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Church of God Seminary in
Riobamba
Course on Quichua Liturgy:
March 1-5, 2010
Finally, even though I still haven't
finished my dissertation, I am teaching music, theology, and
missions in Ecuador! And to the Quichua Indians! The
Church of God seminary near Quito has an extension in
Riobamba specifically for the Quichua population in the
Andes of Ecuador. The director had been asking me for
several months to teach a course in worship and liturgy at
the seminary. The day finally arrived! It's quite a
commitment because the schedule is from 8am to 6pm, Monday
through Friday. Riobamba is a three-hour drive south from
Quito, so we stayed in a local hotel.
The seminary has a adequate building where
the students not only study, but they also stay the whole
week at the seminary. The first floor of the three story
building serves for the dining room and offices. The second
floor holds classrooms, and the third floor has dorms for
the students.
So what's the best way to teach a course
on worship and liturgy? I decided that instead of beginning
with theory and then applying it to practice, we would do
the reverse. In fact, it worked much better to begin with a
song, and allow the students to participate spontaneously.
Then as the liturgy "developed," I would
stop and explain what was happening and why. Then we would
start again, and I continued to explain and teach as we
progressed through the song. What an experience! I'm sure I
learned more than the students did!
Then came the exercise to compose a new
song. I divided the class into groups, and each put new
words to a familiar melody. The Quichuas use a particular
style which here is called "San Juanitos," and I have
learned that it's very easy for them to write new words for
this style. They always want to learn the modern music
that's influencing the city churches, but it's still hard
for them to use and play that music, because it's not yet
part of their music culture.
Watch the video of
one group's song composition.
In the evenings we continued to put into
practice what we were learning in class during the worship
services in the seminary chapel. I was determined to
implement some movement during the songs and God allowed it
to happen.
We moved the chairs to one side and formed
a circle. I had noticed that the Quichua's move from side to
side when they sing, and I realized that if we formed a
circle and made the step to the right larger than the step
to the left, the circle would rotate. It worked!
Watch the video.
During the classes I realized that the
Quichua are not used to thinking abstractly. We read through
an Old Testament ceremony in Deuteronomy 26:1-11 where a Jew
brought a basket from the harvest to the temple. I asked
them to create a liturgy for this ceremony, but they began
to write orders of worship for their church services. I
realized what was happening and stopped the exercise. Then
we went through Leviticus 16 which details The Day of
Atonement. Since they deal with animals daily, they could
identify with butchering animals and draining the blood. We
reviewed the five animals used and what happened to each
one. I realized it would take another course for them to be
able to develop a liturgy for this ceremony.
But I know that they have festivals in
their communities to which they can identify. So I decided
we need to try to perform a Christian adaptation of one of
those festivals. I told them their final exam was to develop
a type of march with the musical instruments we had in
class, and to parade around the block. They loved it! Praise
God, it worked!
Watch the video of our practice for the
parade.
And now the parade
itself!
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