To Sing Once More W

elcome to the first ediBon of Centenary's new music and fine arts monthly magazine, Sigh-ngs and Soundings. As we emerge from the pandemic, as we seek beauty in a weary world, as we strain to heal all that has been broken and torn over these years of pain and pesBlence, the need to chronicle, celebrate, and culBvate the richness and vitality of Centenary's music and fine arts tradiBon has never been more urgent.

In these pages, you'll find glimpses of a program being reborn and reimagined. We've welcomed a new Organ Scholar and Music Ministry Assistant. AEer our inaugural summer music camp in August, we now embark on the second season of our growing Children's Music & Arts Night. On September 7, we launch our new Art in the Atrium series and the grand opening of the Atrium Gallery with a presentaBon and installaBon by local painter Steve Childs. The Chancel Choir will soon unveil new robes made possible by the support our general operaBng budget and giEs given to the Sacred Music Fund and new folders made possible by a generous giE from Anne Morgan in memory of her mom and our dear alto Sue Morgan. Read on to learn about the Chancel Choir’s new hub for resources and communicaBons and other events slated for later in 2022.

The Chancel Choir opens our retreat weekend with an anthem whose text by Jonathan Cook captures the essence of the inflecBon point at which we find ourselves:

Awake our souls to sing once more the songs that long have silent been. From troubled nights and fearful days, our notes of praise and joy begin.

Arise, His children, rise again, your God and maker now adore. No longer silent, li@ your voice, awake your souls to sing once more.

In Bmes of turmoil, what choice do we have but to sing praise to God? In Bmes of trouble, where can we turn but to sacred beauty? Let us awaken to the ways God has masterfully woven music and fine arts into the fabric of our souls, that our expression of those giEs might draw us into deeper communion and more profound wholeness.

Let us recommit… To Sing Once More.

Jonathan Emmons Director of Music Ministries