September 2011
37 posts
Global Music: Singing a 21st-Century Faith...
For at least thirty years a dichotomy of “traditional” or “contemporary” has dominated worship and music discussions in the North American church and beyond. Many have grown up with this framework which has usually served little purpose, the result being the stifling of creativity and entrenched positions. Interestingly enough, this dichotomy neither reflects the reality of...
Iona Community (Scotland): some songs for...
John Bell and his colleagues in the Wild Goose Resource Group have produced dozens of resources of worship songs.
Today we’ll look at a few songs for Communion from their collection “Love from Below.”
a collection of 60+ songs in the book (fewer on the CD).
The songbook is available at http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=3263
and the CD or mp3s are available...
Asian Communion Hymns in the "Sound the Bamboo"...
Sound the Bamboo is the most well-known hymnal that collects songs from many Asian countries and makes them accessible to English speakers. It was compiled by Dr. I-to Loh. http://new-wineskins.org/journal/about/people/i-toloh/
and was published in North America by GIA in 2000. http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=5487
Five songs are marked in the index as being bilingual Asian...
Pan de Vida (world communion song,...
Celebrating "When Death Dies" with multicultural...
A close friend recently had 2 unexpected deaths in her family… so I’m thinking about grieving, death and when it will finally be overcome. I found this new song by Gungor, from their just-released CD, “Ghosts Upon the Earth.”
Here’s a trio doing an acoustic version live. Michael Gungor is half Puerto Rican, and he writes that he tried to highlight his latin side...
Bread is Blessed and Broken, Iona Community (world...
Food for Pilgrim People (world communion song from...
Esteemed Korean composer Geonyong Lee composed this communion song around 1990. It has 3 verses in Korean, not heard in this demo recording. The 3 English verses were paraphrased by Marion Pope and Shirley Murray.
The song sounds beautiful when done a cappella, or with minimal accompaniment. All the chords (vocal harmonies) are played on the keyboard in this demo of the song, sung by ISHQ...
We Are Coming, Lord, to the Table (world communion...
In Sierra Leone, this song accompanies a procession to the front of the church with the communion elements - this is in focus in verse 1. It’s also possible to sing the song while preparing to share communion, the focus of verse 2.
The song is published in “Global Songs for Worship” 2010, edited by Greg Scheer. The hymnbook is co-published by Calvin Institute of Christian...
The Bread of Life for All is Broken (Jiu Shi Zhi...
Here’s a beautiful global song suitable for World Communion Sunday and beyond.
The original lyrics in Mandarin were written by Timothy Tingfang Lew. He was born in China in 1891 and died in New Mexico, USA in 1947. This song was published in the 1936 Chinese hymnal “Hymns of Universal Praise” and became known in England when published in the 1951 BBC Hymn Book. The...
Come, Let Us Eat (World Communion song, Liberia)
Billema Kwilllia of Liberia composed this song, originally in his Loma language. He was born approximately 1925, and was an evangelist and literacy teacher, learning to read Loma through the church’s literacy program. The translation into English was by Margaret D. Miller.
This is song #34 in the songbook “Halle Halle: We Sing the World Round” compiled by Michael Hawn (who wrote...
Come to the Supper: Charles Wesley via Zimbabwe...
Kyrie Eleison - Oslo Gospel Choir
Oslo Gospel Choir is a Norwegian gospel choir residing in Oslo, Norway conducted by Tore W. Aas. The choir started up in 1988 and has since then become one of the most successful in Europe with success both in Europe and America. They have released around 20 recordings. They are very much influenced by the black American gospel sound and the American Andrae Crouch is a major source of...
A Contemporary Kyrie
I found this contemporary guitar-driven Kyrie by Nathan Schleicher. He’s the Director of Modern Worship at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Royal Oak,MI.
His website asks, Why Does Church Music Stink? http://www.churchmusicstinks.com/
Taste & See (English/Spanish, World Communion...
Songs for World Communion Sunday (Oct 2, 2011)
World Communion Sunday is a celebration observed by several Christian denominations, taking place on the first Sunday of every October, that promotes Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation. It began in 1936 and is now celebrated by many denominations in many countries.
Here is my List 1 of multicultural songs that are connected to themes of communion or feast. Most are bilingual. They are...
On Blended Worship: Intentionally Mixing Music...
Here are some quotes from documents on worship from Bethlehem Baptist Church, pastored by John Piper.
Because we value the importance of old and new , historic and current, we will pray that “the Holy Spirit may lead us into ways of worship that are continuous with the historic witness of worship given to the church throughout its history in the world, and at the same time He may lead us into...
Vamos Todos al Banquete, “Let Us Go Now to...
What Can I Do? (old/new Irish worship song)
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“Come Thou Fount” - with a twist
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Songlist for September 11, 2011
I’m the worship leader at Church of the Resurrection, an Episcopal multicultural church plant in east Dallas. http://www.roomforyou.org/
One of our guiding principles is “liturgical plurality” - drawing songs from diverse cultures.
Our primary service on Sundays is bilingual (English/Spanish) so we have quite a few songs that are also English/Spanish.
Here’s our songlist...
