Saturday, November 29, 1997

Growing variety of Christian music attracts modern worshipers

By SUSIE P. GONZALEZ / San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO - On any given weekend in San Antonio, churchgoers can hear a variety of musical styles: gospel, classical, folk, Mariachi, contemporary - even jazz.

It's a way of praising God, and it's a way for ministers and music directors to draw people from all walks of life into the pews.

"We are different, and because of our differences, different things appeal to our souls," said Gilbert Aldrete Jr., organist and director of the bilingual choir at St. Matthew's Catholic Church.

In times past, organs were the instruments of choice as churches planned their Sunday worship services, but organs are being increasingly pushed aside in favor of guitars, trumpets, keyboards and amplifiers.

Yet, scholars say, it's too early to schedule the organ to perform its own funeral dirge.

"The organ itself is not an endangered species," said Barbara Mansfield, director of development and communications at the American Guild of Organists in New York City. "Church music is making some shifts."

As part of the shifting musical scene, a contemporary sound is creeping into the hymns and chants that congregations hear and sing, she said.

That can mean adapting more of what plays on radio stations - often referred to as "music with a message"- to what fills church sanctuaries on Sunday mornings.

Such approaches concern David Heller, associate professor of music, chapel music director and university organist at Trinity University, who acknowledged that debate has raged for centuries about how much influence secular music should have over sacred Christian music.

"There's this feeling that in order to be spiritual, the music has to be as simplistic as possible," Heller said.

Not so, Heller said, criticizing the words of many popular church songs as pretentious because they "seek to bring God to a human level rather than humans trying to bring themselves up to God."

Variety is welcomed as long as it is not a distraction to worship and engages both the emotions and the brain, he said, adding one caveat: "Whatever style you're doing, look for excellence."

While Gregorian, Latin and a capella chants are popular in other parts of the country, classical organ services remain a hit among some San Antonians.

Mary Ann Winden, organist at Christ Lutheran Church, said several parishioners have told her they joined her congregation because of the music she plays.

"I have a lot of power in my hands to change the emotional feel of the service," she said.

Tailoring the musical selections to the spiritual lessons of the day is her goal.

"Music is for the glory of God," Winden said. "Some people see it as entertainment. I try to play as if Christ were in the room, is this what he would want to hear?"

San Antonio jazzman Jim Cullum has developed a Jazz Mass that can be performed for any denomination as a way of viewing spiritual rituals in a new light.

"Sometimes the church activity becomes mechanical," Cullum said. "A Jazz Mass jolts them out of that. They see it in a new mode because it sounds so different. We bring some passion to the service."

At San Fernando Cathedral, a diverse choice of musical styles is offered at seven Masses each weekend, giving each service a distinct personality, said the Rev. David Garcia, cathedral rector.

The Mariachi Mass at 5:30 p.m. Saturdays is a big draw with tourists, he said.

Since the congregation can include people from all over the country, Garcia says in an introduction to Saturday services that music "reflects who we are and that this is one of the ways we can pray."

Local people sometimes choose which Mass to attend based on the type of music or choir they enjoy, he said.

Garcia quoted St. Augustine as saying, "If you sing, you pray twice."

"Music has always been used in the church to lift up our minds and hearts in prayer," he said. "The many styles of music are there so that we may participate better in the worship or prayer."

The Rev. Jim Roberts, pastor of Oxford United Methodist Church, has launched a contemporary worship service as a way of welcoming Baby Boomers.

Members of the congregation hear contemporary music - featuring piano playing and guitar strumming - that takes up half the service.

Blending contemporary tastes with music dates back to the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, who put Christian lyrics to bar tunes so church members could connect with something familiar, Roberts said.

"We want to be user-friendly so people can feel comfortable," Roberts said. "A lot of people don't care for organ music."

At the inaugural service last month, Roberts wore bluejeans and a Thornton Elementary School T-shirt as he spoke informally to the assembly.

Before his sermon, the praise team took some literary license as they sang a 10-minute rendition of "The House of the Rising Son," picking up where the song made popular by the Animals left off.

Singer Melissa Durham, who teaches music at Stahl Elementary, sang of the young man leaving the house, finding Jesus, repenting of his misdeeds and asking forgiveness.

"Sometimes music can reach people when words can't," Durham said.

Instrumental music is left out of most services held at Churches of Christ because of a belief that the Bible does not make specific references to instruments, said Dean Smith, senior minister at Sunset Ridge Church of Christ.

"We're an a capella tradition," he said.

Because the emphasis is on voice, the focus naturally follows to harmony in Sunset Ridge's choruses for adults and children, Smith said.

"A recent innovation was our praise team in which four people sing four parts on the microphone," he said.

The lesson of reaching people through music could not have been taught better than by organizers of the South Texas Billy Graham Crusade at the Alamodome in April.

Each night featured a different type of music, such as country, pop, gospel or rock in an attempt to draw a different type of crowd to each service.

Despite his training as an organist and his love for music, Trinity University's Heller said one element missing from today's world is silence.

"As an organist, I crave silence when neither the organ nor the minister speaks," Heller said. "It gives the person in the pew time to pray, think and ponder. There's not enough of that in our culture, and we should have something like that on a Sunday morning."