A Modern Resource Guide for Advent Worship Planning

A Modern Resource Guide for Advent Worship Planning

Advent.

A time of waiting, watching, listening.
A time of remembering, anticipating.
A time of renewal and wonder.

The beginning of a new year.

Each year, we celebrate the season of Advent in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We read the words of the prophets, we tell the stories of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the angels, the magi.

We put ourselves back in that time and place of watching and waiting for the Savior of the world, expectant and hopeful. And then, we find ourselves here, in the 21st century, watching and waiting for the return of our Savior, expectant and hopeful.

Often times, our worship services during Advent have a particular sequence to them: We begin with the prophetic words of hope and faith; then, the promise of peace in the world; the joy of God’s fulfilled promises; and the gift of love into the world.

"Come, Christians, Join to Play!" and 12 Other Piano Duet Books for Worship

"Come, Christians, Join to Play!" and 12 Other Piano Duet Books for Worship

Piano duets are a fun way to include other pianists from your congregation and add something special to your worship services. Plus, they’re just fun in general, am I right?

In my experience, even small churches have at least one person in the congregation who has some playing experience. Often, they just need to be asked and invited to participate.

Reach out to a few people in your choir or congregation who you know play the piano and ask if they’d be interested in playing a duet with you in worship sometime. If so, choose a collection (I recommend purchasing two copies so you can each have one to practice with). 

Find a time when you can get together to practice.

If the person you’re playing with is fairly accomplished and feels comfortable sight-reading, spend some time reading through some of the pieces to get a feel for what they sound like with both parts. If that’s not realistic, choose a few pieces to begin working on, decide who will play what part, and set up a few rehearsals in the coming weeks.

Four Reasons Why Playing Your Instrument for Fun is Vital to Your Music Career

Four Reasons Why Playing Your Instrument for Fun is Vital to Your Music Career

When was the last time you sat down at your instrument and played music for fun? I mean, not music you had to practice or prepare, but music you chose to play for yourself, for your own enjoyment?

So often as professionals, we don’t make time for this. We assume that all the music we’re being paid to learn and practice will also count as the musical satisfaction we need to keep going in our career. Kill two birds with one stone, right? I mean, who has time to play for fun?

But the problem is, this can become stifling. Instead of making music as a form of expression and creativity, making music becomes something we have to do, a task on our list. In short, it becomes work.

And when it becomes work, we lose that spark of inspiration, we miss the connection to the creative process, that feeling of making something personal, real, and deeply authentic. We lose some of the meaning behind why we started playing in the first place.

But, the good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way.

How to Start a Worship Arts Team

How to Start a Worship Arts Team

The arts - whether it's music or dance or drama or visual - are a wonderful way to enhance the worship experience, engage the congregation, bring stories to life in new ways, and create meaningful, memorable experiences for all involved.

Related post: Integrating Visual Arts in Worship

The term "worship arts" means different things at different churches, but often times, it includes things like:

  • altar decorations
  • paraments
  • banners (including ribbon and streamers)
  • visual aids for worship
  • flower arrangements, wreathes, and other decorations
  • visual art
  • audio and visual technology
  • dance
  • drama

There's been an effort at my current church to incorporate more of these things into our worship services on a regular basis, so last year, I started a worship arts team.

12 Practical Transition Songs and Chants to Teach to Your Children's Choir

12 Practical Transition Songs and Chants to Teach to Your Children's Choir

Transitions. They are a fact of life, but they can seem especially cumbersome and drawn out when working with a group of children. 

It takes time for everyone to come in and get settled.
It takes time to get everyone quiet and listening to directions.
It takes time to pass out instruments or other props.
It takes time to collect instruments or other props.
It takes time to move to another area of the room.

You get my point. And when your rehearsals are only 30 minutes in length, the amount of time you spend transitioning from one thing to another can really add up.

Here’s a question: What if we could make these transition times musical? What if we could keep children engaged, listening, moving, and singing, even, as they transition from one activity to the next?

Today, I’m sharing 12 practical transition songs you can use in your children’s choir rehearsals.

What's in a Name? An Historical Look at Several Mainstream Protestant Denominations

What's in a Name? An Historical Look at Several Mainstream Protestant Denominations

What's in a name?

Most of us, if asked, probably have some sense of denominational affiliation, or at least partiality. Perhaps you grew up with close ties to a certain denomination. For some of you, maybe you've been able to work within that same denomination throughout your career. For others of us, our work experience is varied - based on jobs that become available, places we live, worship styles, family decisions, etc.

I know, for me, my experience includes Episcopal and United Methodist (growing up) and United Methodist, Disciples of Christ, UCC, Presbyterian, and American Baptist/United Methodist throughout my career.

If you’ve ever been in a position where you’re considering a move to a new-to-you denomination, you’ve probably found yourself asking/googling questions like:

What do Episcopalians believe?
How are Methodists different from Lutherans?
What sets PCUSA churches apart from PCA?
What does it mean to be congregational?

To delve into some answers to these questions, we need to step back in time for a little history lesson.

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Six Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started in Ministry

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Six Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started in Ministry

Hindsight is 20/20, right?

If we knew then what we know now, we probably would have done things differently, handled that situation another way, said “yes” instead of “no” (or vice versa).

But the thing about life is we can only live going forward. We can’t go back and edit our choices later on, though hopefully, we take the time to reflect and learn from our experiences as we go along.

I’ve been doing that lately with ministry. What have I learned over the years? How have I grown and changed? What would I tell my younger self? We all have different answers to those questions, but they’re important to think about and perhaps even voice from time to time. This is how we learn. This is how we grow.

In the spirit of all that, here are six things I wish I’d known when I first started in music ministry:

What to Teach When in Children's Choir: Preschool

What to Teach When in Children's Choir: Preschool

Over the past month, or so, I’ve been putting together a few lists of what to teach when in children’s choir. Here are the links for the other posts in this series, in case you missed them:

What to Teach When: Younger Elementary (K-2nd grade)
What to Teach When: Older Elementary (3rd-5th grade)

Today, I’m going to talk about what to teach when in preschool choirs.

There’s no denying it: preschool choirs are pretty adorable. Watching them sing and do hand motions and wave to mom and dad is both sweet and heart-warming. But, if you’ve ever worked with preschool-age children, you know that leading a group of little singers each week takes a lot of thought, care, and intentional planning (and energy!).

Related Post: How to Create a Seamless, Joyful Experience for Your Preschool Choir

Preschool choir rehearsals often have lots of vocal exploration, steady beat movement activities, musical play (with instruments and story-telling), and lots of opportunities to experience musical contrasts: fast vs. slow, high vs. low, soft vs. loud, short vs. long.

11 Modern Choral Hymn Settings for Christmas

11 Modern Choral Hymn Settings for Christmas

Fall is in the air (literally, here in Rochester). The nights are cool, the pumpkins and mums are out, and Fall cups are back at Starbucks.

This can mean only one thing: it’s time to start listening to Christmas music. Naturally.

Every year around this time, I spend some time browsing online music catalogs and listening to a variety of Advent and Christmas anthems: seeing what’s new, discovering old favorites, and looking for inspiration (you, too?). Not necessarily because I need to buy something; perhaps more out of curiosity. 

In my recent perusing, I was struck by the number of traditional hymns and carols I found that have been reimagined and creatively set in fresh, modern ways. So, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites with you. I tried to include a variety of anthems in this list - most are SATB (some with divisi, others without), but there’s one SAB and one 2-part anthem in the mix, as well. Hope you find something you can use with your choir this year!

Whether you’re in the not-quite-done-with-my-Christmas-planning-yet camp or the I-could-use-a-little-seasonal-inspiration, I hope you enjoy listening to and browsing these modern hymn arrangements.

Music for Stewardship: 40+ Songs, Hymns, and Anthems

Music for Stewardship: 40+ Songs, Hymns, and Anthems

"Christian giving is a responsive act. It represents gratitude to God. It is a symbol of self-giving. Therefore, giving is not a once-for-all event, but a regular part of life. It is a spiritual discipline that reminds us who we are and whose we are.” - Herb Mather (source)

Stewardship is about taking care of the gifts God has given us. This includes managing our earthly possessions and monetary gains, but it also includes tending to the relationships we have and caring for the world around us.

Many churches spend some time during the fall months talking about stewardship. Centered around themes of gratitude and giving, stewardship is a time to talk about God’s abundant blessings and ways we can be good stewards of the gifts we’ve been given.

Stewardship often culminates in a Commitment Sunday or a time to make a pledge of time, gifts, and financial contributions to the work of the church.

It’s important that stewardship not just be about financial giving, but how we can give ourselves to God’s work, commit our lives to God’s service, and use God’s gifts to bless those around us.

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

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