wfn.org | UCC dedicates new 'Sing! Prayer and Praise' songbook

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

UCC dedicates new 'Sing! Prayer and Praise' songbook

> Written by J. Bennett Guess

Celebrating the culmination of four years of work, the UCC's national
staff dedicated the denomination's new expansive-language "Sing!
Prayer and Praise" song book at its fall all-staff day in Cleveland.
The morning service marked the beginning of a day of volunteering at
work sites throughout the city as a commemoration of the 20th
anniversary of the UCC national setting's 1989 move to Cleveland.

"We send it into the world!" said the Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, general
minister and president, as he presided over a litany of dedication for
the song book with about 200 staff members crowded into the
first-floor Amistad Chapel. "We pray in hopes that 'Sing!' will be a
continued source of inspiration to many."

"A true labor of love is a true labor in community," said the Rev.
Kimberly Whitney, minister for community life at the UCC's Church
House, after recognizing staff who had shared various roles in the
planning, production, publication and promotion of the book. Whitney
paid special tribute to the leadership of the Rev. Scott A. Ressman,
the UCC's minister for worship, music and liturgical arts, who edited
the project and convened its advisory team.

The 217-song collection includes music of praise that encompasses
traditional religious vocabulary but also explore non-traditional,
contemporary religious images, said the Rev. Susan A. Blain, minister
for worship and spiritual formation and a member of song book's advisory team.

"Praise music is a memorable, melody-based composition that is
musically accessible without being simplistic," Blain said, reading
from the advisory team's 2007 statement that guided their work.
Singing at the dedication was led by Amanda Powell, music director for
the contemporary Alive360 worship service at Federated UCC in Chagrin
Falls, Ohio.

Created in response to a 2005 General Synod resolution calling for a
church-wide praise song book, a diverse group of musicians, pastors
and theologians were given the task of bringing the project to life.
Initially, a contest was held to generate interest in the song book,
with two songs -- "Hush" by James F.D. Martin and "You Are" by Mark
Unbehagen -- selected as winners. Over a two-year period, hundreds of
songs were evaluated, both from previously published sources and new
submissions. More than 100 of the songs have not been published previously.

"These are praise and worship songs that speak to the covenantal
values of the United Church of Christ, along with attention to
expansive language and theological challenge and depth," Ressman said
at the time of the song book's unveiling at General Synod 2009 in
Grand Rapids, Mich.

"Sing! Prayer and Praise" is not intended to replace The New Century
Hymnal, or any hymnal used by UCC congregations, Ressman said, but has
been produced to supplement and strengthen music already being used in worship.

Individual copies of "Sing! Prayer and Praise" are available for $15.
An accompaniment edition for $75 will be available and shipped in
mid-November.