Patriotic Music on Sunday Morning: Yes or No?
Author – Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Church of the Ascension in Norfolk, Virginia, where she serves as organist, choirmaster, and elementary music teacher. At my church we do three patriotic songs a year: one on the Sunday nearest Memorial Day, one nearest Independence Day, and one nearest Veterans Day. We had […]
11th of June 2018
Singing As Summer Sabbath
Author – Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Church of the Ascension in Norfolk, Virginia, where she serves as organist, choirmaster, and elementary music teacher. One of my choir members was telling me the other day that every time she hears “Be Thou My Vision,” she can picture the outdoor chapel where she […]
5th of June 2018
Worship and God’s Grand Story
Author – Adam Perez is a doctoral student in liturgical studies at Duke Divinity School. One of the hardest things for me in planning worship is constructing the overarching narrative of the service. From the very first word to the last, I want the worship services I plan to take the congregation on a journey […]
31st of May 2018
Abandoning “Success:” Embracing the Kingdom
Author – Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Church of the Ascension in Norfolk, Virginia, where she serves as organist, choirmaster, and elementary music teacher. I’ve been thinking a lot about failure lately. At work I lament that I flubbed my postlude or that a new hymn went over like a lead balloon. […]
16th of May 2018
A Profound Silence
Author – Brian Hehn is the Director of The Center for Congregational Song and not an expert in silence…but here we go! Silence How much silence is incorporated into your weekly worship services? In a world defined by continuous sound we are increasingly deprived of silence, and questions are arising about the […]
3rd of May 2018
Leading Through Generational Divides
Guest Blogger Ryan Flanigan is a liturgical folks artist and church music director at All Saints Church Dallas where this story of intergernational worship occurs. As an artist rooted in the Christian Story, Ryan works to create beautiful and believable sacred music for the sake of the world. He believes the church can be a credible witness of […]
16th of April 2018
Staying Alive All through Eastertide
Author – Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Church of the Ascension in Norfolk, Virginia, where she serves as organist, choirmaster, and elementary music teacher. On Easter Day we celebrate that Jesus came back to life, but starting the day after Easter most of us in ministry, and music ministry specifically, feel anything but […]
2nd of April 2018
“The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting”
Author – Adam Perez is a doctoral student in liturgical studies at Duke Divinity School. Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! This past holy week, I was reminded of a song from Mumford & Sons’ triple-Platinum,[1] break out album Sigh No More (Glassnote Records, 2009). This folk/rock/bluegrass-inspired album is packed with religious material […]
22nd of March 2018
Bilingual Worship: Lessons I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Author – Rosa Cándida Ramírez is the Worship Pastor of La Fuente Ministries, an intercultural, intergenerational bilingual ministry in Pasadena, California. The following are lessons that I have learned while leading bilingual worship. 1. Give up the idea of comfort. Leading worship bilingually is hard. It takes a LOT of work to […]
8th of March 2018
Sing in the Face of Death
Author – Adam Perez is a doctoral student in liturgical studies at Duke Divinity School. When I finally ascended to leadership in my college campus music ministry, one of my first tasks was to purge our music files. We’d been using a 3-inch, 3-ring binder system for organization. Over the previous decade+ our binders bloated to […]
