Meeting The Holy Spirit Again (for the 61st Time)

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Amy Williams Fowler

Holy Spirit and Pentecost Hymns in Glory to God

2015BirdI was baptized on Pentecost in June, 1954, at the First Presbyterian Church of Woodbury, NJ. Amy, meet the Holy Spirit. But I grew up in Presbyterian churches that were uneasy with references to the third person of Trinity, with the exception of the Apostles’ Creed recited on Communion Sundays. I don’t remember any Pentecost celebrations until the 1980’s. While I was under care in preparation for ordination I was asked each year by the Presbytery’s Committee, “What Christian doctrine causes you the most difficulty?” My answer was the same for four consecutive years: The Holy Spirit. Each year the committee members responded: “Yes, me, too.”

After I was ordained, when I experienced the touch of God’s Spirit on my spirit in real time, it occurred to me that this might be what people had been talking and writing about for so many centuries. I was able to revisit times of real grace (pre-ordination), and to say, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not realize it.”

When I was serving as an Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA, in the early 1990’s, we learned a beautiful Pentecost hymn, set to a tune arranged by one of my favorite composers, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Come Down, O Love Divine (Glory to God, 282). The text is dated c. 1367, and it is lovely.

Come down, O Love Divine; Seek out this soul of mine, and visit it with you own ardor glowing.

O Comforter, draw near; within my heart appear, and kindle it, your holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming.

And let your glorious light shine ever on my sight, and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long, shall far outpass the power of human telling.

For none can guess God’s grace, till Love creates a place, wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

When I moved to Indianapolis and began interim ministry, I vowed that I would share this wonderful hymn with every congregation I would serve. I am delighted to see that it “made the cut” as one of sixteen Gift of the Holy Spirit hymns in Glory to God. It is an impressive collection of new and old hymns — well worth singing on days other than Pentecost, too.

During my interim ministry in Anderson, IN, we sang Come Down on Pentecost, and one of the members met me in the narthex to say, “Dear, we only like the old hymns here.” I replied, “Then I know you enjoyed this one — written in the 14th century.” Actually, I was compelled to include it. I had heard it earlier in the Spring as I was driving up I-69. It was the day after the Oklahoma bombing, and one of firefighters was being interviewed on National Public Radio. He talked about carrying the babies’ bodies out of the daycare center, and how his life would be forever changed. I remember that he said something like: “I can’t say why this has happened, and all I can do is pray.” My eyes were so full of tears that I pulled over. The musical interlude that followed on NPR was the tune of Come Down, O Love Divine, thus proving that there is at least one Christian at NPR, despite what we have heard to the contrary.

I sang along: For none can guess God’s grace, till Love creates a place, wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling. Amy, meet the Holy Spirit!


 

Amy-July-2014-214x300Amy Williams Fowler is the Presbytery Leader of the Presbytery of Genesee Valley.

Will You Come and Follow Me?

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Carolyn Grohman

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us about the day when Jesus called his first disciples. We can presume that Jesus called them by name: “Simon!” “Andrew!” “James!” “John!” And immediately they all left what they were doing and followed him.

I believe that Jesus still calls people to follow him, calling us by name (reminiscent of the verse in Isaiah 43, when God says, “I have called you by name, you are mine.”) Have you heard God or Jesus calling you by name, perhaps through the voice of the church or through a trusted colleague or mentor or friend or relative? Or perhaps through a relatively new hymn that can be the voice of Jesus calling us to be his disciples: John Bell’s “Will You Come and Follow Me?” (Glory to God, 726)

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?

Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?

Will you risk the hostile stare, should your life attract or scare?

Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?

Will you set the pris’ners free and never be the same?…..

Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?

Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around, through my sight and touch in you and you in me?     [from verses 1, 2, 3, and 4]

We usually think of these words of John Bell, the Scottish Presbyterian theologian and musician, as Jesus’ call to us as individuals to follow him as his disciples. But what if we look at those words as Jesus’ call to our church, our denomination, to follow him as his disciples? What can we learn from John Bell’s words that could help us as we look toward the future of the PCUSA and our many congregations? I invite you to re-read those words above with that question in mind.

As I reflect on those words, I believe, first of all, that Jesus is still calling us by name: “Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)” or “First Presbyterian Church of Anytown, USA.”   Second, I think Jesus is calling us to “quell” or let go of our fear that has held us hostage—fear of conflict, fear of the “hostile stare,” fear of offending our sisters and brothers in the PCUSA who are on the opposite side of the hot-button issues in the church, fear of offending our Jewish friends and neighbors if we speak out on behalf of the Palestinians, fear of decreasing numbers and dollars, fear of our diminishing influence in our country, fear of change, fear of the unknown. Instead of being fearful, I think Jesus is calling us to be faithful in following him, wherever that leads us.

Third, I think Jesus is calling us to be courageous in moving into the future, “to go where we don’t know,” where things will never be the same. For people who are my age (80), this is perhaps the hardest thing to do, because we want the church to be like it was when we were younger (though not totally—women and LGBT people were not able to be ordained back then, and gay marriage was not possible, so we don’t want to go back to those days!). But we do yearn for the days when our churches were full, and most congregations could afford to call a pastor. However, it’s clear that those days are behind us, and we need to move forward into a new way of being church. Jesus is calling us to “reshape the world around,” and that includes reshaping the church. As John Bell says in verse 5, “Let [us] turn and follow you and never be the same.” Amen!


Carolyn

Carolyn Grohman

Honorably Retired

Presbytery of Genesee Valley

Singing Glory to God in Life and Death

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Melissa DeRosia

“The service should have lots of music, and most of it, if not all of it should be congregational song. Accompany them with singing!” Thomas G. Long reminds the church in his book by the same title.[1]

lily

photo credit: Lillies 5 via photopin (license)

When meeting with a family to plan the funeral or memorial service for a loved one, there are hymn requests a Presbyterian pastor becomes accustomed to hearing. “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “In the Garden” are at the top of the list for a generation dying in their late 80’s and 90’s. I have noticed over the past few years there is a generational shift taking place. On more than one occasion a spouse or adult child says to me, “That hymn reminds me of mom/grandma’s service, can we sing something else?”

For years I have assured families there are plenty of hymns, aside from the ones they normally hear at funerals. I confess, early in ministry my suggestions were not very creative and rarely steered from the section labeled “Funeral” toward the end of “The Presbyterian Hymnal.” A few years before the release of the Glory to God hymnal, I distinctly remember learning from the congregation I now serve in Rochester, New York that the church need not be bound to one section of hymns to witness to the hope of the resurrection and give thanks to God for the life of their loved one.

On one of my first Sunday’s I chose a favorite hymn of mine, the one played at my ordination, “Here I Am Lord.” (Glory to God, 69) The organ began to play and the congregation sung the words of the refrain:

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling the night.

I will go, Lord, if You lead me.

I will hold Your people in my heart.

I gazed out over the congregation to see tears traveling down cheeks and tissue dabbing at the corner of eyes. This was not exactly the reaction I anticipated. I leaned over to the Associate Pastor with a perplexed face and she responded, “This is a funeral hymn for this church.”

For a generation now in their 70’s, “Here I Am, Lord” was sung through most of their adult life. The hymn echoes the confirmation of God’s grace made in made baptismal vows and fulfilled in death. Only one page in the Presbyterian Hymnal separated the “Funeral” section from the “Ordination and Confirmation” section. A reminder to me how intimately connected these two moments are for God’s people.

When the Glory to God hymnal was discussed for purchase in my congregation, “Here I Am, Lord” was at the top of the list of most inquired about hymns to be sure it had a place in the new hymnal. Indeed it found a home in Glory to God, though in a new section of the hymnal, “God’s Covenant with Israel,” a reminder that God’s promises remain for all those seeking assurance of God’s presence in life and death.

With Glory to God, a new generational of hymns are finding life at funerals, though most begin with an introduction on a Sunday morning. On the typically sparsely attended Second Sunday of Easter, when the majestic triumphant sounds of Easter comingle with the promise of spring after a long cold winter, I introduced “In the Bulb there is a Flower.” It was tucked safely in the order of worship where the awkwardness of a new hymn does not set the tone of worship or serve as the parting melody in their heart. The congregation caught on to the simplicity of the tune. They were moved by the note at the bottom of the page that “shortly after this piece was completed, the author/composer’s husband was diagnosed with what proved to be a terminal malignancy, and the original anthem version of this hymn was sung at his funeral.” Standing at the door to greet the congregation following the service, a number of church members in their 50’s and 60’s said to me “Can we sing that again? I would like that hymn for my funeral.”

There is no “Funeral” section in the Glory to God hymnal. There doesn’t need to be. Generations continue to gather in worship to discover through the tears of grief the hymns that boldly express our faith and hope we have in Christ’s resurrection.

 

[1] Thomas G. Long. Accompany Them With Singing, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 172.


MELISSALYNN - WIN_20140804_135300 (2)Melissa DeRosia

Pastor, Gates Presbyterian Church

Rochester, New York

 

Be Thou My Vision

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Jeff Falter

In 1994, I was getting ready to graduate from seminary and looking for my first church. My first interview was with a small rural church where I had preached once before, on a controversial subject. During the interview, the chair of the committee asked me, “What other controversial subjects might you preach on?” I was flustered, and didn’t know how to respond. The chair said, “Let me give you an example. Through those trees is a small black Presbyterian church, but if you or presbytery or anyone else tried to make us worship together, you would hardly see a white face in the crowd.” I was stunned.

I was a thirty year old white man, married, with my first child on the way. I had the privilege of being raised by parents, and in a community, that believed in meritocracy–that all people should have the opportunity to succeed in life, and participate in society, to the best of their ability. I had the privilege of growing up in a church that believed all people are beloved children of God, that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. I had the privilege of believing that the racial issues that had confronted our society were a matter of history, not a present reality. That interview opened my eyes.

coneThis past year has awakened me even more. It started when I read The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone. Then came the death of so many African-Americans in our society: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Charly Keunang, Sandra Bland, the Charleston 9, just to name a few. Some died at the hands of police; others at the hands of a white supremacist. Some were saints; some were sinners. All died unjustly. My heart breaks for the lives lost, and for so many lives dehumanized. I want to stand at the top of the world and shout to the four corners of the earth, “Black lives matter.” It is what my parents taught me. It is what the Declaration of Independence taught me. It is what Martin Luther King taught me. It is what my faith taught me.

In heart-rending times such as these, I find comfort in the promise of God proclaimed in baptism, “You have been … marked as Christ’s own forever” (G2G, page 18; Hymn 482). I find hope in the central proclamation of the Christian faith, “In life and in death we belong to God” (G2G, page 37; Hymn 326). I find joy in the claim of God in Isaiah 43: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You belong to me.” Hymn 76, 177, 463). But this is not enough. Discipleship demands more.

In baptism, “we choose whom we will serve by turning from evil and turning to Jesus Christ” (G2G, page 16). In baptism, we pray that the same God who claimed each of us as God’s own child, will also send each of us forth “in the power of [God’s] Spirit to love and serve [God] with joy, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth” (G2G, page 21). In other words, in our baptism we not only receive assurance of God’s amazing love for us, we also receive commissioning to do God’s work in the world.

As long as I can remember, I have cherished the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision” (Hymn 450).

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

I pray that I will remain true to that vision of God as the ruler of all–black and white, Anglo and Hispanic, rich and poor. I pray that I will remain true to sharing that vision with others, so that they too may find their souls’ shelter in God. I pray that my own life will proclaim that “Black lives matter”— matter to God, matter to me, matter to our society. And I pray for God’s wisdom in making that vision a reality in our society.


Jeff Falter

Jeff Falter is a member-at-large of the Presbytery of Genesee Valley, having served congregations in Washington, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and New York. He is currently working for Community Computer Service in Auburn, New York as a computer programmer. Prior to attending seminary, he worked as a software and electronic engineer.

This is My Song

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Becky D’Angelo-Veitch

I stood at the children’s worship table holding the hymnal to share with the boy next to me, ready for the morning’s last hymn. Across the short table, I shot my Play-Doh kneading daughter a look that said, “time to stand up,” and then, finally, just as the intro to the hymn began, I gave my attention to the text we were preparing to sing.

Artist: Nevit Dilmen

Artist: Nevit Dilmen

It was Independence Day weekend. The afternoon before, our family had all been together for our annual Fourth of July party. As my generation has grown into adulthood, we have traveled far further to find life partners than our parents had. Through marriage, our little family of life-long “Buffalonians” has grown to include in-laws from across the world, and so we celebrated the 4th (or “Good-riddance Day,” as my British born husband affectionately calls it) with citizens of England, Canada, Japan and the Ukraine, in addition to our Italian-American clan.

So as we worshipped on that July 5 morning, my head was still partially at our family picnic. The service had started with Hymn 338—O Beautiful for Spacious Skies. A lovely, and, indeed, appropriate choice for such a weekend; but, admittedly, not a personal favorite. Although I had sung our closing hymn, Hymn 340 a handful of times, this morning the words stuck with me in a new way:

This is my Song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

but other hearts in other lands are beating

with hopes and dreams as true as mine.

 

My country’s skies are bluer than the oceans,

and sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,

and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

So hear my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for their land and for mine.

 

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms;

thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.

Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,

and hearts united learn to live as one.

So hear my prayer, O God of all the nations:

myself I give thee; let thy will be done.

Having had the privilege of serving the church as a PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer in Mission years back, these words resonated with my experience. I often say that living abroad has made me both more patriotic and more critical. I am proud of the nation that I call home, but seeing our country through the eyes of others provided me with a broader lens to view our nation’s policies, attitudes and practices. This hymn spoke to me that morning of the beauty of diversity. It, more eloquently than I could, expressed that national pride is something that can unite us, and that we can serve God and God’s world best when we acknowledge and celebrate the beauty and value of every nation.


BeckyBecky D’Angelo-Veitch

Coordinator of Children’s Ministry and Congregational Life

Third Presbyterian Church

Rochester, New York

A New Song

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Jeanne Fisher

The church of Christ in every age, beset by change but Spirit led, must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead. Across the world, across the street, the victims of injustice cry for shelter and for bread to eat, and never live until they die. (Fred Pratt Green, 1969)

GTGI was first introduced to this powerful text at the Montreat Worship and Music Conference, shortly before the publication of the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal. The words were written at the height of the Civil Right Movement by British Methodist minister Fred Pratt Green, but they still rang true during that hot summer in the mountains of North Carolina. In the late 1960s, “The church of Christ in every age” spoke to themes like Christian unity, racial inequality and poverty. At the end of the 20th century, this hymn called upon the church to work for the common good by confronting issues of homelessness, hunger, AIDS, and peacemaking.

I am happy that the Reverend Green’s hymn is included in our new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God. (Hymn 320) Nearly 40 years after the words were first penned, they continue to speak of a broken world in need of God’s grace. They call us to address the issues that are part of our daily prayers: diversity, AIDS, terrorism, bullying, climate change, marriage equality, social justice.

In every generation we are called to bear witness to God’s work in the world, and our hymnody is a reflection of that response. It’s easy to sing “Joyful, joyful we adore Thee” or “Come, Christians, join to sing” on Sunday morning, and then turn a blind eye to the suffering in the world. But Christianity is love in action. It’s important to sing those more difficult texts too. Hymns like “All who love and serve your city” and “What does the Lord require” remind us that the church’s response to the world develops from generation to generation, and that many of the customs and values of earlier times are changing as we learn to expand our definition of God’s love.

The Psalmist tells us to make a joyful noise to the Lord, and to sing to the Lord a new song. Our new songs are the church’s opportunity to evolve and grow in the way we respond to the world, and to proclaim the good news of God’s love to all of God’s children!

Then let the servant church arise, a caring church that longs to be a partner in Christ’s sacrifice, and clothed in Christ’s humanity.


 

Jeanne Fisher 2Jeanne Fisher is a ruling elder at Third Presbyterian Church, and currently serves on the Worship, Music and Arts Committee. She is Vice President for Radio at WXXI Public Broadcasting, and Executive Producer of the nationally syndicated radio program With Heart and Voice.

 

Help Us Accept Each Other

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Kay Michelinie

photo credit: Broken Heart via photopin (license)

photo credit: Broken Heart via photopin (license)

I met with a couple this week to talk about their marriage. As is so often the case, theirs has been through all sorts of ups and downs, sadly, mostly downs. Divorce had been mentioned on and off. Everyone in the family had suffered. Yet, as is not often the case, this couple has reached a new place of love. As I looked up after praying with them, they were sitting close together, hands tightly clasped. There was no space – literal or figurative – between them. When they left my office, I was completely energized. This had not been the conversation I had expected and it was a truly welcome surprise.

As God would have it, the next thing on my “to do” list that day was to pick hymns for the coming Sunday’s worship. I flipped through the pages of the hymnal with my theme in mind and came across a hymn I like very much but probably haven’t sung nearly enough. I like hymn tunes that have a little variety and interest and, for me, Baronita just doesn’t cut it. But the words, oh the words, what a message they convey! “Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace. Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.” (Hymn 754)

I sent the words of the entire hymn off to the couple with whom I had met. And I guess if I could, I’d send the words of the entire hymn off to the whole church! The world is changing and evolving, for some in ways very welcome and for others not so much. And so it is in Christ’s church. We are not what we used to be. The changes have both their good and not so good attributes; we’d all like to be a little stronger in number. But it’s the really human things that have changed that set some folks on edge the most it seems, things like marriage and ordination equality. And, like the couple who were in my office, sometimes a kind of divorce is considered. And sometimes it is acted on.

I suppose sometimes a clean break needs to happen for the health of all involved. But to me, there’s always…always a sadness in it. It is not energizing or life-giving like forgiveness and reconciliation are. It puts us at different “tables” so that we no longer talk to one another. The remaining conversation becomes more monolithic, losing the depth brought by differing thoughts. But, sadly, sometimes it needs to happen. When the conversation gets too ugly for too long and the behavior around it is so damaging that it’s very hard to heal, when the space between participants has grown to enormous proportions sometimes immediate health has to take precedence. But I guess it’s precisely at this point that we need to sing the hymn most. “Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved in living situations to do the truth in love; to practice your acceptance until we know by heart the table of forgiveness and laughter’s healing art.”

Just as the couple in my office joyfully know renewed hope in their own marriage, that same hope can visit Christ’s church. It can come when we reach across the table, or out beyond the table to someone or some group with whom we’ve had differences and reconciliation becomes a possibility. It can come when we try, harder than we ever imagined we could, to forgive when we believe we have been wronged, even deeply so. Welcome surprises do happen, by the grace of God. And when they do, we too feel energized, filled with renewed hope and keenly aware that God’s Spirit is still at work in our midst.

kayKay Michelinie

Pastor

Christ Clarion Presbyterian Church

Pittsford, New York

Back to Front

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By Lynette Sparks

There are certain magazines that I always read from back to front. I don’t know why; I just do. And when I picked up the Glory to God hymnal to peruse its contents, without thinking I began to flip through the pages from back to front. I hadn’t gotten very far when the title of hymn #773 – one that’s new to me – jumped off the page: Heaven Shall Not Wait. Among the hymn’s lines:

“Heaven shall not wait for the poor to lose their patience…heaven shall not wait for the rich to share their fortunes…heaven shall not wait for the dawn of great ideas…heaven shall not wait for triumphant hallelujahs: Jesus is Lord…”

Not “heaven should not wait,” but “heaven shall not wait: Jesus is Lord.”

You might recall the distinction between should and shall from the Book of Order: should signifies a practice that is strongly recommended; shall signifies a practice that is mandated. The distinction is significant for the Church – both theologically and practically. A Church that’s desperate about its present condition may sing that God’s realm should not wait – our recommendation to the divine, if you will. Yet recognizing the mandate that God has placed on the in-breaking of God’s kingdom through Christ frees the next church to live boldly into God’s shall. Should sits in the back; shall moves to the front.

My own ministry context in Rochester, NY is one of catastrophic socio-economic and racial and educational inequities. Framed in the words of the hymn, many of our poor are losing patience, many who are rich have not shared their fortunes, we need great ideas, and those triumphant Hallelujahs are very faint. And even so, Jesus is Lord; he has championed the unwanted; in him injustice confronts its timely end.

great schools copyAs in many other ministry contexts, the community in which I serve is desperate for leadership to address these inequities. One of the gifts God has given to Presbyterians, I believe, is the capability to lead and connect others of diverse backgrounds to work toward justice. Locally, Presbyterians are channeling passion and energy to build a broad community coalition advocating for equity in education. We do it not because we’re experts, but because God’s self-mandate, “heaven shall not wait: Jesus is Lord,” gives the Church courage to engage needs far greater than ourselves. We’re engaging an injustice in a way we never have before – rolling up our sleeves and doing policy research, meeting with community leaders and regular folks, asking questions, forming work groups, testing ideas, soliciting feedback, and trying to figure out effective communication channels to put forth a vision for systemic change. The truth is, we’re pretty much making it up as we go along. Some efforts go better than others. Yet, in that often untidy process, we’re meeting people we might never have met before, and we ourselves are being transformed. I’m also discovering that the more we do, people are finding the hope that comes from God’s shall.


 

LSparks HeadshotLynette Sparks

Interim Associate Pastor for Outreach & Evangelism

Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY

You can learn more about their educational ministry in this IGNITE talk from the 2015 National Gathering.

A New Hymnal and Change

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By James Renfrew

A discussion about a congregation’s hymnal becomes a good case study in openness to change vs. aversion to change.  When I arrived at my church in 2000 the book in the pew racks was Hymns for the Family of God, a very conservative Baptist-centered, and decidedly non-Presbyterian hymnal.  The hymnal was forty years old and had been in use at our church for at least thirty. There were no hymns relating to infant baptism, an unusually poor selection of Easter hymns, and only two Advent hymns.  The liturgical texts were also not very helpful in speaking to Presbyterian perspectives on scripture and faith.  And at least one third of the hymn selections used “washed in the blood” imagery.  While “washed in the blood” is authentic Biblical imagery, it is not an image that I generally choose to lift up Jesus Christ each Sunday in worship. So in choosing hymns for each Sunday I had to eliminate one third of the selections from consideration right off the bat.

Initially serving as a supply pastor at this church, I felt that recommending a hymnal change was probably not the best idea.  But after several years, through the wonders of modern polity, I became the called pastor.  Still, I hesitated to take the lead in suggesting a change.  I had heard many horror stories of pastors going down in flames for trying doing just that.  Yet I did make a decision to share – honestly – what I thought about our hymnal in a variety of one-on-one conversations with church leaders and members.  I did not advocate a new hymnal purchase, but simply pointed out the wide variety of limitations in the book we had.  Rarely did I say anything at a Session meeting about it.

When the new Glory to God hymnal was first publicized, not me but a member of Session brought it up for discussion.  It was very interesting to hear half of the elders raising some of the same points I had been raising about Hymns for the Family of God.  But, as expected, there were plenty of objections, mostly along the lines of “there’s nothing wrong with our hymnal”, “it’s what I’m used to,” and “we can’t afford a new one.”   These, of course, are the kinds of things said at nearly every discussion in a church that involves “change.”  The idea of acquiring a new hymnal raised a key question for us: “should we be looking backward or forward in our ministry?” A “next church” negotiates this kind of question by rephrasing the question to ask if our church is just for ourselves and people like ourselves, or is this Christ’s church for the people we haven’t met yet, like children, grand-children, new residents, or immigrants?  How can we embrace their stories, vocabularies, and needs in the songs that we sing?

Thankfully, elders were drawn to some new features in Glory to God:  lectionary-based hymn suggestions, worship rubrics that actually fit with our order of worship, brief historical notes about each hymn at the bottom of each page, chords for string accompaniment, a huge section of Advent hymns (separate from Christmas hymns), and even some hymns appropriate for infant baptism.  Fortunately, the groundwork had been laid in all of those one-on-one conversations, openness prevailed, and the decision was made to acquire 120 copies of the new hymnal, after making a special appeal to members and friends of the church to “buy a hymnal” at $15 each.  Glory to God!

A committee was formed to take the lead in the appeal (not the pastor!).  It was expected that there would be resistance, so each member of the committee addressed the congregation during worship in advance of the appeal letter.  Mary Ann, a musician, shared some of her excitement for an opportunity to learn new hymns.  Gwen outlined the practical aspects of how the appeal would be conducted.  Audrey began by saying, “I looked in the table of comments of the new hymnal and I didn’t see my favorite hymn.”  Then she said, “But I’m hoping I’ll find a new favorite hymn in the new hymnbook.”  Amen!  With that comment, I felt like our church got unstuck and was ready to move forward.  Sure enough, most of the funds came in.  When we were still about 15 books short, one elder pledged to put us over the top. Isn’t it amazing how one faithful insight can transform an entire congregation?  Glory to God!

When acquiring a new hymnal conciliatory people will often try to split the difference.  For example, in a previous church I served a 1970’s Reformed Church hymnal was acquired by donation from another church to replace the 1930’s Presbyterian Hymnal.  But several elders suggested that we keep the peace by putting the new and old hymnals in the pew racks side-by-side.  It sounded like a great idea because everybody gets to be happy.  However, this served to immediately undermine the new hymnal in that church from the start.  It gave those afraid of change a place to retreat to.  Sort of like trying to cross the Red Sea while keeping one foot firmly planted on shore!   When I left that church a few years later those new hymnals were all removed from the pews within a week and they went back to the 1930’s edition, even as the congregation continued in sharp decline.  That a more modern hymnal might better connect with an increasingly diverse neighborhood was not considered.  So when we purchased the Glory to God hymnals last year we made every effort to get the old hymnals out the door as soon as possible.  It was suggested that we give them as appreciative gifts to the families named in each book’s dedication plate, but it turned out that they were all the gift of only two families, and one had no immediate descendants in the area, so that only took care of six of the books!  Then I stood at the door at the end of each service and handed a copy to each departing worshiper. Finally, on Christmas Eve, I made an even more concerted effort to put one of the old hymnals in the hands of every guest.  No turning back now!  Glory to God!

Introducing a new hymnal requires careful planning.  First, we dedicated the new hymnal by praising the bold commitment of our members to the future. Second, I acknowledged that someday in the future this new hymnal, too, will become an old hymnal and be in need of replacement, and that it is good to see a church anticipating the future rather than hiding from it. Third, from the start we selected lots of familiar hymns from the new book to show that it wasn’t the “alien” that many thought it was.  Fourth, Glory to God has lots of familiar tunes with new words, so those became the easiest new songs to introduce.  Fifth, although our choir is only gathered for certain church seasons, we have made an effort to present new hymns through introits, string instrument solos, and anthems until they become more familiar for congregational singing.  Congregations with a more active choir can introduce new songs more easily than we have done.

Here’s one of the new songs we have discovered:  Hymn 292, “As the Wind Song.”  Mary Ann tried it at home on her hammered dulcimer and suggested it to me as a duet with my mandolin for a church service.  As I recall, it was our first deliberate choice of a new hymn from the new hymnal to share with the congregation.  The note at the bottom of the page gives a fascinating description of the song’s Chinese and Maori origin.  “As the wind song through the trees … making worlds that are new, making peace come true, bringing gifts, bringing love to the world, as the rising of the yeast, as the wine at the feast, so it is with the Spirit of God”.  The hymn uses beautiful words and phrases, draws in Biblical images, embodies our desire to be a fresh and new, and invites all who hear it to be that “next church,” not just for ourselves but for many more.  Glory to God!

renfrewJames R. Renfrew, Teaching Elder

Pastor, Byron Presbyterian Church,

Byron NY

 

 

How Can I Keep from Singing?

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. During August, John Wilkinson is curating a month of blog posts exploring where we are as a church through the lens of the new Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God — what are we thinking about? how are we worshiping? what matters to us? where are we headed? Join the conversation here, on Facebook, or Twitter!

By John Wilkinson

Photo credit: presbyterianhymnalproject.com

Photo credit: presbyterianhymnalproject.com

We dedicate new hymnals today.[1] They have been inflated to the proper air pressure, labelled, and placed carefully in the pews. Take a moment or two now or later to review the list of those honored or memorialized, as I have done many times in the last few weeks. It is a deeply moving exercise.

It’s a basic question that we don’t ask very often because we actually live out the answer every time we gather. What does a hymnal do? The first task of a hymnal is to do exactly what the title of our new hymnal suggests – Glory to God. If our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy God forever, then the primary task of a hymnal is to help us glorify God.

That looks like many things. There are many forms of praise, and many ways to sing God’s praise. This new hymnal reaches back in the tradition where we can sing many of our favorites (including some not in the previous hymnal) and it also looks around and ahead to new traditions.

Our first singing tradition was Psalms only. We believed that anything written by humans was something akin to idolatry. We have evolved, thankfully. You can read the mission statement of the new hymnal on page 926. As we sing familiar hymns and sing new ones, from diverse cultures and experiences, pay particular attention to the many ways we praise, worship and glorify God, our central calling.

But a hymnal does other, related things. It is a kind of theological text book. It helps us understand and ponder what we believe – about God, about the world, about humanity, about the church. Think about your favorite hymns and think about what they are teaching you – overtly or indirectly. About the life of Jesus. About the nature of God. About grace, sin, hope, peace, love, faith. Throughout the year, as we choose hymns, we seek ways to connect what we have heard from the Bible and what we have engaged in conversation with the words we sing and the tunes that accompany those words. Singing the faith to learn the faith.

To expand on one aspect of that teaching and learning, a hymnal helps us reflect on what it means to be the church – who we’ve been and who we are. (See Hymn 404, “What Is This Place?”)

I hope you noted the simplicity of this description of who we are, and the continual “yet.” Yet. Yet we are a body that lives. Yet we are a body that remembers and speaks. Yet we are a body that breaks bread in order that we increase God’s justice and peace.

What does that look like? (See Hymn 301, “Let Us Build a House”)

The hymnal reminds us that our vision is to build a house of love where all are welcome. And the key reminder of that remains in that title – Glory to God – that it’s not us doing the building and it’s not our house. God is the builder and it is God’s house, where all are welcome because God welcomes all, just as God is the creator and it is God’s creation, just as God is the composer and it’s God’s symphony.

The hymnal becomes for us, therefore, a vehicle to glorify God. It becomes a resource book whereby we can learn and teach the faith. It becomes a symphony of comfort and inspiration and provocation. A blueprint for mission, a living, breathing strategic plan. We have others ways to do those things, and even other books. But this book takes special place because worship takes special place and music holds special place.

As I said when we dedicated our renewed space I will say about these hymnals – our task now, having dedicated them, is to wear them out, with our worship, with our praise, with our service, to sing the songs of our tradition and to launch new traditions to pass on to the generations that will follow.

We have good news to receive, and good news to share, and a ministry that builds community within and that reaches out beyond our walls. If this hymnal helps us do that, then thanks to all who provided for it, and thanks to God who welcomes us in and sends us out.

If this hymnal helps us do that, then the question “how can I keep from singing?” will find continual and joyful answer. (See Hymn 821, “My Life Flows On (How Can I Keep from Singing?))

john wJohn Wilkinson                  

Third Presbyterian Church

Rochester, New York

 

 

[1]Adapted from a sermon peached at Third Presbyterian Church on May 31, 2015 on the occasion of the dedication of new hymnals. The sermon itself included the singing of several hymns