Introduction of the Diekmann Recipient

Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Donnella II

Joseph Donnella is Chaplain (emeritus) and Adjunct Professor at Gettysburg College

Melva Wilson Costen, PhD was born in 1933. Now retired, she was Professor of Worship and Music, Choral Director, and Chair of the Church Music Program at ITC—the Interdenominational Center in Atlanta, GA. She has also served as Visiting Professor of Liturgical Studies at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT.

Melva’s arrangements—recognized by the Hymn Society of America—include:

Balm in Gilead

Go Down Moses

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Let Us Break Bread Together

Upon the Mountains When My Lord Spoke

Chariot Rode on the Mountain Top

Were You There?

You’ll Hear the Trumpet Sound

Melva—wise, gracious, welcoming—curious, seeking to make connections— lover of the cultures of African Americans, Africans, and other world cultures.

On my first visit to the North American Academy of Liturgy in the late 1990’s, Dr. Melva Costen shared her ponderings, her research, but most of all her heart and mind. She welcomed me as she has welcomed so many others. Her smile and that winsome voice declaring: I’m so glad you’re here. I have heard also from peers whilst serving at another historic HBCU that Melva welcomes all her students with gracious expressions of gladness mixed with curiosity and delight.

As she focused on remembering—anamnesis—reminding those of us within the African American Seminar on Liturgy and Culture that there is much work to do, much work that still needs to be done, as we share how the history and culture of a people whose understanding of their solidarity “in Jesus the Christ is uniquely expressed in suffering and struggle.” Melva shows us transcendence—how “suffering and struggle” allowed free expression can eventually give sway to joy. Melva testifies that the light and radiant depths of African American gospel witness must be shared with all the world.

Her work African American Christian Worship, first published in 1993, continues to be a primary source for understanding how African religious taproots continue, despite centuries of colonization and enslavement, despite practices legal and religious that designated human beings as property, even though baptism and holy communion were understood to be deep symbols of freedom and belonging. Melva documents what at the time of her writing was available to be documented—all the while seeking to recover kinship—more recently expressed as “Ubuntu” (I am, because we are.).

For contemporary liturgical theologians, pastors, musicians, and the baptized people of God who gather in the name of Jesus the Messiah, we are glad to say, “We are, because she is.”

And, she has been giving, remembering, tracing connections, all the while reminding us that worship practices encompass far more than simply the ‘words on a page” or the arrangements of a musical composition or score. Where worship is real, God’s spirit is evidenced.

Time cannot bind us when we remember the past and the future to which God calls us. So, Melva Wilson Costen, we thank you, for sharing your gifts, your heart and mind and soul, your love and curiosity—but most of all your kinship.

And we would be remiss if we did not also thank your family: your beloved husband James Hutten Costen, who has joined the communion of saints, whom when you spoke of him, you reminded us that his was a Black liturgical tradition that also desired faithful expression of confessional roots; we also thank your children: James Jr., Craig Lamont, and Cheryl Leatrice; and your grandchildren: Josef, Erica, Jordan, Zetter IV, Takara, and Maranda; and finally, we thank all your students, fellows, and friends—for sharing you with us.

We would also be remiss if we did not acknowledge Dr. Ouida Harding, who oversees the Interdenominational Center in Atlanta that now promotes Dr. Costen’s work. Ouida accompanied Melva’s daughter Cheryl providing assistance and support as they made their sojourn from Atlanta to Toronto. Thank you both for making it possible for members of the academy to once again be together in person.

The North American Academy of Liturgy Presents the