1. The early Christians maintained the religious practices of their
Jewish background.
2. They continued to worship in the Temple and to gather for instruction
and discussion in the Synagogue, but there was an increased emphasis
upon the sacral meal - now a communal rather than family
meal - frequently referred to as the “breaking of bread”
(Grove's). Someone was appointed to preside over the evening meal
(Foley, p. 68).
3. The process of conversion was carried out in the synagogues
and other public places, but the proper ritual gathering of the
faithful was the communal meal, which was usually held in
the home of some Christian prominent in a particular locality. It
is not certain whether every mention in the New Testament of the
“breaking of bread”, or of related terms such as “the
Lord's supper” refers to a eucharistic celebration, but certainly
many of them do.
4. Group singing consisted of newly created material
rather than Old Testament psalms. For example, when Paul
said to the Corinthians: “What then, brethren? When you come
together each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation,
has a tongue, has an interpretation” (1 Corinthians xiv.26-7),
it seems that he was referring to individual contributions of the
congregation.
5. The New Testament seems to be permeated with fragments of
liturgical hymns.
6. The CANTICLES
of Luke's Gospel (the Magnificat, the Benedictus and
the Nunc dimittis) are generally thought to be complete
hymns that were sung in the liturgy of the time.
7. In addition to the singing of full-length hymns, which
would probably have been performed by individuals, the entire
congregation must have participated in short acclamations and
responses. In the enthusiastic atmosphere of the time, one-word
acclamations like “Amen”, “Alleluia” and “Maranatha”
must have been common, as well as somewhat longer exclamations such
as doxologies or perhaps favorite psalm verses. These
were possibly chanted in response to prayers and readings,
which themselves might have been declaimed rather than read.
[From New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (personal
online subscription: $30.00 month.; $295.00 year.) This excellent
general resource has several articles containing information on
Music (particularly HYMNODY) of the Early Christian Church.
Music Ref ML100.N48.]
8. Instrumental music never found a place in synagogue worship
(Foley, p. 80). Consequently, early Christian music was probably
a cappella. Instrumental music was associated with Temple worship
and the act of sacrifice (p. 81).
9. Early Christian worship was characterized by spontaneity.
The Christians were revolutionary and charismatic. Their worship
was punctuated with shouts, acclamations, hymns, improvised chants
and the gift of tongues (p. 82).