Music Ministries at Brandon Lutheran!

Music Opportunities

 

• Adult Choir -our adult choir meets Tuesday evenings at 7:30 pm in the Sanctuary, September through May.  The choir sings every Sunday at the 8:30 am traditional service.  
• Adult Hand Bells - our hand bell group, JuBELLation, meets every Tuesday evening at 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary, and rings at services about once a month throughout the school year. 
• Brass Ensemble - the Brass Ensemble provides music for Reformation, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter services. 
• Soloists (vocal or instrumental) - we welcome soloists to either sing or play an instrument during our traditional worship service.
• Power of Praise Band musicians - if you can play an instrument or sing and like contemporary music, this is perfect for you.

 

Music Ministry Updates

 

Summer is here and spring flew by!  You can’t stop but notice how green everything has gotten!  Now the corn is starting to come up and the countryside is turning green!  Thank God for the promise of spring and new life!

We had lots of great things happen in Music Ministries in May!  The Choir and Bell Choir did a great job leading in Worship.  We also had a great performance from Allison’s Dance Academy’s Liturgical Dancers.  Both Choir and Bell Choir had end-of-season celebrations.  What fun!  Choir and Bell Choir are now on their summer hiatus but will still make a few appearances over the summer!  I’m thankful for all our  volunteers- for all the time and talents they share!

This summer, we will be having one Sunday service at 9:45 AM and Wednesday service at 6:15 PM.  I will be looking for people to provide Special Music over the summer.  If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for this, please reach out to me at music@brandonlutheran.org! 

This month, I would like to briefly talk about and explain the Hymn of Praise in our liturgies. 

At Brandon Lutheran, after the Kyrie we always sing a “Hymn of Praise”.  Most typically this is the greater “Gloria” or “This is the Feast”.  Some other Lutheran denominations and our brothers and sisters in Anglican and Catholic traditions most typically only sing the “Gloria”. 

Luther D. Reed in his book The Lutheran Liturgy (1975), speaks about the Gloria having its origins in the larger Entrance Rite of the Catholic Mass, just like the Kyrie, as we talked about last month.  The Hymn of Praise comes directly after Kyrie with nothing spoken between the two.  Reed says that this is because “it is a response to the Kyrie itself which proclaims the glory of God and voices the joy of believers in his merciful goodness in sending his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

We sing “Glory to God” on non-Communion Sundays, and “This is the Feast” on Communion Sundays.  If you look back to our old red Service Book and Hymnal (1958), the only option for the hymn of praise was the Gloria. 

The Gloria in Excelsis has three main parts symbolizing our belief in the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  “This is the Feast” focuses more on the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ.  It talks about the Lamb who was slain, that He deserves power, honor, worship, etc., and ultimately how He is reigning now in Glory. 

Have you ever stopped to realize and process everything we sing in Worship?  Sometimes I think we repetitively do things, and we lose sight of the reason why.  Next time we sing the Hymn of Praise, take a second to pull out your hymnal, read the words over, and think about how deep the theology of our praise is! 

I pray you all have a great start to the summer, and hope to see you in Worship!

   

 

 

                                                                           

          Ben Jacobsma, Minister of Music                                                                Will Prines

                     Organist & Pianist                                                                 Contemporary Music Leader

              Choir & Bell Choir Director