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A Service of Art, Music, and Readings for Holy Week

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A Service of Art, Music, and Readings for Holy Week

Holy Week is a special time in the church year.

We retell the old, old story of Jesus gathering with his disciples, washing their feet, and breaking bread with them; praying in the garden; being betrayed and condemned to death on a cross; and laid in a tomb sealed with a stone. It’s a somber week of remembrance and reflection on God’s great gifts of love, grace, forgiveness, and redemption. But, we all know how the story ends: with victory, resurrection, hope, and new life.

Some churches have services every day during Holy Week; others may have only one or two services. Maundy Thursday, the remembrance of the Last Supper, and Good Friday, the remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for us, are the two most common Holy Week services.

We’re in the midst of finalizing our plans for our Maundy Thursday service this year and are leaning toward a more emergent service, with art, music, readings, and communion around the table.

Looking to create something similar for your church? Here’s my step-by-step process:

Worship Planning Theme: The Good Shepherd

Worship Planning Theme: The Good Shepherd

Throughout the Bible, there are many analogies of sheep and their shepherds:

Moses was a shepherd for the Israelites, leading them through the wilderness for 40 years.
David was a shepherd before he became King of Israel.
Jesus described himself as "the Good Shepherd” in John 10, one who “lays down his life for his sheep."

We hear about sheep and shepherds in the Parable of the Lost Sheep, where the shepherd went after the one sheep who had strayed from the fold and did not stop looking until he found it. We read about God as our shepherd in Psalm 23 and throughout the book of Psalms:

"But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the wilderness." (Psalm 78:52)

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." (Psalm 95:6-7)

"Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100:3)

Free Music for Church Choirs

Free Music for Church Choirs

Maybe you’ve been there, or maybe you’re there now - the choir director who’s trying to piece together a music library on a shoestring budget with anthems that are interesting and relevant to your choir and congregation.

As we all know, music is expensive ($2-4 per octavo for most choral pieces) and there isn’t always room in the budget for those kind of expenditures throughout the year, especially if you’re looking to build a music library and purchase more than 1-2 new anthems per year.

The struggle is real.

But, there’s good news. Some music is free! That’s right. Music published before 1923 is in the public domain (in the USA), which means it is free to obtain and use. 

It can be a bit overwhelming to sift through all the music that’s out there, so today, I’m sharing a few of my favorite go-to resources for music in the public domain along with some anthem suggestions that might work for your choir.

8 Inspirational Reads for Worship Leaders and Planners

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” - Dr. Seuss

There’s a lot of truth in that statement. And the exciting thing is, we are never done learning. There are always new ideas, new processes, new perspectives to discover, explore, and seek to understand.

Reading is a great way to escape, unwind, and rest, but it’s also a useful way to learn, grow, and find inspiration. In our work as musicians and teachers, directors and coordinators, worship leaders and planners, this is extremely important.

A few years ago, I shared a few book recommendations for church musicians - choir directors, children’s choir directors, organists and accompanists, and others. Today, I’m sharing a book list for worship leaders - those of you involved in planning, leading, and facilitating worship services (traditional, contemporary, and everything in between). 

How to Develop Children's Singing Voices in Choir

How to Develop Children's Singing Voices in Choir

If you go to the grocery store or the park or Target, you’re likely to hear it - the sound of a small child singing a song they know by heart (often looping through a favorite section over and over). “The impulse to move, speak, sing, and play rhythmically is a natural and vital part of being human” (source). But, if it’s not encouraged and nurtured from an early age, children can “forget how to sing.” 

How do you help them rediscover their singing voices? 
How do you develop it and teach them to sing in a choir? 
Where do you start?

In today’s post, I’m walking you through the ins and outs of developing children’s singing voices in a choir setting - from vocal exploration to developing choral musicianship. Let’s get started!

Exploring the Voice

This is a vital step in the process. Give children numerous opportunities in rehearsals to explore what their voices can do. This helps them build coordination and gain control of their voice, develop an understanding of the voice and what it means to sing, and build confidence.

5 Ideas for Creating Meaningful Lenten Services

5 Ideas for Creating Meaningful Lenten Services

Lent, as a season, is about reflecting, simplifying, cleansing. It’s about searching our hearts, forgiveness, and grace. It’s also about love and freedom and growth.

It’s a time we remember Jesus being tempted in the desert for 40 days (hence the reason Lent is 40 days long), teaching the people about God’s love and how we should love others, breaking bread with his disciples, and living out God’s will for his life.

In Lent, we refocus on the renewing waters of baptism, the cleansing river, the fountain of grace.

Some say that the Sundays in Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days; rather, they are considered celebration days or “little Easters" (source). But I think this is missing the point a little: Lent is a journey, a time of self-reflection and examination of the heart, a time when we invite God in to do the work of shaping us and molding us into His likeness.

It’s a process, and it takes time.

How can we create space for this in worship? How can we make this season more meaningful? How can we capture the quietness, the self-reflection, the invitation to come just as we are in our Lenten services? 

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How I Use Time-Blocking to Structure My Work Day

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How I Use Time-Blocking to Structure My Work Day

Whether you work part-time or full-time, one job or four, in an office or at home, creating a structure for your work day is important to your productivity, creativity, and ultimately, how you feel about your work.

And for those of you who work for yourself and work from home (at least part of the time), boundaries become a necessary part of structuring your day.

Are you prone to burnout? 
Do you work until late at night, on the weekends, and even on vacation?
Do you struggle to follow-through on certain projects?
Do you lose motivation easily?

Setting a few boundaries, blocking your time, and figuring out what time of day you do your best work can help set you up for success each and every day.

Today, I’m walking you through my own process for structuring my work days.

Like many of you, I wear many hats during the week: church musician, worship planner, piano teacher, blogger, small business owner. Sometimes, it feels like I’m just keeping the plates spinning, not necessarily making any progress (how many of you can relate to that?).  

But, with the help of time-blocking and being intentional about how I use my working hours, I’m beginning to reap the rewards of a more focused, productive work-week.

Tips & Tricks for Tackling Your Email Inbox

Tips & Tricks for Tackling Your Email Inbox

I’ve set boundaries on my email before, but they’ve never stuck for the longterm. Can you relate?

Somehow, I always find myself back to that place of constantly checking my email on my phone throughout the day (sometimes, without even thinking about it). It’s the first thing we reach for when we wake up in the morning and one of the last things we do before we fall asleep at night.

But why check it if you’re not going to respond right away? Why let those messages take up valuable mental space?

You see, I’m one of those people who tends to overthink things. I’m a slow processor and sometimes, it takes me a lot of time to craft the “perfect" response. So, if an email lands in my inbox that needs a thoughtful reply, I let it sit. I tell myself I’ll think about what to say or how to say it. And so, I do. All afternoon. While I’m trying to work on other projects. There’s that email in the back of my head, using up mental energy as I write and rewrite and edit a response in my head. 

An Inside Look at My Worship Planning Process

An Inside Look at My Worship Planning Process

How do you plan a worship service? Where do you start?

It’s likely that the process looks different from church to church and worship planner to worship planner, but I thought it might be helpful to share an inside look at my worship planning process, from start to finish.

Before I do that, however, I want to share a few articles and resources that have been helpful to me:

UMC Discipleship - Worship Planning - sample orders of worship, sermon notes, hymn/song suggestions, and other resources (click “This Week’s Planning Resources” to see worship planning suggestions for each week)

A Single-Thread Worship Planning Model - an insightful look at integrated liturgy and the benefits of planning sermon series

The Nuts and Bolts of Worship Planning - "collected wisdom from 100 congregations"

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

Life Lately (September Edition): 🏈 UGA football (and visiting the neighborhood stone bulldog for good luck) 🎨 My latest painting 🥐 Saturday mornings at the market (an almond croissant from the bakery + cappuccino from the European cheese shop)
Celebrating 10 years of home ownership this week! We love this 105-year-old house and all the projects we’ve done so far to honor and restore its history. Swipe for a look at how far we’ve come. 🏡 #danyewhome
Our July Musician & Co. book club pick is here! 📙 Summer is the perfect time to work on professional development, delve into a new creative project, practice a new skill, or make progress on your goals (especially when it’s 93 degrees out
Jazz and improvisation can be intimidating to teach, especially as a classically trained musician. Jazz pianist and educator @quentinwalston is dedicated to making this easier for all of us. Through his new book, “How to Teach Jazz & Impro