INDIGENOUS MUSIC AND WORSHIP

As South Asians, we are proud of our national cultures and indigenous music and would like to use these to enable believers to worship in their “heart culture”. Doing this requires a healthy understanding of both biblical worship and local culture.

First of all, what is biblical worship? Worship is the act of paying honour to a deity. In the OT, the word translated as “worship” literally means prostrating oneself, falling on one’s knees and touching the ground with one’s forehead. This used to be the way one showed respect for a human ruler. Today, “worship” refers to the reverential attitude of mind and body with which people should approach God. It symbolises religious adoration, obedience and service.

In the NT, the word translated as “worship” literally means kissing someone’s hand or the ground, and thus also implies prostrating oneself before a superior. It represents an acknowledgment of the greatness of God and of our own inadequacy, leading us to fall before him and acknowledge him as Lord.

Different churches have developed different styles of worship, but the heart of worship must remain our acknowledging God as Lord and giving him glory and honour. Everything else about our worship is based on human culture and personal preferences.

We sometimes fall short of this biblical understanding of worship when our worship becomes more entertainment-oriented than Godoriented.

We attend church in order to “get something out of the service”, rather than to worship God and serve others who attend (Heb 10:25). We become observers rather than participants in the worship and do not “offer the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Heb 13:15). This form of passive, self-centred, entertainment worship is not only wrong biblically, but is also at odds with South Asian culture. Worship in Asian religions is active and God-centred with the worshippers engaging in symbolic acts that demonstrate their piety.

Though some early Western missionaries tried to work with the available forms of worship in the local culture, many others, fearing syncretism, dismissed local culture as evil. This led them to steer Christians away from their local culture and from indigenous forms of worship. Converts were taught to worship in forms that were familiar to the West but alien to Asian culture. The influence of this type of teaching continues in South Asian churches today. But we cannot blame just the missionaries for our alienation from indigenous culture.

The scientific and technological advances of the West also impressed South Asians. In the early nineteenth century many uncritically embraced the culture of the colonisers without reflecting on its suitability for local worship.

Whatever the reasons for adopting Western forms of worship and music in the past, there has recently been a move to integrate indigenous music and worship styles in Christian worship. There is increasing use of bhajans and kirtans and of instruments such as the harmonium and tabla. Katha Kalatchepam (a traditional blend of songs, drama and storytelling) is being used to expound biblical stories.

It is worthwhile to mentioned the Northeast India indigenous music and worship, especially the Mizos. Indigenous Mizo music and worship are closely linked to their indigenous background. Having developed from oral traditions rooted in nature into a distinctive, colourful manifestation of Christian faith. In order to exalt God, this complex cultural synthesis mainly depends on community involvement, vocal harmonies, and traditional instruments.

In mission schools, congregational singing, tonic-sol-fa training, and translated evangelical hymns were the first forms of music. These eventually adopted native rhythms, fusing local poetic meters with Western hymnody.

Inkhawm Zai is one important aspect of indigenous worship. It is a robust, un-choreographed congregational singing practiced during regular church services

A quintessential Mizo communal singing tradition. It mainly takes place during events like Christmas or wakes, where villagers sit together for hours singing dedicated devotional songs called Lengkhawm Zai.

The Khuang (Drum) (khuong in Hmar) is a major traditional Mizo instrument popularized in modern church services. A famous Mizo proverb, Khuang lova chai ang ("a festival without a drum"), signifies that life and worship are incomplete without rhythm.

All these signify and edify the traditional and indigenous forms of worship. Using an indigenous musical instrument magnify and glorify the Living God in their own cultural context.

Churches and worship leaders are being called to develop cultural and biblical sensitivity and to be willing to contextualise worship, understand the cultural context of the church in their community and be aware of the heart language of the people. They need to be bold in their use of cultural forms that have not been used in the church before. They also need to have a deep understanding of the local culture of the church in each region and of its indigenous styles of music, traditions and history if they are to avoid syncretism and ensure that the people can truly express their worship and adoration of God in their heart culture, When we worship in this way, our worship will be acceptable to God while also being more contextually relevant, meaningful and spiritually uplifting.