Conversations

WORDS FOR WORSHIP IN A TIME OF WAR

We are grateful to John Bell and the Wild Goose Resource Group of the Iona Community for sharing this resource with us. Below is the introductory text from the first page of the full PDF resource which you can download by clicking the button at the bottom of this page.   This liturgy may be […]

The Charles Wesley of the South Sudan: Mary Aluel Garang

Since the mid-1980s, Mary Aluel Garang’s theologically rich hymns have helped Sudanese Christians maintain faith and hope in God despite decades of war, conflict, and hardship. Her songs are known and sung beyond her Dinka people, her Episcopal tradition, and her nation of South Sudan. By all accounts, Mary Aluel Garang has never sought the […]

Rebuilding Choir in a COVID World

I am a music teacher and music therapist by training, as well as a church choir director. However, in March of 2020 I found myself with no choir, as I’m sure many of you did as well. My husband, Rich, is the pastor of the United Methodist Church of Anacortes (Washington), where, pre-COVID, I directed […]

An Interview With Lee Anderson of Meek Squad

It was such a joy to become aware of this album and then to get to interview some of the folks who recorded it. For our album review by David Calvert, click here. Thanks Meek Squad!

Three New Communities & A Songwriter

Blogger Brian Hehn is the Director of The Center for Congregational Song.   One of the things I love about my job is that it is my responsibility to find new great resources, artists, and communities who are doing the work of creating, leading, and encouraging congregational song. Below are three new communities and a […]

Vlog – Near the Cross

Emorja Roberson is a pianist, conductor, workshop coordinator, composer, arranger and vocalist in world of classical and gospel. He is the first African-American student in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Notre Dame to study Choral Conducting with a focus in African-American repertoire and also serves as the Director of Music […]

Global Gospel: Gospel Music For Dealing With Hardship – Part II

Part I of this blog, including the introduction and the first six examples can be read here.   Don’t Give Up- Panam Percy Paul Next is Panam Percy Paul (Bakulipanam Percy Paul Mokungah) out of Nigeria.  “Don’t Give Up” comes from his album Cheer Up that was released in 2013.  As the album’s title implies, […]

“My Chains Are Gone”: When White Evangelicals Sing About Slavery

Blogger Anneli Loepp Thiessen is an active song leader, researcher, classical musician, and music educator. She is pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Ottawa where she received her Masters of Music in Piano Performance. Blogger David Bjorlin is a worship pastor at Resurrection Covenant Church (Chicago), a lecturer in worship […]

Website Review – ORGANISTSONLINE.ORG

Guest Blogger Christopher Dawes is Executive Chair of SOCHS (the Southern Ontario Chapter of the Hymn Society of the US and Canada).   Swiss organist Guy Bovet is often credited with a humbling truism about his profession, “There is no area of the musical world in which more incompetent people play publicly as professionals.”  Bovet’s […]

Celebrating The Faithful Project

Guest blogger Anneli Loepp Thiessen is an active song leader, researcher, classical musician, and music educator. She is pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Ottawa where she received her Masters of Music in Piano Performance.   The Beginning In the fall of 2019, a group of women songwriters, poets, speakers, […]