Diversity in Worship

I have been at St. Alban's for almost three months now, and I have been encouraged by our desires for diversity. Intergenerational worship studies, StAART, La Escuelita, and our partnership with Gethsemane, among others. I believe our worship should reflect that same level of diversity. In a 1962 speech, Martin Luther King famously said, 

"We must face the sad fact that at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning when we stand to sing 'In Christ there is no East or West,' we stand in the most segregated hour of America."

It is still true that not only our congregations are segregated, but our worship music is also segregated.  If we want to address diversity in our churches, we should ensure that even our worship is diverse.  This Sunday, we will have a bit of a "liturgical dynamism." We will incorporate various ages singing two pieces with the summer choir . These two pieces are miles apart in terms of chronology and lived experience.

Praise His Holy Name is written by African- American composer, Keith Hampton. This upbeat tune weaves in familiar hymn tunes with a rousing refrain. 

At the ministration of communion, we will be singing a piece that is hundreds of years old. Ave Verum Corpus was written by Mozart less than six months before his death in 1791.

Worship this week will not be a multi-ethnic service, but it does crack the door to acknowledge the diversity in the body of Christ which the Apostle Paul writes about in the book of I Corinthians. I hope you will invite friends and neighbors to experience this diversity in worship.