Proceedings of the North American Academy of Liturgy 2022

Liturgical Music Convener: Heather Josselyn-Cranson, OSL (hjosselyn@hotmail.com) is the Sister Margaret William McCarthy Endowed Chair of Music at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where she teaches courses in music and religious studies.

Members in Attendance: Carl Bear (on-line), Patrick Evans, Chad Fothergill, Jon Gathje, Kim Harris (on-line), Jonathan Hehn (on-line), Alan Hommerding, Heather Josselyn-Cranson, Swee-Hong Lim (on-line), Jason McFarland, Michael McMahon, Mario Pierson, Paul Westermeyer (on-line).

Visitors in Attendance: Kristian Kohler, Andrew Stoebig, John Weit, J.J. Wright.

Description of Work: The Liturgical Music Seminar learned about the process behind the creation of two new hymnals, the ELCA supplement All Creation Sings and the Mennonite hymnal Voices Together. We spoke with Swee-Hong Lim, the author of a chapter about musicologist and hymn-writer I-to Loh in an upcoming book Doing Liturgical Theology. We discussed two new studies: an exploration of music and theology in the Emerging Church and a survey of the use of organ preludes in Presbyterian worship. Finally, we continued work on an ecumenical theology of liturgical music that the seminar intends to publish as a joint project.

Papers and Presentations: • Carl Bear and Sarah Kathleen Johnson, “Introducing ‘Voices Together,’ A New Hymnal and Worship Book for Mennonite Churches.”

• Jonathan Hehn, “A Liturgical History of the Organ Prelude in Presbyterian Churches.”

• Heather Josselyn-Cranson, “Music and Theology in the Emerging Church.”

• Jason McFarland, “A Report on Doing Liturgical Theology: Method in Context.”

• John Weit, “Introducing ‘All Creation Sings,’ A Liturgy and Song Supplement from the ELCA.” Other Work and Plans for the Future: We look forward to a presentation by Alan Hommerding on the new edition of Sing With Understanding that he has been editing. We are also considering possible guest speakers or opportunities for visits that will take advantage of our location in Toronto.