Our summer choir at St. Alban's has been a tremendous experience. Alas, summer is drawing to a close, and it is almost time for us to pause summer choir until next year. I have reflected on how the summer choir has affected me, and I think it is a good starting place as we return to rehearsals for parish choir at the end of this month. Scripture tells us, "Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise." (James 5:13) In my many years of...

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...

This Sunday, our music in worship will have lots of different instruments: organ, piano, flutes, guitar, and handbells. Handbells began in England as practice sets of change ringing bells (think bell towers). The communities around the town church really didn't enjoy hearing the tower ringers practicing all the time, and, in time, ringers figured out they could practice with smaller bells without disturbing neighbors (usually in the pub near the church). We have all experienced the ringing...