Psalms for All Ages: A 3-Part Series

Psalms for All Ages is a series of seminars to equip pastors, worship leaders and key lay people in planning and leading worship services that minister to congregation members of all ages. Join us for one seminar or more!

This 3-part series will generate a much-needed opportunity to discuss, examine, and learn about inter-generational worship, for the benefit of local churches from a variety of denominations and ethic backgrounds. Through the study of different types of Psalms, we hope to expand the congregation’s repertoire in corporate worship.

FEBRUARY 22 (Part 2 of a 3-part series)

Keynote Speaker: Frank C. Senn

Lecture 1:  The Psalter: A Songbook for all Generations

This lecture will discuss the Book of Psalms as the hymnal of ancient Israel, the songs sung by Jesus, and the use of the Psalter in the history of the Christian Church. It will raise the concern of psalms being banished from contemporary Christian worship by the overuse of hymns and spiritual songs. It will propose that the psalms can be used to bridge the gap between those favoring traditional hymns and those desiring contemporary worship songs and can also be used as a tool to engage all generations in singing the word of God. Pastor Senn will describe various ways in which the psalms are being sung today.

Lecture 2:  Psalms and Processions: Worship in Motion for all Ages

This lecture will propose that our worship has become too stationary and that it fails to engage us bodily because we have become too dependent on printed material or projection screens. It will describe worship in the ancient church as being  ‘in-motion’ as the congregation moved from place to place singing psalms and litanies. Processions, like parades, can engage us bodily and involve all ages in full, active, conscious participation. Pastor Senn will describe some occasions in the church year for which processions while singing psalms are appropriate and also moments in worship services that call for movement of people.

About the Keynote Speaker, Frank C. Senn

Frank C. Senn is a renowned American Lutheran pastor and liturgist, currently Adjunct Professor of the History of Liturgy at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  He recently retired from pastoral ministry, having served 23 years as Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Evanston, Illinois.  He has served as president of both The Liturgical Conference and the North American Academy of Liturgy and was formerly a professor of liturgics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He is author of many books, including Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical (1997), New Creation: A Liturgical Worldview (2000), The People’s Work: A Social History of the Liturgy (2006) and Introduction to Christian Liturgy (2012). Dr. Senn holds B.A. in music from Hartwick College, M.Div. from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies from University of Notre Dame.

WORKSHOPS: Participants will be able to select workshop options upon arrival  

Workshop A: Ways of Singing the Psalms

In this workshop, the following chant traditions will be demonstrated, including Gregorian (simple plainsong), Anglican, metrical psalmody old (Genevan Psalter) and new (the new Presbyterian Hymnal has just come off the press), Gelineau (popularized by Taize), Lutheran psalm tones (Lutheran Book of Worship and Evangelical Lutheran Worship), and Roman Catholic responsorial psalmody.

Workshop B  Pending.

Dates:

*  This program is made possible through a worship renewal grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.

http://www.carey-edu.ca/ai1ec_event/psalms-ages/?instance_id=