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Charlotte Larsen

Charlotte Larsen is music director of Ann Arbor (Mich.) Christian Reformed Church.

 

Articles by this author:

  • Messengers of Life in the City of the Dead: One church and two Easter services--at 8:45 and 11:15

    By Charlotte Larsen

    These two Easter services were submitted by Charlotte Larsen, director of music at the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Like many growing congregations, Ann Arbor CRC holds two morning services that are distinct in style and flavor but grow out of the same Scriptures and include the same sermon. The different character of the two services is designed to address the diverse university community.

  • Your Light Is Come: A hymn festival for Epiphany

    By Charlotte Larsen, Donald H. Postema

    In the past, all our Christmas banners and decorations just disappeared after Christmas. But this year we extended the season by planning a joint Epiphany hymn festival with the Ann Arbor Campus Chapel. It was a first for us but one I'm sure will become a tradition since it provided such an appropriate closure to the Christmas cycle.

  • Sing to the Lord of Harvest: A hymn festival for Thanksgiving

    By Kevin Bylsma, Charlotte Larsen
    We Enter into God's Presence with Praise

    Prelude (The prelude will be organ music and congregational singing. The songs will be sung without announcement. Congregation is to join in as they enter.)

    "God of All Ages"
    [PH 262, PsH 599, RL 494, TH 710]

    "We Plow the Fields and Scatter"
    [PH 560, PsH 456, RL 17, TH 714]

    "Now Thank We All Our God"
    [PH 555, PsH 454, RL 61, TH 98]

  • Video: Sing and Rejoice...Guiding Young Singers

    By Charlotte Larsen
    Helen Kemp. St. Louis: Concordia. 85 minutes, VHS 87-0231, $39.95.

    Mrs. Helen Kemp, well known for her work with children, demonstrates in a most enthusiastic way on this video a variety of methods that can be used in children's choir rehearsals. Through a pre-worship rehearsal with a children's choir, Kemp exhibits ways of helping children develop good singing habits and encouraging children to express the joy of music and convey the message of the gospel through their music.

  • Festival of Lessons and Carols

    By Charlotte Larsen, Jan Musch
    A celebration of the Christmas story

     

    The People of God Gather

    Prelude: "In Dulci Jubilo"
    Koch

    Opening Hymn: "Hark, the Glad Sound!"
    (PsH 335, RL 251, TH162)

    Greeting

    To Prepare for the Lord's Coming

    Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 9:6-7

    Lighting of the Advent Candle

    New Testament Reading: 2 Peter 3:10-13

  • Hymn Festival for Pentecost

    By Charlotte Larsen
    WE PRAISE GOD WITH JOY

    Prelude:"In Thee is Gladness".........................Busarow

    "When in Our Music God is Glorified"..................Stanford
    "Praise to the Lord"..................................Manz

    Choral Call to Worship: "Now With Joyful Exultation" (PH 95:1)

    God's Greeting

    Hymn: "When in Our Music God Is Glorified" (PH 512, RL 508)

    Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4,12-16

  • Children's Music for Ascension, Pentecost, and Other Times of Praise

    By Charlotte Larsen

    Often Ascension Day and Pentecost are overlooked by teachers, choir leaders, and others in the church who work with children. After all, these days usually fall late in the spring, when church school programs, choirs, and clubs are winding down.

  • Children's Music for Lent and Easter

    By Charlotte Larsen

    Through music we have the privilege of teaching children and helping them understand more fully the heritage and theology of the church as well as the meaning and order of the liturgical year. The music listed on this page may be sung in unison by children and incorporated within the worship service as a call to worship, a call to prayer, a response to prayer, the offertory (children's gift of music), or a response to the benediction.

  • Children of the Lord

    By Charlotte Larsen

    Include the Whole Family of God in Your Christmas Celebrations

    The leaves were just beginning to change color a few years ago when I noticed the first displays of Christmas decorations in a local department store. It shouldn't have come as any surprise. In our highly commercialized society, shopping malls are known distorters of time and season: bathing suits and shorts appear in January, heavy winter coats in the midst of a major July heat wave.

  • Children's Choral Music for Advent-Epiphany

    By Charlotte Larsen

    The following music is appropriate for use in the worship service during the Advent, Christmas, or Epiphany season. The list includes music used with the children in our church school music program over the past several years. Those titles with a star (*) were used in the 1987 candlelight service. All music is sung in unison with piano accompaniment. Optional two parts, descants, or instruments are indicated below.