“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” - John 1:5 Have you ever noticed how much light comes from one tiny candle? No matter how dark the room may be, the soft glow of one small flame cannot be overcome.
It is radiant and bright and hopeful—a reminder of God’s promise to us and God’s presence with us. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8)
Okay, choir members - this one's for you.
Every year, your choir bands together to organize a group gift for your choir director and accompanist. You pass a secret envelope during rehearsals to collect money and then someone is tasked with finding the *perfect* gifts to be given at the annual Christmas party.
This year, it's your turn to find the gifts.
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Rehearsals are well underway, the annual Choir Christmas Party is being planned, and the sanctuary is fully decorated with wreaths, garlands, and candlelight.
But there's one item at the bottom of your to-do list you just can't seem to check off - "gifts for choir members". You want to show your choir that you appreciate them - their gifts of time and energy and support throughout the year - but you're at a loss as to what kind of gift would be thoughtful, affordable, and meaningful to all members.
That's where this post comes in.
It's not a church holiday, I know, but there's something inherently spiritual about the practicing of giving thanks. This week, many of us will celebrate Thanksgiving, a day we gather around the table; share our favorite food, stories, and traditions; and count our blessings. We'll reflect on God's good gifts in our lives: the gifts of health or healing, provision or guidance, good friends and neighbors, grace and freedom. We'll reminisce about years past - perhaps those who are no longer with us - and celebrate another year of love and life and laughter with loved ones, far and near.
How do we show our gratitude? How do make it a daily practice?
When was the last time you saw a child really excited about something? They jump up and down and wave their arms and run around. Movement is a natural response for children (source). After all, we learn by doing, acting, observing, experimenting, and feeling. This is especially important to remember when teaching children to sing. Singing is a full-body activity (source) and movement invites children to connect and engage with music in a whole new way.
Use movement activities in your choir rehearsal to help develop critical listening skills, that all-important sense of steady beat, responsiveness, discernment, sensitivity to phrase-shaping and other elements of music expression, inner hearing, understanding of harmony and tension-release, and musicality. Movement also helps children develop coordination skills and connects eye and ear and body and mind.
What is the purpose of worship? Why do we come together as a community of believers on Sunday mornings? What elements are important and meaningful to all who gather?
These are powerful questions for anyone that takes part in worship planning to ask, and answer. If you haven't already, take a few minutes to write out your answers.
When it comes to worship planning, there's no right or wrong way to do it; though, it is important to be intentional about what goes into the worship service and why. Here are a few more questions you might ask:
What does your church value? What will teach them about God's Word and lead them in prayer and praise?What will engage them and draw them closer to God?
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.
![The Colors and Seasons of the Church Year [Infographic]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/585c710603596e2c47dad93e/1482458495812-QUDZXYLH70VZHLIJZTZS/image-asset.png)
