Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, Cantata 180, was presented in Leipzig on October 22, 1724 to a pietistic Lutheran congregation steeped in the tradition of the Reformation. It is one of a series of cantatas that Bach wrote to celebrate the particular purpose of each Sunday in the liturgical year. The content of the hymn that is featured in BWV 180 is about Communion, our ancient ritual of sharing bread and wine. The hymn by the same name was written by Johann Franck in 1649. It is still sung today in many Lutheran and Reformed Churches, even in America.

Bring your taste for Bach and join me and other Rutgers students as we worship with the sacred music of the 18th century.

Come for a night of inspirational songs and stories with the Billboard & ASCAP award-winning composer, singer, and pianist. Lorraine’s husband, Godfrey, and daughter, Lauren Nelson, are her special performer guests.

Historically, the music program of a church has been sometimes called a Music Ministry. It is a very curious label since it expects the “performers” or “musicians” to somehow express or spread their faith in Jesus Christ. I’ve been wondering the past few months what that means for a choir – to be spreading faith in God. Oh, it is obvious that when a singer stands up and sings to the depths of her heart and brings life to the music and the text that she is expressing that faith. That is the easy part. But what about the communication of that faith? What do the listeners get out of that music, especially when maybe the listeners are not musically sophisticated, or do not understand the words because they are in a different language? There is no easy answer for that. If our music program wishes to become a true Music Ministry, this is the question that we have to consider. The choir is growing – we are becoming more well-versed in world literature; we are digging deep and reattaching our roots to the tradition of Christian classical music. We are finding voices in other languages, other styles, more sophisticated music, etc. But how is this growth-ful for the congregation? Yes, it is lovely for them to hear beautiful music on Sunday morning, but how does that help them grow in faith? These are questions that need to be considered.

Pastor Hartmut said that ministries test our endurance, our passion, and our love. They provide temptation to drop the cross of our burdens. I can tell you that with the hike in rehearsal hours per week and the leaps of difficulty in our musical choices, the choir is definitely showing great endurance. And do I need to say anything about passion? Just listen to how fervently each singer sings every Sunday morning, finding the fire of the spirit inside his or her own voice! But love – that is the tough part of ministry. Love is about connection between people, i.e. the love between the congregation and choir. How involved is the choir with the congregation? How can we collaborate more and build our church with music? And this may sound silly to you, as it did to me at first, but: what are the burdens of the choir as a ministry? To keep ourselves in good voice? Or, is there something deeper, something that we have yet to find to immerse ourselves in the life, the pain, the suffering, the burdens of the congregation?

I know I am asking a lot of questions. I do not have the answers. I am not saying that the Music Ministry is in bad shape. But, if we are to continue to grow, we must answer these questions. A professor of mine at Rutgers, Dr. James, said that “growth is the acid test of Love.” Let us find the love and keep growing together, congregation with its choir, one church, one faith, under Jesus Christ’s supervision. May our work face the challenges of ministry head-on and in good voice.

If you have not been in the music room lately, you are in for a surprise! The room is getting a lot of use; two organizations use the room during the week as their office. The choir director and bell choir director use the room to store their music and bells with all the accompanying equipment in the room.

And we do have a lot of music! I have been working for weeks to catalogue what we have. So far, I have worked through most of our single copy music, that is, music with just one song on it, and we have over 700 different pieces of them. I have a few more to go, and then I can start with the multi-copy music — all the different books we have with two or more songs. That requires a little more work as one wants to know more than just the title of the book. So it will be a while before I am finished, but meanwhile we have been using this catalogue already, which makes me happy as it is a lot of work. However, I see it as very useful work.

How can we ever use all (or at least some of) this music if we do not know what we have! The next step, after all the cataloguing, will be to decide which songs we will never use again. And there are definitely candidates for that, but it must be done with a group of people who know more of our church history and of music than I can do on my own. I will let you know when we can start on this part of the project.

Folk singer, recording artist, songwriter, guitarist, bawdy song balladeer, sea chantey performer, radio broadcaster, television program host, special events director, emcee, Broadway musical composer, playwright, actor, author, storyteller, musicologist, historian, Children’s Recording Artist, curator of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Honorary Ph.D., a true Renaissance man.

Mara Levine’s new album Mara’s Gems is a true gem with her crystal clear voice, subtle vibrato, and skillful way with a melody line. The songs, strung together like the care-worn precious stones on your grandmother’s necklace, are (as a wine critic might say) rich with notes of sterling silver, amethyst, mother of pearl and smoky quartz, with a smooth, sweet finish. Joined by her friends William “Rusty” Crowell on guitar and Jan Alba on flute.

May 9th, 2009 — $25 advance; $30 at the door; $10 kids.

James met with the Senior Choir for a rehearsal in the morning and shared numerous stories from his rich life in the church. The he led the singing during worship, assisted by our organist and choir director Ben Berman and our Bell Choir director Erie Beemsterboer. Prior to his coming, we had furnished James with a wish list of songs and hymns from Sing! A New Creation and asked that he would introduce us to these. We could not have found a better teacher – James had contributed to this hymnal and was a member of the committee that had created it.

Following worship, we had a great lunch and a little autograph party with James in the Randolph Room. Here participants could obtain a copy of Liturgy Among the Thorns, an introduction to Reformed worship, Christian education, architecture, etc. James edited this book; it is part of the Historical Series of our denomination. All proceeds above the production cost of the book will benefit our historic preservation project. Thank you, James, for a wonderful Sunday at church. And thank you to our Education & Worship Committee that put a beautiful lunch together.

• Sep. 24th The Dorian Trio: Ruo Tao Mao, violin; Mikyung Lee, cello; Tomoko Kanamaru, piano, will perform Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor.
• Oct. 8th Mezzo-soprano Alyson Harvey and pianist Tim Brown.
• Oct. 22nd Polymania, the piano duo of Mari-Jo Policastro and Steven Russell.
• Nov 12th The Cambiata Trio, a woodwind trio comprising flute, oboe, and bassoon.

The Downtown Lunchtime Recitals celebrated last spring when the young musicians from Livingston School gave a performance of their spring concert at our church. This thank you was a wonderful affirmation of the appreciation audiences have for the recitals. If you haven’t been attending the recitals, come by and find out how chamber music grabs everyone from middle-schoolers to seniors. The Wednesday recitals are free half-hour events beginning at 12:15 p.m.

Consider helping serve the free lunch that follows each recital and signing up to donate soup, bread, or cookies. Find the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board outside the kitchen door or call the church office and ask Aurea Vega to sign you up.