Music and Song is a big part of every worship service. We are so fortunate to have a gifted director of music and many talented musicians that provide us with music each Sunday. Music has a way of stirring our hearts and lifting our imagination. When we hear voiced blended together in harmony, we get to experience what it is to live in harmony and peace with one another.
Music on Sunday morning includes the anthems, the prelude and postlude, and other special music that has been prepared and rehearsed ahead of time and shared with the people in the worship service. We have music provided by piano and organ, guitars, handbells, and peal bells, as well as vocalists. The songs teach us, encourage us, and inspire us.
Worship also includes music that the people participate in making together. It’s not rehearsed. Even if we aren’t particularly comfortable or gifted in singing, we share in the music by standing together for hymns and the singing of the doxology. We get to sing the words to the hymns and make a joyful noise to the Lord as a way we bring praise to God. Outside of karaoke bars, birthday parties, and sporting events, there really aren’t many other places where people sing together in this way.
Calvary Church has expanded its music program beyond Sunday morning through the Community Concert series. This series brings in people from the community to enjoy all sorts of music from some of the finest musicians.
There are times I don’t recall much of what the preacher had to say or the reading from the Bible on a particular Sunday, but I will find myself humming the tune of a familiar hymn and running the words through my head long after Sunday morning has passed. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, recognized that much of the movement he got started caught on in his day because of the music and hymns that his brother Charles Wesley provided.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Steve