Music for Sunday: November 22nd, 2009
Prelude: Two Settings of Wachet Auf – Paul Manz (Improvisations for the Christmas Season, set 1) Offering: Wachet Auf – Johann Walter (Achzig Choralvorspiele) Postlude: Diademata – Kevin Hildebrand (Six Hymn Improvisations, set 6) Posted in Church Music, Music for Sunday, Uncategorized Tagged: Church Music, Music for Sunday, Organ Music, Organ Voluntaries

Where the Church is Found
Herman Sasse has a fantastic quote on the Lord’s Supper in his Preface to Vom Sakrament Des Altars (reprinted in The Lonely Way, vol.2): “Around the Lord’s Table is gathered the church.  At the Table of the Lord, the church knows what it most profoundly  is: the body of Christ.  There has been no doubt of this since the days of the apostles.  Where the Table of the Lord is deserted, where the Lord’s Supper is no longer known or celebrated, there the church dies, irretrievably lost.” This is certainly has a lot to say for every Sunday communion, and begs the question: do Divine Services without

Music for Sunday: November 15th, 2009
Prelude: Erhalt Uns, Herr – J.S. Bach (BWV 1103, Neumeister Chorales) Offering: Est Ist Gewisslich – J.S. Bach (Achzig Choralvorspiele, # 28) Interlude for Distribution Hymn: Duke Street – Flor Peeters (30 Short Preludes on Well-Known Hymns) Postlude: Azmon – Robert Hobby (Three Hymns of Praise, set 6) Posted in Church Music, Music for Sunday Tagged: Church Music, Music for Sunday, Organ Music, Organ Voluntaries

Teaching New Music to Your Congregation
I presented at Winkel (Circuit Pastor’s Conference) today on how to teach new music in congregations and I thought I’d share my notes.  Perhaps they will be of some use to you. Intro: New music scares people, probably because it is unfamiliar, it’s not one of the old favorites, and it is change, pure and simple.  However, new music doesn’t have to be intimidating, either to a congregation or its pastor.  Here are some thoughts to help make it easier to teach new music: v     Pick good material If you are going to take the time to teach something, make sure it’

The Wordy Spirit
I was finishing up reading the Smallcald Articles in preparation for Winkel (pastor’s conference) tomorrow, and I finall found a Luther quote that I’ve always found intriguing, but couldn’t find the reference to. It is in Part 3, at the end of Article 8 (on Confession), where Luther writes: “Therefore we must constantly maintain this point: God does not want to deal with us in any other way than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. Whatever is praised as from the Spirit — without the Word and Sacraments — is the devil himself.” Luther certainly has a way of cutting right to the heart of the matter. This believing