DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to provide students with an overview of worship music that is available and appropriate for use in services designed to follow the liturgical calendar and worship designed for special pastoral occasions (weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc.). Under consideration will be music from traditional hymnody, choral repertoire, as well as music from the "contemporary music" corpus. The course will teach students both about the wealth of material available and about how to do theological and liturgical analysis of songs and hymns in order to make proper musical selections regarding ensemble and congregational song for worship occasions.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: There is an increasing concern among evangelical churches to return to certain traditions of the Christian church. Among these is the use of the liturgical calendar. Knowledge of the historic development of the church calendar, how to design worship that corresponds to it, and to special pastoral occasions is critical to those involved in worship and music ministries in today's church.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The goals for this course are that students will (1) learn how to shape worship according to the liturgical calendar and the special needs of occasional services, (2) acquire evaluation skills (liturgical and theological) for determining appropriate use of music in worship, and (3) be spiritually prepared for ministries relating to the use of music in worship.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet once each week for two-hour sessions. There will be reading assignments, lecture, group assignments, as well as tools designed to encourage personal spiritual growth. The grade for the course will be based on understanding of reading and lecture materials, active discussion participation, responsible participation in group assignments, as well as written and research assignments.

REQUIRED READING/OBSERVATION:

Stookey, Laurence Hull. Calendar: Christ's Time for the Church. Abingdon, 1996 (185 pages). ISBN-10: 0687011361; ISBN-13: 978-0687011360. $22.00.

The Covenant Hymnal: A Worshipbook. Covenant Publications, 1996 (selected portions). ISBN-10: 0910452806; ISBN-13: 978-0910452809 (Available for various prices).

Course Reader (250 pages).

1. reading and lecture material (25%);

2. a research project in which each student does liturgical and theological analysis of contemporary worship songs to determine their potential for relating to the church year or occasional services (50%); and

3. a final creative project relating to the appropriate use of music on a given occasion (25%).