Last month, I helped to facilitate a worship and music conference with a theme borrowed from an African American spiritual: "Who'll Be a Witness?" The conference was held at Montreat Conference Center in the mountains of western North Carolina, and it was a gift to spend two weeks in a place that has been deeply formative for me throughout the stages of my life and vocation. During the conference, we wondered together about our collective call to bear witness to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We sang hymns and choral anthems, engaged biblical and liturgical texts, and experienced intergenerational learning opportunities that all led to exploration of witness.
I spent the first week of the conference experience with my husband, Andy, the Sing For Joy music director. As we sat together in worship, I gave thanks for all of the text writers, composers, pastors, and liturgical theologians whose work has inspired communities over the centuries to bear witness in their own way to the story of God's love for the world. We heard choral anthems from the German Romantic ("Hallelujah" from Beethoven's Mount of Olives) to the present day (a favorite: Mark Miller's "Draw the Circle Wide"). We sang congregational songs of traditions ranging from African American spirituals to 20th-century English hymnody, from Spanish-language folk music to a newly commissioned hymn set to an old Welsh tune. In all these moments of singing and listening, Andy and I felt surrounded by the collective witness of all who have encouraged the singing of the people of God through the ages.
In the coming weeks, I encourage you to flip through the pages of your own hymnal, as well as upcoming Sing For Joy program playlists. Whose unique witness is present in those pieces of music? What language do they offer to support your own journey as a witness to the love and grace of God? What music accompanies you along the way? May we offer our own witness alongside theirs, as we all join our voices in the worldwide community of faith!
Peace be with you,
