Saturday, 25 of May of 2013
Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
“Renew Our Spirits” was composed by Scott Knarr, Director of Music at Mount Zion, Waterloo after the Confirmation Camp planning team asked for a theme song to help them sing into Bishop Susan’s Call to Spiritual Renewal.
Scott writes, “On Rally Sunday in September the congregation was heard making a joyful noise.” Listen here:
Hugh Droegmuller (Trinity, London) passes along this simple, but beautiful, rendering of Psalm 139 arranged by British composer Bernadette Farrell (composer of EvLW#715 – Christ be our Light).
Updated worship resources from December 1st through January 1st
Compiled by Rev. Sara Faulhafer, Bethany Lutheran Church, Woodstock
Date: October 10, 2012
Categories: Liturgies, Music Resources, Prayers, Space, World Aids Day, Worship planning
Register Now!! There are still a few spots left!
Music that Makes Community, a project of All Saints Company (www.allsaintscompany.org) in San Francisco, is coming to Kitchener from August 20 – 22 this summer. This is jointly sponsored by St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Kitchener and the Anglican Diocese of Niagara. There is an early bird rate which expires on June 25 and the event needs 30 registrations by that date in order to happen. This event is PARTICULARLY suited to smaller congregations with limited musical resources. There are also group rates available. Maximum registration is 80 people. Attached are a flyer for the event xix_ontario_flyer and an article written by Dr. Peter Nikiforuk, Director of Music at St Peter’s which was published in Organ Canada Music that Makes Community comes to Southern Ontario. Please feel free to contact Peter Nikiforuk (pniki@stpeterskw.ca) with any questions or queries.
Date: August 11, 2012
Categories: Conferences, Music Resources, News, Worship planning
Faithful God, you have brought us to this holy ground: bless this land, the land of the First Nations, the land of our forefathers and mothers in the Synod, this land on which a university sits. Make us humble to see how we are part of your creation, and with wind and river, tree and grass, help us give thanks for this gift of place. O Lord hear our prayer… (Opening service petition, Matthew Anderson)
It was a privilege to work with the 2012 Assembly worship team: Matthew Anderson, Sara Faulhafer, Bradley Moggach, Robb Wilson, and Jennifer Wirt and with Scott Knarr and Mark Harris on the Ordination Service. We are glad to share our resources and original materials with you. Included in this post you will find the full liturgies with prayers and musical sources, along with a bibliography of musical resources.
Thursday Opening Worship Service
Thursday Evening Memorial Service
Saturday Morning Prayer Service
“Isn’t our God, our mission, our community worthy of more lyrical quality than we are offering so far?” writes author and pastor Brian McClaren. Read his article here : Letter to worship songwriters.
Psalms for All Seasons is a new collection published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Faith Alive, and Brazos Press. This volume contains multiple settings of each of the 150 psalms spanning a wide variety of musical styles. Each psalm appears first in pointed chant setting followed by a variety of settings including responsorial, hymn paraphrases and song forms.
Consider how your congregation walks with the indigenous peoples in our land — preaching? prayers? offering? advocacy? I wrote the song “In this moon of wintertime” out of the juxtaposition of the news of Attawapiskat and rehearsing the carol “Twas in the moon of wintertime.” In this song, the singing of “Gloria” is not only an affirmation of the way of Love, it is a practice that imagines the fullness of God’s time where healing and wholeness have already occurred. This song became part of our Inshallah Christmas Carol sing. I offer it to you as a way to stir us all to pray and to live more consciously in a healthy relationship with indigenous peoples of this land.
In this moon of wintertime
In this moon of wintertime when chaos reigns supreme,
Economies and policies suppressing holy dreams
Of peace on earth, good will to all,
O God of promise, hear our call:
“Gloria” (2x)
The peoples of this land called home are hurting in the North
For food and shelter, let alone the chance to bring forth
Their ways of making peace on earth,
With them we wait for Jesus’ birth:
“Gloria” (2x)
For Jesus’ birth in flesh and blood brings hope and joy and peace.
We long to bring the wholeness that this birth, in fact, completes.
O God of now-and-not-yet time,
Stir us to act and be a sign of
“Gloria” (4x)
Go to www.kairoscanada.org for information on political action and emergency relief for Indigenous peoples in Canada.
debbie lou ludolph, December 13, 2011
Pastor Sebastian Meadow-Helmer’s jingle on Bishop Susan’s call to Spiritual Renewal enlivened by the people of Christ The King Dietrich Bonhoeffer Lutheran Church, Thornhill, Ontario is found on the national church website. Click on:
The Sounds of Our Offerings by Charlotte Kroeker is good news about the music of the church. It recounts what has been learned from studying nine congregations where music promotes the full, active, conscious participation of the worshipers and where it has done so consistently and coherently for many years. Pastors and musicians reflect on their work together and offer rich insights about what works and what does not. Lay musicians and members of the congregation also share their experiences with music in worship.
To read an article by Charlotte Kroeker with practical suggestions to faithfully work at congregational song, see the Alban Institute site where there is an article adapted by the author from her book. See We are what we sing!
Kroeker suggests,
The power of music and its impact have been understood intuitively and in practice for centuries. It is for twenty-first-century Christians to discover this treasure anew as we define our faith in this time and place, using a gift as old as faith itself. Thanks be to God for this extraordinary gift. Let the song continue.