Worship Arts July August September 2022

We need to take our vocation to places beyond the safety of our sanctuaries.

cians need to be more musically nimble and liturgically informed and flexible than ever before. But I think that our preoccupation with the diversity of musical styles masks a bigger change – that is, the Christian church is often losing its place at the hub of the spiritual and artistic life of the community, losing its role as a place of intersection between daily commerce and holy busi ness. In order to love God and love our neighbor, we can no longer run music and arts departments only within the church; we also need to take our vocation to places beyond the safety of our sanctuaries into the spaces where people suffer, struggle, and play and pros per. Many of these people may never enter our doors unless we come to them – a missional ministry. What would happen if Matthew 25 appeared on the walls of our choir rooms as our “mission statement”: I was hungry. I was thirsty. I was a stranger. I needed clothes. I was sick. I was in prison. Playing with fire Returning to our original assertion: We are in a dangerous business. We are playing with fire – the fire of that spark that has been placed in us, and the risk that we must take to let the Holy Spirit breathe life-giving oxygen into us so that the flame cannot be extinguished. I sometimes ask my students a very chal lenging question: What would your ministries look like if your activities were divided between the sanctuary where you normally worship and the sanctuaries that you create in the community? What kind of skill sets do you need to minister beyond the edifice we call the church and among those with whom Christ lived and for whom Christ died? I think it is at that point that some find this vocation to be a bit dangerous – danger ous because it challenges the presuppositions that they had about the vocation they have chosen. How about you? Reprinted from WorshipArts , September-October 2016 Fellowship member C. MICHAEL HAWN is the University

Congregation as cathedral R eturning to the long train of organists at York Minister Cathedral, they embodied their vocation in particular ways according to the culture, resources, piety, and politics of their particular situation. I would like to think that the vocational spark that kept them going was nurtured in the sacraments. However, the ways we embody ministry in our “cathedrals” of worship may be much different, and require an even broader skill set – a broader set of skills than many of us received in our formal education. You may not think of your congregation as a cathedral. In the historical sense, your church may not be the “seat of the bishop.” However, because of your leadership, your congregation may function as a cathedral. Cathedrals are often at the center of the spiritual and artistic life of the community. In other words, they are places where daily commerce intersects with holy business; they are places that not only pull the community into a space consecrated to the worship of God, but a cathedral also takes its witness to the heart of the community as an expression of love for our neighbors. I have spent most of my vocation trying to design curricula and create communities of learning that would somehow honor and nurture the vocational spark found in each student, and add to this spark mu sical skills, liturgical experiences, theological insights, and personal awareness to shape and be shaped by places of ministry on the vocational journey. Because of the changing nature of the church and because of the congregations and educational institutions that have shaped me for the last forty years, I can tell you that the call I sense in students is as strong and creative as ever, but the places and nature of service are constantly changing.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church Music and Director of the Doctor of Pastoral Music Program at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He is a recipient of The Fellowship’s Roger Deschner Award (2017). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16 July-August-September 2022 • WorshipArts • umfellowship.org Losing a vital role Much of the focus over the last thirty years has been on the increasing variety of musical styles and forms of worship. It is true that today’s church musi-