Music and You at NUMC
MUSIC AND YOU
by Sten Bolander
We are blessed with the variety of music we have at our church. During the summer, we have given the ensemble groups a break and shared more solo songs and small groups. Thank you to all who have stepped up and given special music during the summer months. We hope to continue this throughout the year by sharing a special music during prelude or offertory when our ensemble groups might be playing for other parts of the service.
Reverend Jim has asked me to be responsible for scheduling the ensemble groups for the coming year. September 9 is our Kickoff Sunday when the choir will sing for the first time since being off for the summer. There are still openings (no really, no one willing is ever turned down) for the ensemble groups, so do not hesitate to contact the directors below if you would like to support the music ministry. The practice times are also listed.
While the choir sings nearly every week, most groups play for the worship service on a monthly basis. The Sunday School Choir and the Middle School Choir are anticipating singing every six weeks. Now’s your chance – become involved!
SING A NEW SONG TO THE LORD
by Sten Bolander
The hymnal we currently use was published in 1989, eighteen years ago. As denominational hymnals become older, many new hymns, songs and choruses have appeared. Our supplement hymnal, “The Faith We Sing,” was published in 2000, seven years ago, and was compiled primarily as a supplement to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989). The music in the supplemental hymnal reflects a wide diversity of Christian worship styles: praise music, new hymns, gospel songs, world music, American ethnic music, Taizé chants, and service music.
So what constitutes a “new hymn.” The “pickup” choir will be singing “The Servant Song” on September 2, which is #2222 in “The Faith We Sing” supplement. Many might not be familiar with it, so from that context, it might be considered a “new hymn.” It was written in 1977, so it is older than other hymns.
Our worship must be kept vibrant, and new hymns help to keep our worship relevant, both as we learn new melodies and also as we sing familiar melodies to contemporary words. We sang “Lord of All Hopefullness” in worship August 12 (#2197 in “The Faith We Sing”). The text was published in 1931, “relatively” new, but sung to the tune associated with “Be Thou My Vision,” familiar to many of us.
Should we be limited to the hymns included in our hymnals? Absolutely not. Hymns continue to be written. It is never an easy task to decide which hymns shall be included in a hymnal, and which do not. As we project the text to the hymns we sing each week, it is relatively easy to glean music from other resources. We might start, though, with the hymns included in our hymnal that we seldom sing. There may be a reason for that (ie. hard to sing or hard to learn), but there is also a reason why these hymns are included in our hymnal in the first place. Maybe the choir can help us learn hymns that might not be familiar to us.
Let us give “new hymns” a chance. It might do us all good as we worship.