A Prayer for Musicians
One of my choir members sent this prayer to our choir list today. I appreciate that the theologians who penned the Book of Common Prayer took time to include this “Prayer for Church Musicians and Artists”.
O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Help Yourself: Planning Pages
I suppose I’m picky, but I’ve never been able to find the planning resources that I want. They are either too detailed, or too vague, or have too many spots to fill in that I don’t need. At CathedralLite, we use our denomination’s resources. It’s a calendar with scripture on one side; the second side is about 200 suggestions of hymns and anthems and songs and bell resources. And, we never really use it. How could someone sitting at ReligionCo better understand the hymns my congregation likes to sing, and anticipate the anthems at the difficulty and interest levels of my choir? Not to mention, we’re only on liturgy about 50% of the time. Resources put out by publishing companies are even more skewed to emphasize their offerings. I’ve tried doing the online thing that everyone updates, but the problem is that my computer is not always in the same area as my practicing and music storage.
So, I’ve started to make my own, and I offer them to you as well. I find that I need 2 planners. The first planner is a general overview. I take this to meetings and plannings and refer to it any time I need high-level scheduling. The second planner gets the brunt of my week-to-week details. Hope they work for you too.
They’re available below and also posted on my site under the church music page (look under “Music Planning Sheets”).
Download 4-Sundays-per-page planning sheet
Download 1-Sunday per page planning sheet
Wedding Tales: Something New
I wish I had a grand total count of how many brides have walked down an aisle with my accompaniment. I smugly say that I’ve seen it all – from the dog wheeled down the aisle in a wagon – to the bride who wouldn’t kiss the groom at the end of the ceremony.
But today, I was surprised with something new. End of the ceremony. Glowing bride kisses the beaming groom. Bride takes her flowers and the couple are announced as the new Mr & Mrs. Happiness and clapping ensue. Cue recessional: Handel’s Queen of Sheba. Then, as the newlyweds walk down the aisle, the guests start clapping………* in time with the music *.
Just like the fireflies with synchronized flashing, all the guests at CathedralLite went from random clapping to keeping time with the music of Mr. Handel, sending the couple into married life with communal, bouyant allegretto of well-wishes.