March 1999

After Pentecost comes Trinity Sunday and the beginning of a long period of Ordinary Time or Growing Time, as many churches teach their children. Ordinary Time (time not connected to the Christmas and Easter cycles) stretches this year from the beginning of June until the end of November. Either the beginning or end of this long period would be a good time to review the entire Christian year. The first two services here were planned for June, and the children were able to sing songs they had learned throughout the year.

In the basement of Seventh Avenue Church the furnace was going, the computer humming, the Xerox running, and, upstairs, the organist practicing for Sunday worship. We’d been working on Pentecost. I’d been reading through the passage in Ephesians 5, the very famous passage about not being drunk on wine, but being filled with the Spirit.

This is the second of Hawn’s three-part series on global music.

MUSIC IN COMMUNITY: CONVERSATIONS WITH A WEST AFRICAN "TALKING DRUM" INSTRUCTOR

[The] community dimension is perhaps the essential aspect of African music. . . . [Africans] do not want to distinguish the audience from the musicians at a musical event. (1)
—John Miller Chernoff

Q. I’ve been working hard on worship planning, but no one seems to notice.

How to Start a New Service by Charles Arn. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997. 269 pp. $17.99US/24.30 CDN

Charles Arn’s book is a technician’s delight. Its aim is clear. Its approach is confident. Its process is comprehensive. If you are thinking about starting another worship service in your congregation’s ministries, don’t do it until you have read this book (see also his article on p. 22).

MORE ON THE CARE AND KEEPING OF CHURCH MUSICIANS

I enjoyed the article “The Care and Keeping of Church Musicians” by Gregory Crowell (RW 49). Most of what he said was right on the mark, and his comments regarding the creation of a nurturing environment and compensation issues were greatly appreciated.

Hughes Oliphant Old. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. Vol. 1, 383 pp. $35.00; Vol. 2, 481 pp. $42.00.

CALVIN WORSHIP INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES WORSHIP RENEWAL GRANT PROGRAM

Do you have a dream for worship in your church that has not been possible because of lack of funding? Do you have a vision for worship renewal in your congregation that is waiting for a catalyst? If so, read on. . . .

Moving through the parts of a worship service has become more complex in recent years, particularly for churches that do not follow the same order of worship every Sunday. Also, using a variety of worship leaders calls for taking even greater care that the congregation be led in a way that helps them do what they have come to do: encounter the living God. Part of the task of a worship leader is to help the congregation move from one action to the next, to help them know what is coming and why it is coming.

The liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter take lots of time and energy. By the time Ascension Day and Pentecost come around, sometimes our energy is waning. The school year is coming to a close, choirs are finishing up, and we are looking forward to the freer time of summer. Suddenly Ascension Day is upon us. Since Ascension Day and Pentecost are two of the major religious holidays of the year, they deserve some special musical attention.