Sing a Joyful Song Before the Lord—Tips for Starting Your New Music Year

Educators and church musicians have two chances to begin a new year with energy and resolve: one is in January when the rest of the world is making high-minded resolutions, and the other is now, in August, when a new season is offering new opportunities, new challenges, and, above all, lots of potential!

King David can even help launch this midyear new year:

Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break out in praise and sing for joy!
Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song,
with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!

—Psalm 98:4–6 (NLT)

Why is this “new year” a cause for special celebration? First, your congregation, your musicians, and you are hopefully coming back together after a summer of delights and distractions. Now is the time when there can be renewed energy and spiritual vitality. The opportunity you have to engage and energize is seldom more potent. Here are some ideas:

Set the tone and the pace for the year in the first moments of the first rehearsals

• Send a “save the date” for the first rehearsals and follow it up with personal contacts
• Be ready to go at the first rehearsal before your musicians arrive
• Be genuinely excited to see people and welcome them back
• Welcome new people and help them meet others in the choir or team
• Make sure the rehearsal space and the music are well organized and inviting
• Hit the ground running with warm-ups, a prayer of thanksgiving, and several interesting and engaging pieces of music—a representative sample of what’s to come from the first Sunday of the fall to Advent and Christmas
• Distribute a printed schedule of services and rehearsals as far out as you can plan; let your people know their investment of time and ability is valued and will be well curated

Invest the same kind of energy and attention in worship planning

• Take advantage of the “new” year to introduce any changes in the order and items of worship, making sure the congregation (and the worship leaders) understand the reasons for the changes
• Select the opening hymn or song of every service in the spirit of Psalm 98, one that invites the congregation to join in active, enthusiastic praise of God. I personally love The Old Rugged Cross or Nearer, My God, to Thee—but not as the opening processional hymn. (Yes, it has happened.)

• Make sure the choir or worship team is as well rehearsed in the music the congregation will be singing as they are in their own standalone selections
• Stress the importance of eye contact, posture, and facial expressions in communicating the message of the texts and in truly leading the congregation in worship

As you plan the music for worship, be conscious not only of the theme and focus of each service and of the times and seasons of the church year, but also of the range of ages, experiences, and traditions represented in your congregation.

• Select the very best music you can from an ever-broadening range of styles and genres
• Visualize members of your congregation as you consider different types of music. Who will joyfully embrace that style and who will need some help to grow into it?
• “Find the fences.” Pay attention to when you might be pushing the comfort zone of your congregation with a new piece or a new style. Then, plan accordingly. No one likes to be blindsided in worship, but few people will be totally impervious to challenges and changes if there is adequate, careful planning and preparation.

More than anything, make sure your congregation is engaged in making music and in active worship. A congregation in a mid-sized city was thought by many both locally and in the diocese to be virtually dead. People were discouraged, argumentative, and tired. A new music director was appointed. He immediately began to nurture a Psalm 98 attitude, beginning with the choir. Gradually a change was in the wind. As the choir came back to life, the congregation began to respond. The Holy Spirit became more and more evident in their worship. To everyone’s surprise, several young adults began coming and, as they did, the music director was generous in exploring their talents and interests. He began including them in worship leadership with long-time saints on a regular basis. The congregation has recently adopted a smaller neighboring congregation, itself on life support, and the result is that a once dreary church with a few dozen dutiful worshipers has transformed into a vibrant community of nearly 150 each Sunday. Who brought about the change? The Holy Spirit. What helped to ignite the change? Inviting the congregation into active, engaged participation.

The biblical command is clear: “Shout to the Lord all the earth. Break out in praise and sing for joy!” This “new” year offers you the opportunity to pray, plan, and roll up your sleeves! The people you lead will reflect back to you what they see in you. Your congregation will reflect back the energy, commitment, faith, and joy they see from the choir and worship team. A surprising number of people in a weary and confused world, many of them young, are looking at Christians and asking, “Is there anything to this Jesus?” Now is not the time for a half-hearted launch of just another season. Celebrate and claim the potential of this new year by taking up the challenge David has thrown down in the psalm and “make a joyful symphony before the Lord the King!”

Happy New Year!