SEPTEMBER 2020
IN THIS ISSUE
Finding the “Yes”
When we embrace the call of our baptism and answer the summons of discipleship, we are saying “yes” to something we do not yet fully understand. But we know that the world is thirsting for love and life and justice . . . so we say “yes” anyway.
I don’t think any of us could have predicted the “yeses” to which God would call us this spring and summer—yet here we are. And yet, in this time of uncertainty and change, of loss and pain and difficult conversations, God is still working. God is always working.
Many of us yearn all year for that week when we can gather in one place with our family of music ministers, at an NPM National Convention. Speaking for myself, if there was ever a year when I really hungered, really needed to gather with my friends and colleagues, to sink into familiar hugs and talk about our lives and laugh at the admittedly cheesy humor that only fellow liturgists and musicians seem to understand or find funny, it was this year.
And yet. Te virtual convention—what we quickly began to refer to as the “Unconventional Convention”—became a moment of opportunity and grace in a summer that had been filled with loss. It gave us time and space to connect with old friends and even meet new ones. It gave us a place to pray and reflect on who we are as ministers in this time of pandemic isolation, and to learn from our wonderful speakers, and from one another, about the ways we have struggled to stay connected with our singers and assemblies. We talked about sacrament. We talked about race, and culture, and diversity. We talked about balance, and authenticity. We sang, and we prayed.
“ The Virtual Convention—what we quickly began to refer to as the ‘Unconventional Convention’— became a moment of opportunity and grace in a summer that had been filled with loss.”
Te Convention theme was “Called from Living Waters,” but the call is only the first step. Te God who calls us also sends us—sends us out into a world thirsting for love, for justice, and for understanding. God sends us to a world that needs our hands to feed the hungry, our voices to speak for the voiceless, and our ears to listen to those who have gone unheard for far too long.
We spent a week together in our virtual convention space and continued to access the platform through the summer, drinking from the words and images offered by our amazing presenters. Tis issue of Pastoral Music endeavors to give readers a taste of that rich well of wisdom, with excerpts from the plenum talks and MEGA-breakouts, interviews with the leaders of the Women’s Retreat team, and as many images as we could possibly fit in from our tremendous amount of content and the social media posts of our attendees. We hear from our Pastoral Musician of the Year and Jubilate Deo award winners, and we get to know our NPM Academic Scholarship winners a little. We continue, as ministers called and sent, striving to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world.
Jennifer Kerr Budziak Editor
jennifer@npm.org
5
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 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
