem with the words "Jesus, Jesus, how I love to call your name. Jesus, Jesus, I am no longer the same. Since you came into my life, Jesus, everything has changed."
Such songs, Combs said, appeal to each worshipper's individual experiences, yet the act of singing unites everyone with a common bond.
"The focus of black worship music is to bring people together, and when people make the connection is it assumed you're making the connection in the presence of God," he said.
The value of music to bring people to a communal experience of God is highlighted by author Barbara Holmes in her book "Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church" ($19, Fortress Press).
Black worship has its roots in African traditions, in which an entire village or tribe felt a spiritual presence when dancing or singing together, she said. Those traditions took a new form in Christian worship, but retained the concept of worshippers having a mutual experience of God when joined in song, hand-clapping and other forms of expression.
Group singing, especially when it seems to arise from the deep feelings of the people themselves, can bring about a "transformation" that gives people a sense of holiness, Holmes writes. "All must be on one accord before the transformation takes place. Singing accomplishes this purpose … (there comes) a contemplative moment (when) each and every member of the congregation shares the same angst over the troubles of the world and the need for renewal."
Combs noted that many contemporary praise songs lack the depth of human experience that was found in great black gospel songs of the past. For example, he said, the words of the song "The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow," written by famous gospel composer Thomas A. Dorsey during the Great Depression, have a much deeper meaning than a praise chorus that merely repeats phrases like "We glorify your name" or "We worship you."
Human life always has been marked by struggle, Combs added. "Music hopefully reflects those struggles and allows us to reflect upon those struggles."
Oscar Harriott, Deah's father and a leader of several gospel music groups, believes the most effective gospel music "grows out of an individual's life experience."
Sometimes the greatest songs some out of the most heart-wrenching experiences. For example, Dorsey's well-known song "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," was composed after his wife Nettie died in childbirth.
Oscar Harriott wrote two gospel songs in the wake of the death of his second wife, Marlene. One contained these words: "There were times when I thought my God had forgotten me, circumstances had got me down — then later on when my life turned around, I found that God never left me alone."
Gospel music "is a powerful medium of communication," he said. "Often when I'm singing, the music evokes such an emotion deep within … tears come streaming down my face," he said.
"When the singers are delivering a very emotional song and the audience picks it up, it's like an electrical charge going through the whole room. A common feeling goes through everyone."
By definition, the name gospel music means "the good news through song," Deah Harriott said.
A classically trained pianist, she enjoys attending symphony concerts, but seldom feels as moved as she does when singing or hearing gospel songs.
"Gospel music is deliberately designed to draw you closer to God," she said. "You can actually feel the presence of God, if you'll allow the music to do that."
Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or at breeves@journalstar.com
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