I've just gotten home from the last day of a conference in Nashville, TN. The picture I've attached will be treasured. It is a picture of John Bell. He is a part of the Iona Community, a noted song writer and director who has traveled the world to teach his simple text and to gather songs from many nations and cultures. He had a hard time getting to the conference. He was stuck in Glasgow because of the volcanic ash until Thursday, but I got to hear his lecture this morning and it was inspiring and informative. He believes the church needs to look for music that can be sung and remembered, not performed.
One of the things he talked about was the way we make our worship more hospitable by singing songs from many cultures. He also mentioned that 60% of the world doesn't have wheat in its diet, so singing about the bread at the table is often not something that computes. He shared a song from Taiwan entitled "The Rice of Life" that challenged me to think more deeply about what is shared at the table.
The rice of life from heavencame to bring true life from God above
Receive this gift, God's mercy claim
in joy and pain give thanks for love.
The music he taught was simple, easy to learn, beautiful to sing. He often used what was called lining in the mountains, where he would sing one verse and the audience would respond.
I've heard familiar speakers at the conference like Jim Wallis of SoJourner fame and William Willamon. And I heard some exciting new voices at this conference for preachers. Lillian Daniel, senior minister of First Congregational Church, UCC, gave an excellent lecture on Reclaiming the Practice of Testimony.
I enjoyed seeing some old friends at the conference and enjoyed spending a little time with our newest ordained minister, Rev. Debby Neal who also attended the conference. All for now. Next week I'll be in North Carolina at a conference looking at worship in the 21 st century being led by Diana Bass.