REBIRTH: Singing Death, Singing Life

Martin Seltz, Sponsor

Just as hymn texts reflect church history, so a little history can enrich hymn singing. Born of church talks and hymn sings, Paul Rorem’s little book, Singing Church History: Introducing the Christian Story through Hymn Texts (Fortress, 2024), is meant to support congregational learning and singing. It features texts of familiar hymns to introduce major movements and theologians, from the biblical songs through numerous early and medieval examples to the Reformation and modern times including the United States and World Christianity. The sharing of hymns across eras and denominations is emphasized as a durable grassroots form of ecumenical harmony. Rorem and Martin Tel will share their classroom experience with the book at Princeton Seminary as a resource for church musicians, teachers, and pastors.

Peter Irvine, Sponsor
In Memory of Marilyn Stulken

As awareness of the needs of neurodivergent (ND) children grows, congregations across denominational spectrums are beginning to ask themselves how they can serve the worshipping needs of those who may be unintentionally excluded from full participation in the life of faith. This concern is further pronounced when we realize that sensory processing is a primary means of dysregulation among ND children (van Ommen 2024, for instance). Orders of service, with their sometimes-rigorous decorum and adherence to sonic and visual stimuli, are often unwelcoming places for ND children.

But how does congregational music affect this experience? Could music be a key to unlocking a more caring, nurturing, and edifying formational practice of worship? Perhaps, as some psychologists have suggested (Kim et al 2024, for example), music may generally help ND individuals regulate emotions and process sensory information more pleasantly. Could congregational music play a similar role in the life of Christian communities? This sectional suggests that it does, and, drawing from our ongoing fieldwork with Christian communities across the US with the support of a Lilly Endowment Inc grant, offers insight and resources for enhancing worship in other local congregations.