MUSICAL OPPORTUNITIES

We are blessed with a congregation that loves to make music, and we have three choirs that are always more than willing to move over and make room for additional volunteers!

Our Adult Choir sings every Sunday beginning after Labor Day through the end of June and several Sundays in the summer.  Our members range in age from early 20s to early 80s.  We sing everything from the classics, to gospel and spirituals.  I must admit that the choir and congregation especially enjoy our livelier offerings. We try to get together for several Choir Parties during the year and do have an active social life among our choir family.  To join this group, you just need to show up for rehearsal in the sanctuary at 7:00 PM any Wednesday evening. We also rehearse at 9:00 AM on Sunday mornings.  All who love to sing are welcome.  As many of our older members are retired and do like to travel, a full time attendance commitment is not a requirement to join us.

Our Men's Chorus consists of eight, strong men's voices.  We do brag about this group who love to sing, and do so very well.  They are an offshoot of our Adult Choir and are scheduled to sing as often as we can get most of them together for practice, (remember the traveling bit!).  We try to fit in their rehearsals after regular practice on Wednesday evenings. When the Men's Chorus is planning to sing something special, they will meet at 10:00 AM on Saturday mornings.  New members are always welcome.  To join this group, just come to church on a Sunday morning and see me (Nancy McCarthy), after service to inquire about their schedule.

Our Bell Choir, ably directed by Barbara Bach, consists of ringers from our church and some dedicated folks from outside our congregation.  When they are preparing to play for a service, they rehearse on Monday evenings.  Their performance schedule depends on availability of members and generally occurs in six week blocks of time.  Ask Nancy for more information about our Bell Choir.

We begin Sunday mornings with a Hymn Sing that starts about 15 minutes before the service.  Our Pastor Wesley Williams and I choose these hymns very carefully after reading the lectionary.  These hymns are all chosen with a theme in mind and are a fun way to prepare for morning worship.  Years ago, a dear friend of mine visited a church in another state.  She was appalled at people in the sanctuary discussing fertilizing their lawns, and other secular activities instead of preparing themselves for worship.  We have found that the Hymn Sing is an excellent way to focus on things spiritual.  More and more folks are coming earlier than our 10:00 AM service hour to take advantage of this extra musical worship experience. 

We are fortunate to have two, very fine pianists to aid in our Sunday services.  Janice Mills and Glenn Starner-Tate participate in piano and organ duets, accompany the choir and accompany the organ in leading the hymns.    Bruce Abbott, a very fine saxophone and flute player joins us occasionally during the year.   All this emphasis on  making inspirational music is To the Glory of God and to compliment, rather than dominate the worship experience.  The saying "those who sing these hymns and anthems pray twice" applies here.

Soli Deo Gloria, In His Love,

Nancy E. McCarthy,

Music Director & Organist

WHY DO WE HAVE A HYMN SING AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH SERVICE?

Several people have asked this question, and I am reminded of the story a friend of mine brought home from an experience she had at a large church in Florida. She was used to entering the sanctuary in a respectful manner and sitting quietly to pray before the service. When she and her daughter entered the sanctuary in Florida they were dismayed to find two men conversing loudly across the aisle over the qualities of various fertilizers! She told me that they never went back there again.

For the first 14 years that I was Music Director here, the Worship Committee agonized over how to get the congregation to accept the prelude as the actual beginning of our worship service. Many efforts were made to quiet the congregation in the form of written notices in the bulletin and spoken request were made for prayerful centering of our spirits during the prelude. Nothing worked; the congregation would quiet down for a week or two and the various conversations would begin again, louder than ever!

I believe that Pastor Wes first suggested that a hymn sing would concentrate our thoughts toward God in a worshipful and joyous way. Observe the order in which the hymns are presented. We try to start with a joyous, sometimes bouncy tune, to start us singing "lustily and with good courage" per John Wesley's instructions, always with our service focus in mind. Occasionally, we include an unfamiliar hymn that it would benefit us to learn, and the last two hymns are chosen to help us quiet our spirits and center down to a worshipful attitude.

More and more folks are coming early so as not to miss any of the early hymn sing. We generally start right on time, where in the past, quite a few people did not arrive until well after 10:00 AM. Nowadays, people are  quiet and ready for worship as the candles are lighted and the prelude is being played.

In His love,