Have you ever wondered what the colors at the front of the church mean? What do they symbolize? Why do they change on certain Sundays? Today's post is all about colors - purple, white, green, and red. These are the primary colors of the liturgical church year and each one symbolizes something about our faith and our spiritual walk.
I started my first "real" church job when I was 17. It was a small Methodist church in south Georgia with one Sunday morning service, an adult choir of about 12 and a children's choir of about six. I was still learning to play the organ at the time and played most of the service from the upright piano in the front of the church. I dove head-first into worship planning, liturgy, and choir anthems and loved every minute of it.
My next job was as a Music Intern at a large Methodist church in north Georgia. I did administrative work for the children's choir program; accompanied the youth choir and women's choir, and adult choir, on occasion; played hymns and solo music in three weekly services; and substitute taught handbells, children's choir, and children's chime choir. I learned so much and gained so much practical experience during those two years.
Since then, I've served four other congregations as Organist/Accompanist, Music Director, Handbell Director, and now Director of Worship Arts.
All that to say - as church musicians, we wear lots of hats.
Advent is just a few short weeks away (it begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving this year). It's a season of hope, patience, expectation, waiting. The people were walking in darkness. They knew the Light would come one day, but they didn't know when. Instead, they walked in faith, believing that redemption was near.
Every year, we remember (in some small way) the waiting - the walking-by-faith part of the story. This is why I love Advent calendars - a tangible way to count the days, to journey through Advent with a spirit of hope and expectation.
When I was growing up, we had a large felt Advent calendar shaped like a tree with a small ornament for each day. We also had an array of paper calendars with doors to open and Scripture verses to read (some even had chocolate inside!). For the past few years, SD and I have displayed this lovely Scripture card Advent calendar by Oh My Deer (included in the list below).
Worship order. It's something most of us use every week to inform our planning and help us prepare for Sunday. (Chances are, you have one sitting on your desk right now.) It's an ancient practice - a structure we use to organize and plan worship, based on a certain order of sacred elements - readings, music, sermon, offering, sometimes Communion.
For most of us, there is structure and order to our worship, one that is informed by tradition, ritual, and practice. For some, the worship order is more flexible, embedding contemporary elements and expressions of faith into the traditional liturgy, connecting various ministries to the life of the church. For others, worship is seen as a time-honored tradition, something historical, preserving the patterns and practices from the Early Church.
No matter what your particular worship order looks like, I bet we'd find a few things in common if we compared them. Because the underlying structure - the rhythm of the liturgy - has stood the test of time (we're talking almost 2,000 years here).
Like I said, it's an ancient practice.
To the one who feels burnt out, used, or unappreciated. To the one who feels insignificant or small. To the one who's carrying the weight of ministry and feeling burdened and tired - here are a few words of encouragement: Your work matters.
Even if it feels like it's all been said or done before, even when it's hard, even when it goes largely unnoticed. Your voice could be the one that makes the difference in someone's life.
There will be good days and hard days, and there may even be times when you question the decision to serve in ministry. On those days, remember why you started. Remember your calling. Don't give up or let yourself feel discouraged. Focus on what's important and do good work.
We gather together on Sunday mornings, in churches old and new. In "Sunday best" and casual attire. In old wooden pews and folding chairs. No matter where or how we worship, we come together for the same reasons - to feed our souls, to shape and strengthen our faith, to be reminded of who God is.
We retell the stories of our faith, we remember God's promises, we claim God's victory over the world, we pray and praise and recite what we believe.
And we can do it all through singing. This is the power of musical theology.
Theology is "the study of the nature of God and religious belief." Musical theology refers to hymns and songs with rich, meaningful text that speaks to who God is and what we believe.
Ministry is often defined as "spiritual work or service." As it says in 1 Peter 4:10, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace." But I think it's more than serving; I think ministry has a way of giving back and blessing us in return.
The key is, ministry is relational. It requires community, however big or small.
In fact, I believe the heart of ministry is community - a sense of connectedness, fellowship, and unity; shared responsibility and ownership. If we aren't united in our mission and work together as a choir, what kind of ministry do we have?
It's that time again.
The time when some of us start to feel a little anxious, a little unsettled. When everything feels like "us" vs. "them." When we sometimes feel like we're on opposing sides from people we call friends and neighbors. When it feels like we're more divided as a country and a community than ever.
It's election season, and this year, it's more polarizing than ever.
All you have to do is turn on the news, or scroll through Twitter or Facebook, or scan the headlines in the checkout aisle.
Some people get loud about their opinions, others get quiet. Some get angry, others feel uneasy, and many feel afraid. Some people put signs in their yards or stickers on their cars to let everyone know where they stand - constant visual reminders of the turmoil and conflict across our nation right now. Others keep their opinions to themselves to try to keep the peace with family, friends, and neighbors.
A few years ago, I read an article by Vern Sanders of Creator Magazine called "5 Shocking Truths About Director Accompanists."
At the time, I was a director/accompanist at a small church with a choir of about 20 people. I found I could direct most things from the piano just fine and I think it helped the choir take more responsibility for their music-making. But, I realize this was a unique situation. There are always rewards and challenges with the job - that goes without saying. And in a larger church with a larger choir doing more difficult music, I can see how the role of director/accompanist would be more challenging and could in fact limit what the choir is able to do.
"When we sing a hymn, we are singing history." - Paul Lusher (source)
Hymn-singing is a tradition that spans the centuries, uniting us with believers in the past, present, and future. But I believe hymns are more than historical relics. Here are three primary things I think we can learn from hymns still today:
Church Heritage
There's so much history and tradition embedded in hymns. We carry on a piece of that legacy when we come together for worship and sing the same hymns that others have sung for hundreds of years. And at the same time, we're preserving important parts of music history: "Much of the musical heritage of the church is encountered in hymnology: such forms as plainsong, chorale, psalm tune, and gospel hymn." - Hanna Katja Elina Powell (source)
![The Colors and Seasons of the Church Year [Infographic]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/585c710603596e2c47dad93e/1482458495812-QUDZXYLH70VZHLIJZTZS/image-asset.png)
