Richmond, Virginia
2022
To promote a deep understanding of how pipe organs can be used to lead, accompany, and inspire the community to sing by hosting four worship festivals that explore musical and liturgical territory not typically associated with the organ.
Summarize your grant project and how it will address a need in your worshiping community.
With the arrival of a new pipe organ in an already thriving worship environment, we plan to implement a project that widens the seminary community's musical connection to worship in order to promote a deep understanding of how pipe organs can be used to lead, accompany, and inspire the community to sing. In order to do this, we will host four major worship events with guest musical leadership, sharing with the community the diverse capabilities of a pipe organ in worship.
What two questions might you ask about worship in the coming year that will generate theological reflection and shape your project?
What are ways that this new instrument is surprising us in our worship experiences? How do we feel that the organ is affecting all areas of worship: sacraments, proclamation of the word, prayer, confession, hymnody, psalmody?
How will your project impact the worship life and habits of the congregation?
The need to sing together is so very strong right now. It is the thing that was missing during the seminary's year of online learning, and the 2021-2022 school year has been a year of singing with caution and some trepidation. There is a deep need to worship the living God by hearing the sounds of our neighbors' voices blending with our own, and the arrival of a new pipe organ–an instrument that supports its sound with moving air, just like a singer–promises to bring vitality and breadth to the seminary's worship experience.
What might be your greatest challenges (or challenging opportunities)?
The vast majority of music written for the pipe organ was written by white males. The overwhelming majority of organ builders have been and are white males. As the seminary grapples with issues of white supremacy and systemic racism, a new worship instrument that has such strong European roots poses a challenge for us. Casting the pipe organ as an instrument that can support a wide variety of musical genres is no small challenge, but that challenge was the inspiration for this grant.
What do you hope to learn from the Grants Event and other grant recipients?
There are so many interesting stories of worship communities rising from the ashes right now. I look forward to hearing about other grants, to be sure, but I also look forward to hearing how worship communities are finding little ways to thrive right now.