A Theology of Music in Worship

I‘ve been teaching at the Center for Worship at Liberty University this week with my pastor, Fr. Jerry Smith at the invitation of Dr. Vernon Whaley. It has been a wonderful week, so far, with great interaction with other visiting instructors, as well as the students.  In preparation for the first session which I presented yesterday, I revisited the “Vision for Worship” I developed for St. Bartholomew’s back in 2001 when we went from two distinct services (Traditional, Contemporary) to one integrated in style service repeated twice each Sunday morning. I spent several hours on the document – refining, adjusting based on the contextual changes in our parish in 10 years, expanding, and revising for clarity. I used it as the basis for teaching about Worship Planning, and the need for a clearly defined The0logy of Worship as the starting point for planning.

Here is the revised document. I welcome any questions or comments.

A Theology of Music in Worship

St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church • Nashville, Tennessee

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At St.  Bartholomew’s, the rector (Fr. Jerry Smith) serves as the worship leader for the parish; the music director I assists the rector in matters of music. Our vision for music in worship at St. Bartholomew’s is one of worship of the Triune God with all our beings, with all of our emotions, and with all of our intellect–hence we worship joyfully and exuberantly, as well as meditatively and reverently.

HymnSing Sunday, Sept. 11 6:30 PM St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church Nashville

This Sunday evening I am leading a Hymn Sing at our church Sunday evening 6:30 – 7:30. This is the first time we’ve done an event like this. I polled the congregation for favorite hymns from which to base our selections, and had nearly 100 responses. Top hymns (more than one request) were:

7 – Be Thou My Vision

5 – Great Is Thy Faithfulness •  How Great Thou Art

Passion Sunday “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

This Sunday is Passion Sunday (also known by many as Palm Sunday). We will close our service singing “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” to the tune HAMBURG. Our hymnal (The Hymnal 1982) uses the tune ROCKINGHAM which I also like, and often use. But for the recessional this week, which we will sing a cappella, the tune HAMBURG seems a better choice

From blogger STEVEN HARMON: Baptist hymn singing, receptive ecumenism, and the Nicene Creed

In a previous post I expressed my appreciation for the Baptist-produced Celebrating Grace Hymnal (2010) in light of the implications for receptive ecumenism of the Baptist practice of hymn singing that I noted in my 2010 Lourdes College Ecumenical Lecture (subsequently published as ”How Baptists Receive the Gifts of Catholics and Other Christians” in Ecumenical Trends 39, no. 6 [June 2010], pp. 1/81-5/85)

Baptist hymnals are arguably the most significant ecumenical documents produced by Baptists. They implicitly recognize hymn writers from a wide variety of traditions throughout the history of the church as sisters and brothers in Christ by including their hymns alongside hymns by Baptists…

Christianity Today: The Hymns That Keep on Going

From  Christianity Today:

The Hymns That Keep on Going

The 27 worship songs that have made the hymnal cut time and again.

By Robert T. Coote

ChristianLifeHymnal blog is now HymnWyse on WordPress – WELCOME

Since my last post on ChristianLifeHymnal blog, I have joined Celebrating Grace, Inc. (publisher of Celebrating Grace Hymnal) as Director of Marketing. So… my blog has been renamed, and is expanding in scope to cover a wider range of Christian hymnody –all from my perspective as:

• a church musician – Dir. of Music/Organist at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Nashville, TN
• a hymnwriter – “Wonderful, Merciful Savior,” “Our Father in Heaven (The Lord’s Prayer),”
• a church music publisher marketing director –  Celebrating Grace, Inc.
• a hymnal editor - The Christian Life Hymnal
• and finally, a student - Master of Church Music, Lee University

This Sunday at St. Bartholomew’s our recessional hymn is “Lead On, O King Eternal.” Here is a descant in the key of C for the final verse.

Christmas Caroling

Last night about12 members of my church choir and I went Christmas caroling, visiting shut-ins from our church. I used the carol books from Hendrickson Publishers A Classic Christmas Caroling Songbook. This is a carol book we produced as The Christian Life Hymnal was in production and is based on the hymnal. It includes “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” that has additional words for verse 2 and 3 as a Christmas blessing. It was fun last night to conclude at each home with that version (rather than “figgy pudding, etc.”) and offer a blessing for the new year.  We adapted the carol so that it seemed appropriate in a Christian hymnal, and could be used in a worship service setting. Here is a PDF  and MP3 of the carol.