A past storyteller thread had some, too....

Dan, I had not thought of this from this angle, but I seriously think you have to count our weekly Saturday night music ministry. It is primarily a church service, as opposed to a "gig," but it IS a gig.... oh dear. I'll try to make sense but all kinds of thoughts are flying around in and around my head all of a sudden. Dang.... Well this will not be my best writing, but you asked....

The blend between the music, the gospel reading, and the homily is getting finer and finer as we go on. Of course the gospel reading is itelf a story.... There's more tho.... For instance, the Sat. night homily tends to be story-based, as Hardi delivers a laid-back version of the Sunday AM homily...

Also the music and the lesson and the homily often feed into one another. Sometimes the music is chosen specifically for the gospel reading due for the week (we use a lectionary to cycle through the gospels), and sometimes not, but the blend is always there. It isn't that the music is preachy... it's joy-filled acoustic gospel from a variety of genres, including old-timey, country blues gospel, spirituals, Shaker hymns, southern gospel, bluegrass, camp-ground music, etc.... a lot of it is not what you would usually find done in the context of a service... if you think of the gospel material included in a bluegrass concert, for example, what we have done is take that humble and personal outpouring from the concert hall into the church, to do church in a different way.

Your question makes me think that I need to sit down and really write a piece about this for church folks.

Dang.

I gotta think about this some more. If you think a Sing Out! piece should include much in this vein, please be in touch further.

Dang. I see a project here, and I thought I knew what my summer plans were.

Dang.

Smacked right upside the head with a holy two by four. I been talking about this in threads for months and didn't see it till you bumped me into it.

I guess you'd have to look at the "Experience of singing Gosepl Music" thread too, or I would.

~Susan (AKA Praise)

motormice@hotmail.com

Dang.