Singing and praying with Indigenous Christians
In order to fully embrace the diversity of the church and to live into God’s reign of justice and peace, it is necessary to sing and pray with Indigenous Christians. Songs are a force for solidarity. Solidarity is a source of action. Action in solidarity with one another, with insight and leadership from Indigenous communities,…
Darkness and light in worship
When Sarah Kathleen Johnson was an undergraduate student at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., she wrote a hymn text based on Psalm 139. More than a decade later, Len Enns, her former choir director at Grebel and a prominent Mennonite composer, would set the text to music, and the pairing would become Voices…
Chin song adds breadth to newest hymnal
In 2017, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship awarded members of the Voices Together hymnal committee a grant to explore Mennonite worship in communities that worship primarily in languages beyond English. Katie Graber, Bradley Kauffman and Darryl Neustaedter- Barg represented the committee on their visits to 11 congregations, ranging in location from Vancouver to Fort…
‘There’s enough for all’
“Jesus had a lot to say about money, but the songs we sing in worship rarely do.” These words from the album description of Bryan Moyer Suderman’s 2007 album, My Money Talks, provide a snapshot into the goal of the album: to intentionally provide songs for churches that help them talk about money. The songs…
Voices Together and creation care
If you are anything like me, you are missing singing hymns as a congregation during this pandemic. Hymns are such a vital part of expressing our faith. We find comfort in the melodies and texts from prophets, mystics, church leaders and hymnists. The formation of a new hymnal shows what we as a church body…
Watch: Behind the music with Phil Campbell-Enns
Winnipeg pastor and songwriter Phil Campbell-Enns is the latest person featured in a new video series from MennoMedia showcasing Anabaptist contributions to the new Voices Together hymnal. In the four-and-a-half-minute video, which ends with a performance of the song, Campbell-Enns recalls writing “Fill Us with Your Feast,” which is #309 in Voices Together. Campbell-Enns, a…
Lecture-recital highlights women composers
Celebrating the contribution of women composers in Voices Together means reclaiming the voices of historical women whose work has been overlooked and also to “elevate the voices of women who are living,” said Anneli Loepp Thiessen. She led a recent lecture-recital as part of the virtual Noon Hour@Home Concert Series at Conrad Grebel University College. …
A hymn by any other number
When hymnologist Mary Oyer travelled from Uganda to Oregon to attend the 1969 Mennonite Church general assembly, she was surely filled with anticipation. She arrived in the second week of August to attend the dedication of a new denominational worship book, The Mennonite Hymnal (1969), which the General Conference Mennonite Church would also use. As…
Reconciliation recommendations for worship
In an Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary course for worship leaders engaging the new Voices Together hymnal, we were asked to consider the following question for an assignment: How can our congregaton’s worship focus more on justice and racial reconciliation? We found some resonance in our respective responses and collaborated to share them more broadly. We…
Watch: A tour of Voices Together
It may be aimed at children, but everyone will learn something from a video exploring the new Voices Together hymnal. The video walks viewers through everything that is on a hymnal page, as well as many of the hymnal’s indices. Melinda Metzger, a Waterloo Region music educator, created the video for the Sunday morning children’s…
