Day Four at the School of Congregational Development

Music for new ears--and old, too!
A couple of times in the last three days, I have attended a session or workshop other than the one I was signed up to attend. Each time I was impressed with the timeliness and excellence of the information or insights I gained. This afternoon, I decided to sit in on a session called "Music for New Churches"...the presenter, Dr. Marcia McFee said she didn't choose the title. What she was presenting could be used for "old" churches as well as "new"!

"This isn't one size fits all!", said Marcia. "I'm not going to give you a list of songs for an "opening set". I'm not going to tell you how many songs/hymns should be in every service. I'm not going to tell you that you should have "one of this" and one of that" in your musical repertoire each week. I'm not going to tell you which genre will draw in which "crowd"--because that's an old paradigm for thinking about music..."

"Your repertoire of music is created in order to serve the other things you will be thinking about...
How do we create an environment in which we experience the Holy,
...in this particular way?
...on this particular day?
...in this particular context?
....with this particular message?
What "feel" is needed in this moment?
How will the music literally move us on this journey of communicating the message?
How will the music help us answer the need for ritual?

If we are going to start "a new thing", we need to ask, 'What is the ethos of the new thing?'"

Subsequently, Marcia took us through a full gamut of music styles, interspersing our singing with tips and ideas for creative ways to engage people in the ritual and tension of worship. She gave website links, showed music videos that could be part of worship or small group centering or focus prayer. Several links are on the right side of today's blog as Top Ten Take Homes. To learn more, visit www.marciamcfee.com and select "reflections" to see notes and weblinks for several music genre.