WorshipArts Jul Aug Sep 2023

“take the dimness, dimness of my soul away” leapt up from the page. In that moment, I found words to a prayer I didn't know I had. Perhaps I would have found that discovery another time; I can't say. What can be said is the value of time set aside. Lake Junaluska becomes a “thin place” for those who migrate to Music & Worship Arts Week. A “thin place” is a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin. It's a place where we can sense the divine more readily. That time, set aside, where all has been made ready, becomes a deep well which continues to nourish beyond the event.

choral and worship leadership. Returning year after year has been formative in my growing in leadership in music ministry. Returning consistently has another under-appreciated benefit – developing friendships and strengthening relationships as colleagues. Since coming into The United Methodist Church, I have come to appreciate its identity as a connectional church. Conversations with each other in which we share woes, celebrate successes, share ideas, and work out matters of faith and living draw us together in community as we go through the week. It is not unusual for this connection, established at MWAW to extend beyond our stay in the mountains, as we draw from leadership for our events in our churches, collaborative events in our communities, and as we Coming to Music & Worship Arts Week at Lake Junaluska is an investment of time and of money. The return is often intangible, but real. It is a major investment, particularly for churches to bring children or youth. I KNOW that my attendance as a child in my denomination’s Junior and Youth Music Weeks is foundational to my entry into music ministry. I believe it is no accident that each of the four former youth in our church who have recently become pastors or are working in that direction attended MWAW. For other youth, MWAW broadens their perspective, offering experiences beyond what most of us can provide in both choir and in worship in our churches. It also offers us, as their directors, valuable time for conversation and relationship building as we get to know and appreciate them more fully. More recently, as I have gotten to know more of the leadership of The Fellowship, and specifically this event, I have realized that we are a vital part of the church moving forward. cross paths at other events. Worth the Investment

Finding Encouragement I return from events like this re-centered, full of ideas and techniques I intend to incorporate with my choirs. But, the following year when back at MWAW, I have been discouraged at notes from the previous years not read, and intentions not followed. I have sat in rehearsals while appreciating the director’s leadership, feeling my own inadequacy as a director. However, after I had attended MWAW over a number of years, I began to realize that unbeknownst to me, many of the techniques I had experienced were working themselves into the way in which I functioned. I have found this to be true in both my