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#worship

Creating Transformative Experiences in Worship and Rehearsals

September 14, 2021 by Austen Wilson Leave a Comment

I live in Jacksonville, FL and frequently I go to the beach. Labor Day weekend had some beautiful and perfect beach weather. However, on one particular day, the waves were too rough to swim. So I sat and watched the ocean, read, and at times stood ankle deep in the water. Since I live 25 – 30 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, I’ve been to the beach several times in the two years I’ve lived here. There have been times I’ve gone where the surf has been much more turbulent. At other times, the ocean has been extremely calm.

That epiphany helped remind me that it’s a lot like life. Sometimes the waves feel like they’re going to drown us. Other times, it’s smooth sailing. Right now, it feels like life’s waves are rougher rather than smoother. Perhaps you can relate.

The hymn O God Our Help in Ages Past came to mind. Here is an excellent rendition of an arrangement by Jeremy Bankson from First Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.

My name is Austen Wilson and I’m the Director of Music and Worship Arts at Mandarin UMC in Jacksonville, FL. In these blog posts, I plan on writing about how we can better withstand the rough waves of life and help enable transformative experiences in rehearsals and worship, even in these tough times. I’ll include specific activities, resources, or repertoire that have worked for me in the context of worship in music. I’ll bring artistic inspiration through videos found on YouTube and other platforms. Finally, I’ll write about questions I’m thinking about that help me withstand those waves and create transformative experiences in worship and rehearsals.

One of the key resources I’m using is a book called The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. It emphasizes the importance of discovering a clear and compelling purpose behind an activity. As we are in the beginning of a new season, what are your top 2 – 3 priorities/purposes for this year? Since we are all in different contexts, our priorities will look different. Mine happen to be the following:

  1. Enable transformational experiences in rehearsals and in worship.
  2. Re-Discover, Re-Awaken, and Revitalize the Congregation’s Voice
  3. Deepen connections between people who are in person and connect people who are in person with people who are at home

Based on those priorities, I’ve already started making changes to procedures I had done for years. Every week, I send out announcements by email to all my choirs. In the past, it’s contained a hodge-podge of communication, including logistics, rehearsals files, and other information. The announcements were usually sent out a day or two before the rehearsal, depending on how busy my week was.

This practice and much of the format were modeled off of eNews that the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia sends out, a choir I sang with from 2015 – 2019. However, it was only recently where I asked myself what the purpose was of my weekly announcements in my current context? As a result, I made some changes.

If one of my goals is to “Re-Discover, Re-Awaken, and Revitalize the Congregation’s Voice”, then I needed to look at all tools at my disposal, one of which is the weekly announcements. Since the Chancel Choir is a key player in this goal, their leadership on hymns is crucial. As a result, I made the decision to send the hymn texts. The more singers read the texts, the better they’ll be able to confidently lead the congregation in singing. In addition, if I wanted the choir to read the hymn texts ahead of time and practice at home, I needed to email them the announcements earlier in the week. Instead of a day or two before the Thursday rehearsal, I decided to send the announcements no later than Monday. I also decided to have a prayer request section towards the top that asked if they had any prayer requests for rehearsal on Thursday. For my other ensembles, changes to the weekly email announcements will reflect specific priorities for those ensembles. Only time will tell how much of an impact these changes will make in the long-term.

In the short-term, the Chancel (Adult) Choir sings every Sunday except for 4 – 6 weeks during the summer. Especially with rehearsing with masks on and not knowing who might have to quarantine due to exposure to Covid, finding the right repertoire has been paramount. Recently, we sang Welcome by Mark Miller and Let All the World in Every Corner Sing by Calvin Hampton. Both are extremely adaptable and accessible. Fittingly, we sang Welcome on September 4, the first Sunday the new Senior Pastor preached. For more information on those resources, here are the following links:

Welcome:

Let All the World in Every Corner Sing:

The score for Welcome can be found in a collection called Roll Down, Justice! Songbook at this link:

https://www.choristersguild.org/sacred-songs-and-social-justice/

As we start another academic/program year, I hope you are able to enable meaningful and transformative experiences with your singers, even in the midst of chaotic and changing times.

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: #musicinworship, #worship

Modulating/Adjusting to a New Era: Conference on Worship, Theology, and the Arts

July 27, 2021 by Austen Wilson Leave a Comment

In even-numbered years, St. Olaf College hosts the Conference on Worship, Theology, and the Arts, further called CWTA in this post. It is a profoundly moving week-long church music conference attended by both church musicians and clergy from a variety of denominations. Nationally-renowned faculty from the college and around the nation provide a rich environment for learning and worship. One of these conferences would have happened during the summer of 2020. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, it was cancelled. Thankfully, a few of the organizers held a half-day online conference on July 20, 2021. Based on the original theme of the 2020 conference, “Scatter the Imagination of our Hearts”, it was an inspiring and thought-provoking conference, despite it being held through Zoom.

The conference started at 4:30 pm EST with an address by Dr. Anton Armstrong, conductor of the St. Olaf Choir. In the message, he spoke on the power of music to help worship leaders and faith communities grapple with issues of equity and inclusion. While this wasn’t the exact address from the conference, here are similar remarks he provided for the 2021 online conference of the American Choral Directors Association:

In the address during CWTA, Dr. Armstrong posed a number of thought-provoking questions. How have we been scattered in body, mind, spirit, voice with twin pandemics of COVID and systemic racism? How might we be brought back together? How might church musicians be pastoral servant leaders and both priest and prophet? How do we transform ourselves to do the work of diversity and inclusion? We have the charge to lift every voice, not just a few or a handful of voices.

After the address, we had the opportunity to enter into breakout rooms for 15 minutes to discuss the talk and then ask Dr. Armstrong questions, some of which dealt with resources we might use in expanding repertoire. These included Choristers Guild, GIA, pieces by Rollo Dilworth, and the Justice Choir Songbook. He also discussed how in the past year, the St. Olaf Choir had discussions about inclusion and all signed on to a social contract.

Following the discussion was a worship moment, which was recorded ahead of time and lasted about 10 – 15 minutes. The sole leaders were an organist, eight singers, and two pastors. It included prayers, readings, and a few sung components where participants were encouraged to sing while their Zoom screen was muted.

After a short break, we watched a presentation by a number of creatives behind A Sanctified Art, which is an organization that creates artistic and multi-media resources for the church. Thankfully, their work was represented at the Montreat conference this year and I can attest to the profound nature of their work.

For more information, find them at the following website:

https://sanctifiedart.org/

They led us through two different exercises. One was a guided meditation of a large image of the biblical account of Jesus scattering the money changers in the temple. Another was a series entitled “I’ve Been Meaning to Ask….” We saw a few video vignettes based around the questions “Where are you from?”, “Where does it hurt?”, “What do you need?”, and “Where do we go from here?”. These vignettes were followed by introspective questions. I could easily see this series used as a part of a reflection on worship, for a small group, or to build community.

Following the presentation, there was a dinner break where participants could log off or keep engaged by watching the St. Olaf Choral Spring Showcase, released on May 9, 2021. To watch the showcase, click on the link below:

https://www.stolaf.edu/multimedia/play/?e=3305

After the dinner break, Joe Davis gave a presentation, entitled “Radical Joy! Finding Your Freedom Practice and Deepening Healing”. Mr. Davis is a nationally-touring artist, educator, and speaker based in Minneapolis, MN. He encouraged us to find a practice first thing in the morning where we could stay grounded. Even before we look at our phones in the morning, we might consider finding a time of pause and stillness, writing and processing, and thinking of something compassionate to tell ourselves.

At the end of his presentation, we watched a very moving video he produced, entitled To My Beloved Children.

For more information on Mr. Davis, click on the following link:

http://joedavispoetry.com/

Finally, we learned about a project created by Dr. Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, entitled “To Repair”, which involves collecting narratives from activists and community leaders about repairing and reparations. He led this session live from Tulsa, Oklahoma, along with Antron McKay-West, a serial entrepreneur who helps his community in Jackson, Mississippi. Among the many insights in this session was that in the Bible, God didn’t always choose the most polished people to serve. In addition, we were encouraged to think how the church relates to the day-to-day suffering of communities in our context.

Although the conference only lasted for a few hours, there are a few lessons or questions I will be thinking about. Who is our neighbor? How might I embody the role of priest and prophet in my context? Finally, what do I need to change in the music ministry in my context with regards to diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: #churchmusic, #diversity, #equity, #inclusion, #worship

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