“Elbows up!”
Canadians have been encountering this phrase a lot over the last few months. As a Canadian living in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, I most regularly come face-to-face with the “Elbows up!” banner in the window of an independent bookstore across the street from my university campus. In the wake of tariffs that put numerous Canadian industries at enormous financial risk, “Elbows up!” signals a new kind of nationalism. It consists, for the average Canadian, of buying and consuming local products. What does that mean for congregational song? Should I stop singing the songs that come to me from non-Canadian sources, especially the songs that come from across the southern border?
Music Fosters Relationships
Music is an important means of fostering ecumenical and cross-cultural relationships. Whether I hear my fellow Mennonites singing a Catholic folk song on an average Sunday morning or Sinach’s “Waymaker” at a weekend retreat, I am frequently reminded of how music crosses denominational lines and national borders more in the last century than any previous era. Along with many other scholars who have studied this phenomenon, I marvel at how I can readily connect to the wider Church in 2025 through the songs that I sing with local communities of faith (Ingalls, Swijguisen Reigersberg, and Sherinian 2018; Johnson and Loepp Thiessen 2023; Berwig Silva 2025).
Critical Self-reflection
At the same time, forming healthy ecumenical and cross-cultural relationships entails a lot of critical self-reflection. On one hand, it is important to recognize that I cannot sing a song from another community or culture in my own context without altering it to some degree. For this reason, Katie Graber invites communities of faith to engage in the case-by-case work of singing songs from other cultures with appreciation, not appropriation. If I am singing a song from a culture that is not my own, it is not a question of whether I am altering it, but how I am altering it. What is the most ethical and just way to engage with the song (including the possibility of not singing it at all)?
On the other hand, it is important to recognize that even a singular culture or tradition is extremely diverse. In my view, the currently tenuous relationship between the United States and Canada is an opportunity for Canadians to engage in deeper reflection on this point. What do we mean when we speak of “Canadian congregational song”? I recently attended an event hosted by Becca Whitla and Anneli Loepp Thiessen that asked this very question. For a few days in February, we gathered with other scholars and practitioners of congregational song and shared the music of our local communities. We learned that we are writing and singing an enormous variety of music! We cannot capture Canada in a single song or genre, and I am grateful that, if nothing else, the Canadian impulse to step away from the influence of the United States in this season is illuminating the musical diversity that exists within our national borders. As John D. Roth observes, ecumenical relationships are a beautiful means of sharing gifts with one another, but “to the extent that ecumenical conversations tend to highlight and reinforce an identity rooted in distinctives, these exchanges…cultivate a false sense of identity” (Roth 2013, 10). Similarly, it may be tempting for Canadians to reduce themselves to a monolithic musical or cultural identity in comparison to the United States, but a season of inward reflection on what constitutes Canadian congregational song can foster awareness and appreciation of our diverse musical landscape.
I Wonder…
On behalf of Canadian churches, then, I wonder: How might we see this political moment as an opportunity to amplify the music of individuals and communities that has been overlooked until now? As a white settler Canadian, how might I engage more deeply with the music of Indigenous or immigrant communities? How might we view this season as one of localized creativity and collaboration so that we might make an even richer contribution to the wider Church in future seasons? While I lament the damage that the relationship between Canada and the United States is sustaining at this time, may it compel us—whether we find ourselves in Canada or elsewhere—not to neglect our relationships with all who live, work, and worship alongside us.
Mykayla Turner holds a Master of Sacred Music with a Liturgical Musicology concentration and a Master of Theological Studies. She obtained her A.C.C.M. in Piano Performance from Conservatory Canada. Currently, she is a PhD student in the Faculty of Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, ON. Apart from her academic work, she is an active church musician and liturgist. She also co-directs Ontario Mennonite Music Camp and chairs the team of volunteers who maintain Together in Worship, a curated collection of free worship resources from Anabaptist sources.
