Together, in song
The last time my church sang together was March 8, the second Sunday in Lent. Since then, my singing has consisted of one backyard, physically distant, “Happy Birthday” and my lone voice following the congregation’s pre-recorded music on the screen. For those of us who count congregational music as a vital part of our…
Voices Together announces No. 1 hymn
As Voices Together nears publication, the Mennonite Worship and Song Committee editorial team has assigned the roughly 750 songs across the table of contents and selected the song that will appear first in the collection. “The first hymn among the hundreds found in a hymnal shouldn’t matter, but it does,” says Rebecca Slough, managing editor…
Music leaders sing hymnal preview
In the 1980s, Ken Nafziger drew inspiration from publisher and camp association president Levi Miller, and began leading a music retreat at Laurelville. It was initially designed to develop church song leaders. Several years later, Marlene Kropf and Marilyn Houser Hamm joined Nafziger in giving leadership to what is now called Laurelville’s Music and Worship…
Behind the scenes of Voices Together
When some of the individuals working on the forthcoming Voices Together hymnal needed help with a big task, they called their moms. The task was daunting. The text committee, the group responsible for researching and preparing all aspects of the more than 750 song texts to be included in the collection, needed draft files…
“’Twas in the moon of wintertime” not included in new Mennonite hymnal
Choosing whether or not to include a song in Voices Together is more complicated than whether or not people like singing it. The song known as “Huron Carol” or “’Twas in the moon of wintertime” is one example of a beloved song that raises difficult questions. To assess songs in recent Mennonite denominational collections, including…
Voices Together committee holds final meeting
A stack of paper containing 780 songs and a binder of 320 worship resources greeted each member of the Voices Together committee when they arrived for their 10th and final committee meeting in early October. In nine previous meetings, the committee had discussed content to include in this new worship and song collection for the…
Voices Together hymnal discounts extended
HARRISONBURG, Va.—Due to a high response rate, MennoMedia is extending the Voices Together case quantity discount until Dec. 1, 2019. The quantity discount was to be for the first 10,000 copies of the pew edition sold. But presales surpassed 10,000 copies by the first week in October. The case quantity discount for Voices Together—5 percent…
A meaningful way to dispose of unwanted Bibles
Tim Martens carefully unwraps a pair of tattered-looking old books. One is an ancient German Bible, its text printed in fine Gothic script, the other an old Gesangbuch or songbook. The Duck Lake, Sask. resident believes these worn and frayed tomes, no longer wanted or needed by anyone, deserve to be treated with respect. To…
A farewell to the ‘blue hymnal’
Over the span of a single weekend, Sean Goerzen sang or played every single hymn in the blue-backed Hymnal: A Worship Book. All 658 of them. “I feel like I know the hymnal in a very intimate way now,” he says with a laugh. Goerzen organized Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church’s hymnal sing-a-thon, a two-day event…
Voices Together taking pre-orders, website redesign goes live
HARRISONBURG, Va.—MennoMedia is now taking pre-orders for Voices Together, the new hymnal releasing in fall 2020. Pre-order sales of the new worship and song collection coincide with the launch of the newly designed VoicesTogetherHymnal.org website. The updated site includes information on the hymnal’s table of contents, FAQs, bundles and ordering information, samples of projection edition…
