Jira: The church is in the middle of all of these "green" Sundays; the Sundays after Pentecost. How do we faithfully keep worship through the rest of this summer and the rest of this season from becoming a time of repetitive boredom Sunday to Sunday? Or, perhaps, you take exception to this idea of boredom and see value in the repetition instead. What are your thoughts?
Charlie: One of the ways St. Paul’s, Dallas, marks its summer season is with special musical features. Our choirs take the summer off, and that provides opportunity for individuals, small ensembles, and an occasional “choir du jour” to provide special music during the traditional anthem spot, communion distribution, the psalm, prelude or postlude, or other appropriate moment for a musical offering. Instrumentalists and vocalists, in solo or ensemble, contribute their talents throughout the season.
Linda: At Messiah for the last number of years (more than I can remember), we've invited members of the congregation to suggest their favorite hymns for the summer Sundays. I choose one to sing before the Prelude and others where they fit best during the service. The Hymn of the Day is always kept intact. By the end of the summer, we have sung each other's "favorites."
Offertory selections are provided by instrumentalists and soloists from the congregation while the choir is "on leave." It gives the middle and high school students a chance to share their talent at a time other than Youth Sunday. We also have a number of adults who enjoy singing solos.
Jira: We too have worked hard in the past to bring in special music throughout the summer season and beyond. I guess, broadening that idea, we did a season of the Sundays after Pentecost where each Sunday was a different musical theme; African Sunday, Old Time Gospel Hour Sunday, African American Spiritual Sunday, German Hymn Sunday, American Indian Sunday...well, you get the idea. At first, the idea seemed a little gimmicky, but we worked hard to match the nature and feel of the music closely with the texts assigned for the day. In addition, the sermon was written and delivered in a style that matched the particular Sunday. As a pastor, I got to explore preaching in ways I never had before...I can't say I ever attempted an African American style call and response sermon before, but I did that summer. Though it felt like a gimmick and first, it ended up being very nice...and at times very powerful for the congregation.
Of course, it isn’t a bad idea to switch the liturgical setting starting on the date of your Rally Sunday.
What are your thoughts? Please comment with your own ideas and practices.
