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St. Olaf to host Sing For Joy hymnfest

by David Gonnerman
September 12, 2007

Sing For Joy, a radio production of St. Olaf College heard in nearly 200 communities nationwide, invites the public to join them in "The Green Season: A Sing For Joy Hymn Festival," at St. Olaf on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Boe Chapel. Sing For Joy Host and St. Olaf College Pastor Bruce Benson, Music Adviser John Ferguson and St. Olaf Cantorei -- joined by members of area choirs -- will lead the festival, which will include songs appropriate for the "Green" portion of the liturgical year, sometimes known as the Ordinary Time or Pentecost. The festival, which is free and open to the public, will be streamed live and archived online.

The hymn festival also will be held at St. Therese Church in Deephaven, Minn., Sunday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m.

BoeHymnFest07a
A view of the Sing For Joy hymn festival that dedicated a renewed Boe Chapel in February 2007.
The hymn festival will echo the show's format, with Benson offering scriptural readings and commentary that weave hymns together on the "Green" theme. Ferguson, the Elliot and Klara Stockdal Johnson Professor of Organ Music at St. Olaf, will lead the hymns. Ferguson's work as an improviser and leader of congregational song has received national acclaim and each year he prepares and leads numerous hymn festivals across the country.

Since 1954 the Sing For Joy program has provided music and commentary that supports the church in evangelism and worship. Through radio broadcasts and hymn festivals, the program prepares listeners for worship and reinforces their worship experience. Sing For Joy, produced by St. Olaf College, can be heard locally on Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. on KYMN 1080 AM.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.