"The Singing Thing"

Last Saturday, three friends from Trinity, Randy and I attended a workshop at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Sonoma led by John Bell.  He is described as "born in, resides in, and belongs to Scotland...and manages to survive without the benefit of a wife, car, cell phone, camera, or iPod."  He teaches, preaches, and is a leading expert on congregational song; he wrote several hymns in the hymnal that Trinity uses.  The workshop addressed the question "what enlivens the songs of the church in an increasingly globalized world?"  He gave the background of numerous hymns (most of them new to me), taught them to us (some by rote, others with the printed page), and led us in singing them.  These were not what I call "praise songs," with lots of repetition and the emphasis on the individual.  Most of them had thoughtful language and strong, contemporary imagery.  He talked about why we often have trouble with new songs in the church--they're not in our memory yet, we have no connection with them.  After the workshop, the church provided supper, then John led us in a worship service with lots of Scripture and music.

I thought it was a great way to spend the day, especially because Randy and I got to sing and worship side by side, which hardly ever happens any more since we attend two different churches.  (By the way, I have now served as organist/pianist at Trinity for 8 years.)  It's true that being stuck in stop-and-go traffic on highway 37 wasn't fun, but we talked a lot and discovered new things about each other.  And then we got to make music!