wfn.org | 'Nashville Jubilee' planned for music, worship leaders

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 8, 1999	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{071}

NOTE:  A logo is available for use with this story. Also, the spelling of
Wildhorse is correct.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - More than 500 lay people and clergy, volunteers
and professionals, singers, accompanists, writers, preachers, dancers,
artists and others will gather this summer with one common goal: to enrich
worship throughout the church.

The biennial convocation, sponsored by the Fellowship of United Methodists
in Music and Worship Arts, will be held July 8-13 under the banner
"Nashville Jubilee: A Sacred Celebration."

The theme emerged from a devotion given during a meeting of the group, said
Debi Tyree, chairperson of the convocation design team. "We were moved by
the Old Testament story of jubilee as found in Leviticus. As we approach the
millennium, we thought it important to go back to see what jubilee meant." 

Worship during the convocation will look at the Old Testament understanding
of jubilee and will move through the event to New Testament understandings,
she added. One class will explore Jewish ritual as a way of helping
participants understand what jubilee meant. 

Tyree recently joined the staff of the United Methodist Publishing House in
Nashville as a music editor, after 22 years of local church music
experience.  

The Nashville convocation will be the 24th such event since the fellowship
was formed in 1956. Today the organization has more than 2,100 members, is
affiliated with the churchwide Board of Discipleship, and has offices at the
United Methodist Publishing House. David Bone moved from part-time to
full-time administrator Jan. 1. President of the organization is the Rev.
Fred Lewis of Clear Lake, Iowa.

Unlike most  previous convocations, the Nashville event will not be held on
a college or university campus. Participants will stay at the Holiday Inn
Vanderbilt, and large gatherings will be held at West End United Methodist
Church nearby. The date itself is also a departure from tradition. The event
will begin on a Thursday and end on a Tuesday, rather than the
Monday-through-Friday schedule of the past. Tyree said this change was made
so that employed people will not miss as much work and to reduce air travel
expenses, which are often less when a Saturday night stay is involved.

Plans call for participants to "work hard but have fun," Tyree said. Since
Nashville is a popular tourist destination, convocation participants will
have a free afternoon to explore the city. They will be able to learn
line-dancing from a choreographer at the popular Wildhorse Saloon and
worship in the Egyptian Revival setting of historic Downtown Presbyterian
Church, which served as a hospital during the Civil War. 

In a special effort to attract youth, Tyree said a reduced registration fee
is being offered to young people. "This is our gift as a fellowship to
them," she said. 

On the eve of Nashville Jubilee, July 8, a kickoff event will feature a
concert by the  Southeastern Jurisdiction Youth choir and an ice-cream
social hosted by the United Methodist Publishing House. John Yarrington,
minister of music at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock,
Ark., will direct the auditioned choir of young singers, who will be touring
the nine-state southeastern region of the church in July to promote church
music for youth. United Methodist-related Brevard (N.C.) College is
sponsoring the choir as part of its new educational focus on church music
for undergraduate students.

As in the past, the convocation will offer opportunities to hear and sing a
wide selection of choral music and experience innovative worship. Class
sessions will include topics such as choral directing, organ, dance, hand
bells, drama, children and youth, worship and spirituality, contemporary
worship, multicultural worship and worship arts. 

An organ recital will be given by Marilyn Keiser, professor of music at
Indiana University in Bloomington. The final day of the convocation will
feature a small masterwork performed by a choir of participants conducted by
Robert Harris, a faculty member at the School of Music at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill., and a hymn festival led by John Ferguson,
professor of organ and church music and cantor to the student congregation
at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. Speakers will include the Rev. Tex
Sample, who teaches at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo.

Tyree said the convocation will offer something for everyone, regardless of
their level of  training or experience. The Nashville-based United Methodist
Publishing House will offer the largest display of music and worship
resources ever at a fellowship convocation.

For more information, call (800) 952-8977, send an e-mail to fummwa@aol.com
or visit the fellowship's Web site: http://members.aol.com/fummwa/fummwa.htm

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