Engaging with Scripture
Look for ways to include prayer and song that connect the Scriptures for the upcoming Sunday to music prepared in rehearsal. Consider reading all or a portion of the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday and singing a hymn or anthem that has been selected to be included in the upcoming liturgy.
Consider occasionally taking ten minutes to have your choir divide into smaller groups and reflect on a particular Scripture reading. You can also do this with a particular song or anthem your choir is learning. Tis allows them to consider, reflect and share faith with each other. It may seem like a stretch for some groups, but I am always surprised by what happens when you create opportunities for others to share their life experience and their faith. One entryway to reflecting on Scripture in groups is to ask participants to simply speak a word of challenge or comfort that was heard in the particular reading.
Retreat time
Consider a retreat night once or twice each year! Tis can take place with a particular group on a regular rehearsal night, or you can combine and invite all members of your music ministry groups to gather for a morning of reflection. Tis is another way to intensify or introduce new patterns or practices of prayer with your music ministry members. It can provide space and allow time for the praying of some part of the Liturgy of the Hours, small-group sharing and reflection, and other community-building activities.
Invite a movement specialist to work with your choir on posture and breathing and incorporate prayer into this process of bodily awareness.
Be open to providing for healing prayer from time to time within the context of a rehearsal. Almost everyone has a need for some type of physical, mental, or emotional healing in their life. Music ministers entrusted with choirs and ensembles should always be prepared to offer intercession and prayer when difficult situations arise in the lives of our members.
Prayer and action
Consider having your total music ministry sponsor or participate in a work of social outreach or justice (supporting a homeless shelter or food pantry, migrant ministry, or other peace initiative). Sing and pray for peace and justice; connect your song and prayer to a particular outreach that the united music ministry can join in as a group effort. Remember, it needn’t be a year-round commitment but could be seasonal and allow for members to grow in their sense of mission beyond the walls of the parish.
Concluding thoughts
Prayer can take many forms, expanding our pathway to the holy. Regular prayer is a support to your music ministry, reminding choirs and ensembles that they are a part of a praying community. Communal prayer can transform choirs and ensembles into small Christian communities, which can be a blessing for folks who might be lost in a parish of almost any size.
Have no anxiety, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. (Philippians 4:6)
Endnotes: 1
2
Huub Oosterhuis, Prayers, Poems, Songs (New York: Herder and Herder, 1970), 104.
USCCB, Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship (Washington, DC: USCCB Publishing, 2008), no. 49.
David Anderson is past vice-president for church music and senior editor for GIA Publications and currently serves as editor-at- large. David is the Director of Pastoral Music and Liturgy at Ascension and St. Edmund Parish, Oak Park,
Illinois. He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Pastoral Music degree at Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Teology.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
