Category: Music Ministry

Judy Burnette

During the summer, the church choir will be taking a bit of a break from rehearsals each week and helping to lead worship every Sunday. The choir will only sing twice each month, although the specific Sundays the choir sings will vary from month to month. The worship band will be also be leading us in worship a couple of times this summer. On the Sundays that neither the choir nor band will be in worship service, a variety of special music will be offered.

Judy Burnette 

Martin Luther was a man of many gifts. One that people often do not realize was his musical talent. His music background was very strong. He sang in choir and played many instruments. He believed that music was a wonderful way to teach scripture to people so they might better understand its meaning. Martin Luther wrote many hymns. Nearly all of these were based on scripture. His most popular hymn was, A Mighty Fortress.

Martin Luther believed that music during worship, especially congregational singing, was of utmost importance. He considered the only part of worship more important was the Word of God. Martin Luther’s belief in the power of music in worship was shared by other people such as the composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wrote some of the world’s finest sacred choral music. His Cantata No. 80 is based on Martin Luther’s text from A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

Judy Burnette 

It is an exciting time with our choir. We have a couple of changes taking place with our schedule, as well as, the beginning of Christmas Eve preparations.

First of all, our 8:30 a.m. and 11:00a.m. choirs will sing together for two services a month. This will give the congregation more opportunities to enjoy their music, as well as, give the choir more time to sing as one choir.

Here is how it will work. On the second Sunday of the month, the combined choir will sing at the 8:30 a.m. service. Then on the 4th Sunday, they will sing together at the 11:00 a.m. service. The rest of the Sundays will have the same schedule that we have had in the past.

Second, we will begin preparing our Christmas Eve music on Wednesday, October 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the choir room. We will spend the first 40 minutes of each choir rehearsal learning the music. As always, we would love for you to be a part of the fun…even if it is just for these few weeks before Christmas. Hope to see you there!

Judy Burnette

When people think about music instruments used during worship, their thoughts most often turn to the piano and organ. Gradually, acoustic guitars were added as well as drums and tambourines. Church music has continued to evolve using a wide variety of instruments (electric guitars, drum sets, synthesizers) as well as many styles of music. Churches still use organs and pianos, but many have orchestras or “rock” bands.

At St. Philip, we do not have an orchestra, but we are blessed to have many talented people who share their gifts of music by giving us the opportunity to have a wonderful band. We also have those who play other instruments to enhance our worship. Recently our service was a “Celebration of Diversity.” We sang songs from different countries and used a drum ensemble, tambourine, shakers and claves in the accompaniment to enhance the spirit of the music. This may be new for some, but hopefully these are musical sounds that touch your heart.