Montclair Presbyterian Church

At Session last night, among other decisions you’ll read about below, the Session members voted to move forward with the adoption of a full set of new hymnals. The giver has chosen to remain anonymous, but let’s give up a big prayer of gratitude for such a wonderful, generous gift!

I’m not sure how long it will take for us to get the order in and for them to ship them, so once again we will practice some patience as the process unfolds. But as we wait, let’s have some fun together. I’d like to challenge you all to a game of hymnal-exploration. Both now as we continue to use the blue hymnals, and later this summer when the purple hymnals arrive, let’s sing some of our favorite songs together. I will be making up a Song Request form, and you can consider this your way of playing the ecclesiastical jukebox… with a twist. The twist, of course, is that we want to know more than just the name and number of your request. We want to know why you love this song, or where you first heard it, or what your favorite lyrics are. Share something about yourself, perhaps something about your faith, or something about your life story. It doesn’t have to be a hymnal song, but one that is appropriate for Celebration. When you’ve made your choice and written a bit about it, put the form in the offering plate and it will go into the jukebox. Ben and I will choose them at random, but will have a bit of discretion in that we will try to coordinate the song choice with the theme in each Celebration service. I know some of you will try to play “stump the band,” and we will certainly take that challenge as well, but it might take us longer to work the challenges in.

The idea for this actually came out of a meeting with youth group members. We usually have 2 to 4 youth group members present in church on Sunday mornings, but they are different youth from week to week… so one came up with the idea of focusing our attention on one Sunday per month (the first Sunday – communion Sunday). Maybe the youth could have leadership roles, we said… ushering? Serving communion? Giving the Birthday announcement? And later we had another idea – what about helping to pick the hymns? THAT was a coveted role, snagged immediately by Claire Kelly who will give us the first song suggestions to go in the jukebox.

I realized it was such a good idea that the adults and children would want “in” on it too. So while we will have Youth Choice Hymns on the first Sunday of every month, adults and children of any age can put your requests in whenever you want to, and we will incorporate those in Celebration on other weeks. Look for the hot pink forms in the back of the Sanctuary any time. And let’s celebrate our favorite music together!

Every Blessing,
Talitha

Have you taken a look at the new purple hymnals? You may have seen Celebration Committee members lending them out to others in Family Hour, or you may have taken the time to attend one of our sing-along sessions after Celebration. We have been in ongoing discussion, both in Session and Celebration Committee, and in the wider congregation, for more than a year now; we have copied some of its songs to sample in our worship, and we have read various articles which speak about the diverse theology included in the songs in the hymnal (you can find them here: http://presbyterianhymnalproject.com/resources.html). It seems to be a blessedly non-controversial decision, with a wide range of people expressing interest and enthusiasm, and some so enthusiastic that they have (anonymously and spontaneously) pledged the entire cost will be covered! Session will consider the hymnals at their next meeting, so we ask you to bring any additional comments and thoughts to staff or session members this week.

The process of considering the hymnals started early last year. I first got my hands on one at a Presbyterian Church Educators conference in San Jose, where the PCOCS (pronounced “peacocks” – the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song) presented the brand-new hymnals and led us in singing from them. My mother’s congregation ordered theirs right away – they decided to buy it even before it had been published – and so they started singing from them early on. I texted my mom a few weeks into the process asking whether her congregation liked them so far, and she texted back “LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!” Given that my mother has a simple phone and usually texts without even using punctuation, her use of capitalization made a serious impression on me. But as I continued to look at the new hymnal, I came to love it too. It’s more diverse, more exhaustive, and more inclusive, and it has some really fun “oldies” in the mix. I’m happy to talk with anyone about what the new hymnal would mean for us, as I think it will truly enrich and enliven our music in many ways over the next decade or two. But I would like to take a moment first to talk about what it would NOT mean for us, and perhaps alleviate some fears, or dash some false hopes – so please bear with me.

• Getting a new hymnal does not mean we will stop singing anyone’s favorite hymns. We found that almost all of our favorites are included in the new hymnal, but we can also photocopy any that didn’t make the cut.
• Getting a new hymnal does not mean we are making a change in our musical philosophy. We are always striving to find the right mix of songs, and Ben, Kim, Marcia and I work together with the Celebration Committee to build services that are meaningful, beautiful, and fun.
• Getting a new hymnal doesn’t mean we will stop using non-hymnal songs. We hope it will reduce the frequency with which we photocopy outside songs, but our expansive style will not be contained in any one book, no matter how many pages it has. I’d especially like to appreciate Kim and the work she does to bring us sacred music from other faith traditions, and tunes from the holy liturgies of Broadway musicals and folk song.
• Getting a new hymnal will never solve our problems of disagreement about musical styles. Some of us love Bach, and some love Taizé; some of us are feeling groovy with Simon & Garfunkel while others rock out to OneDirection. Every once in a while, each one of us has to grit our teeth to get through someone else’s favorite song; this gracious forbearance is part of who we are as a diverse congregation.
• Finally, getting a new hymnal will not save us… nor will it ruin us. The hymnal question is small potatoes when you compare it to the work we need to do as a church, to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, to stand for justice, and to be the community God has called us to be. I hope we can all keep it in perspective as we seek to be God’s people together.

Every Blessing,
Talitha

I promised an ongoing series about the aspects of my job at MPC that will change when I get ordained. And one of these changes has already started – but as we go on, I know the process will continue and accelerate. That is my responsibility for participating in the wider ministry of the church, and particularly in the Presbytery of San Francisco.

I began attending presbytery meetings earlier this year, and to those of you who don’t speak all the lingo yet, “presbytery” is the regional gathering of elders – both Teaching Elders (TE’s, in wide variety but mostly including pastors, chaplains, and other professional ministers), and Ruling Elders (RE’s, our session members and those who are called to ministry on a non-professional basis). Presbytery meets about 5 times a year for fellowship and worship and business. They are both a community of support, and a set of accountability partners who hold us to our responsibilities to God’s call in our area, and to the wider church. You may know that our friend the Rev. Vince Mok is now the vice-moderator of SF Presbytery, so he is in the midst of it all.

I know there will be a lot to do as I become more active in Presbytery. What I have done already is to attend a presbytery training called “Gracious Leadership,” which took place over the last 5 weeks of Wednesday mornings, and finished today. It was a wonderful class and I will in turn become an enthusiastic recruiter, recommending YOU take it, if you have the opportunity, when it returns this fall. It is helpful for anyone working or hoping to work in multi-cultural ministry, and if you want to know more, you can borrow my copy of the book “The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb” by Eric Law.

One of the principles of our training was the concept of the “Cycle of Gospel Living.” Too often the Christian message is reduced to a simple message: “You humans are proud and sinful, and need to humble yourself before God.” This can be helpful in certain cases, but it neglects the other side of the story: the God who, as the Psalmist says, “raises the poor from the ash heap and sets them with princes” (Ps 113:7-8). Those who have power need to become humble, and those who have been humiliated need to be empowered. But once being empowered, they will need to become humble again in new situations, and then empowered, and so on, in a cycle.

Our training brought together traditionally powerful people and those who have been disempowered. I was actually recruited because they needed more white people! The native English speakers were narrowly outnumbered by native Spanish speakers in our group, many of whom come from the church we are partnering with to care for the Ordoñez family, PIPH (Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana). We had a lot of talented interpreters, and we used non-verbal communication in some ways as well. Using different tools, we studied scripture together, talked about culture, shared life stories, and worked to become more empowered or more humble, and to keep that cycle moving.

As I become more active in the work of our presbytery, I hope to share in more trainings like this, and to partner with the excellent work being done in other congregations. It is my hope that doing so will enrich and instruct what we do at MPC as well.

Every Blessing,
Talitha