THS Centennial Conference

For many of us who revel in the new hymns and songs and ideas and understanding we gain from participating in events and groups like this meeting and society, the challenge is in how to put those ideas into practical application in a local church that may not have great musical resources, may not be terribly diverse, or might be uneasy about anything resembling change. This sectional offers one approach to challenging such a church to broaden and deepen its repertoire of congregational song.

This presentation suggests four categories of congregational song repertoire and offers reasons for a congregation to engage with all varieties of the church’s song across the full chronological, geographical, and emotional breadth and depth of the church’s life. At its best the church moves from an isolated, tradition-bound solitary outpost to a station on the way, knowing and embracing its place as a part of the full global church, the whole body of Christ. The church also learns to worship in joy and in sorrow, in triumph and in grief – something about which many congregations remain reluctant.

Beyond the act of singing, the embrace of such an approach also encourages a discipline of listening. Making room to include the oldest and newest of the church’s song, from the full global reach of the church and from all the heights and depths of life, challenges the congregation to hear expressions of worship and of the faith different from their own and thereby to understand and embrace the working of the Spirit in all places and peoples.

The approach even includes a memory aid, one found in an old popular saying about what a bride needs to have for her wedding day.