“The Gospel of Jesus Christ” is the first movement of a
planned multi-movement composition entitled Sermon
Hymns, which offers a new way of using music for Christian corporate worship.
Its novelty derives from its presentation: a multimedia composition for piano
with electronic audio and video playback. Sermon
Hymns consists of sermon clips sequenced together to communicate a specific
narrative; in this case, the narrative is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but later
movements will focus on different narratives. Original music, both electronic
and acoustic, accompanies the sermon excerpts, which are further complemented
by a video emphasizing the text. Could such a medium be used in a Christian
church setting? What role does music – or more specifically, “textual music” –
play in Christian worship from a theological perspective, and is Sermon Hymns consistent with this role?
If
Christian worship is a human’s appropriate response to God’s revelation and
must engage both emotion and thought, as I will argue, then textual music
efficiently mediates this marriage of heart and head, allowing the Christian to
worship God “in spirit and in truth.” Despite its unusual form of presentation,
Sermon Hymns is consistent with this
model and could be included as a part of Christian corporate worship. This
document contains an overview of the role of textual music in Christian
congregational worship from a theological perspective, which is followed by a
discussion demonstrating how Sermon Hymns
fits within this mold. A score is also included, along with the video file
from the premier performance.If you are interested in exploring my research, contact me at ccodycurtis@gmail.com.
