Fling Wide the Gates

July 21 – 25, 2008

The 2008 St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts (CWTA) presents nationally recognized musicians, artists, scholars and theologians in a weeklong conference on the beautiful St. Olaf College campus in Northfield, Minn. A highlight this year will be experiencing worship in the renovated Boe Memorial Chapel with its splendid Holtkamp pipe organ. Visually, the chapel is more welcoming, its color scheme more open. Acoustically, sound is reflected more uniformly to encourage singing and make the performance of music and the spoken word clearer — a worthy host for the worship, singing and music making that resound within it’s walls.

The theme “Fling Wide the Gates” calls us to examine in scripture and worship how we open wide the gifts of Christianity for others and for our own hearts.

It is a strange thing about humans, but true: open gates and open doors generally feel more welcoming than no gate at all. The absence of walls, boundaries, fences and gates gives no signal about welcome or unwelcome, while a gate, thrown open, says, “Come on in.” The New Jerusalem of John’s Apocalypse has 12 gates to the city — a gracious, extravagant welcome.

The 2008 CWTA will contemplate and celebrate open gates:

  • Daily worship, always a highlight of the conference, will serve as a gateway into the welcoming presence of Grace.
  • The gates of a beautifully renovated Boe Memorial Chapel will be thrown open for conference participants to enjoy, featuring the newly built Holtkamp pipe organ.
  • Thoughtful lectures, plenary addresses and seminars will be open gates to new understanding.
  • And through the lively mix of learning and worship, all will be called to a renewal of life in a covenant where love and justice work together to “Fling Wide the Gates.”

Teen and youth singers are invited to participate in the Choir Connection, a weeklong program of song, music education and recreation, now in its third year.

Join us — let us think together about opening gates and hearts.

A College of the Church

As a college of the church, St. Olaf seeks not only to develop its own students in mind, body and spirit, but also to support in vital ways the church at large in its mission of bearing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts grows out of this larger sense of the college’s mission, offering spiritual nurture and professional growth for persons engaged in congregational ministry, especially those who lead and enable worship. The conference provides a supportive forum for enhancing theological understanding and pastoral skills in worship, church music and the arts.

Those in attendance experience and apply the concepts introduced at the conference through conference sessions and worship services. These daily services refresh and inspire those who are leaders in their home congregations.

Professionals, lay leaders and volunteers from all denominations and any size congregation are welcome. Participants develop personal and professional networks to call upon for support, expertise and counsel. As a community of learners, the conference faculty and the participants foster spiritual renewal and affirm vocation.