We ran out of robes!*

Rally Day was a great success at Bethany.  I heard a number of positive comments about the choir and the guest musicians; the jazz saxophone arrangement of "Amazing Grace" was a particular high point, in my opinion.  We won't hear jazz every week, but it was a great change of pace.

Now I should explain about the asterisk in this post's title.  At second service, we truly did have a choir member wearing every single robe.  At first service, however, one of our younger choir members was serving as an acolyte and therefore wearing a white robe instead.  That one lonely robe still hanging in the choir room, though, should function as a reminder that we always welcome newcomers!  (And don't worry, we have more robes on order, so we can continue to grow.)

I was also proud of the congregation's singing of "All Who Believe and Are Baptized."  You might have noticed that the tune was slightly different from the original rhythmic version that Luther would have recognized.  The hymnal is sometimes updated to a "metric version" that avoids some of the more complicated rhythms and syncopations of earlier church eras.  I could sense the surprise at this dumbed-down version of the hymn in the hesitations between phrases.  It's great that our congregation as a whole is so musically literate that we notice those changes.  So congrats to the people in the pews too, for your great singing.

I hope that the energy of this kick-off to the fall season can be continued with high levels of participation and excitement for all our ministries.

Rally Day music

The fall season will be officially underway at Bethany this Sunday.  Rally Day marks the beginning of Sunday School, but so many of our other activities also follow the school calendar: Bethel Bible study, adult forum, our two service schedule, and of course, the choir.  You'll hear the choir singing throughout the service this week, reflecting our philosophy of integrating music throughout the worship service.  For starters, the choir will be singing the meditative predlue.  We're going back to the old Service Book and Hymnal and singing the proper Introit for the day.  Introits are short pieces of music that functioned as a call to worship in the old liturgy.  Some people might remember hearing them, and it should be an interesting change of pace for the meditative prelude.  Second, the choir will be singing a psalm antiphon.  They'll also be singing a descant on the last verse of the final hymn, which should end the service on a high note - literally and figuratively.  Finally, we'll be singing an anthem titled "With Music I Will Praise Thee" by the modern composer Natalie Sleeth.  The text is part of our fall "Make Joyful Noise" theme.  We've been working hard to put together all this music for a great start to the fall season.

We'll also have a pair of guest musicians from Baldwin Wallace college to help us celebrate.  In addition to the hymns and liturgy, our trumpet player will play a March by Bach as the postlude.  The prelude will be a Mozart oboe concerto arranged for alto saxophone.  I think the piece that will be most memorable, though, is a jazz arrangement of "Amazing Grace" that will be played on the saxophone during communion.  So this service represents a wide variety of music from the 18th century to today, from classical to jazz to contemporary with several well-known hymns that I hope everyone will enjoy singing.  I hope you like it all, of course, but can also find something that you'd list among your favorites.

Be sure to stop by the choir's table at the ministry fair between services.  We want everyone to be a part of our music ministry, whether that involves singing, playing in the bell choir, participating through the blog, or providing feedback and support for our work.

Let All Things Now Living

As I've mentioned, Rally Day will mark the return of choir to our worship services. They'll sing at both services this week and alternating Sundays after that. Don't worry that you've missed a few rehearsals, you're always welcome to join us any Wednesday night!

Now, here's a message from Cassie about the piece that the choir will sing this week:

This Sunday, the choir will be singing Let All Things Now Living, a piece written by the American composer Katherine K. Davis in the early 1900s. Davis unites text filled of glorious Old Testament images with the traditional Welsh Tune, The Ash Grove. The text calls all of creation to praise and give thanks to God the Creator, "who fashioned and made us, protected and stay'd us, who guideth us unto the end of our days."

To listen to a lovely arrangement of the tune for violin and piano, click here.

The new, old liturgy

This coming Sunday is Rally Day at Bethany. Last year (and I believe in past years before I became the organist as well) that meant a new liturgy. This year, however, the Worship and Music Committee decided to continue with setting two with one modification - we will be replacing the "Glory to God" with "This is the Feast." So the liturgy will be both familiar and novel this week.

Pastor and I commented to each other about a week ago that setting two is finally starting to feel like a familiar piece of church music. I occasionally find myself humming that jaunty opening phrase: GLO-ry to GOD in the HIGH-est... It's a cheerful, upbeat, and modern resetting of the text. I think you'll find that "This is the Feast" is similar in many respects. One change is that instead of a syncopated four-four it is a lilting waltz. I'd be surprised if at least some members of the congregation don't find themselves swaying from side to side each measure.

The choir practiced the new piece last night, and they will be "previewing" it for the congregation during the meditative prelude. I think it's a great demonstration of both the utility of having the second prelude as well as one of the many ways that the choir enhances our worship. Please follow along in your hymnal during the prelude and then sin boldly during your sightreading. We're supposed to sing wrong notes the first time around! But it's Rally Day so the wrong notes can just be one more reason to laugh and enjoy the community of friends around us.

We have some other great hymns this Sunday that I'll write about more in the remaining days of the week!

I also want to take a moment to thank people for their comments and emails about the vandalism on the blog this week. I especially appreciate a friend who pointed out that it wasn't limited to the one entry. I believe that I have cleaned up all the "graffiti" at this point. I appreciate everyone's understanding, patience, and assistance with anything I might have missed.