Minister of Music and Worship’s Report: Dr. Judy Fiske
The Epiphany Season at Tabernacle is always a busy, artistic time at Tabernacle. This particular Epiphany was also LONG. Easter was April 21 which put Ash Wednesday on March 6 and gave us nine weeks in Epiphany. This year we built a mountain in the sanctuary using a group of very tall ladders and spent the season traveling to that mountaintop to encounter Jesus. The theme song was “We Would See Jesus”, a hymn that was in the 1956 Baptist Hymnal. It was sung or played most Sundays using the original tune and several other interesting tunes. We began working our way through the gospel of Matthew. We began with The story of the Wise Men and ended with the transfiguration of Jesus. Music was led by the Sanctuary Choir, our two older children’s choirs and our youth worship ensemble.
The Ash Wednesday service was a somber reminder of our humanity and the fact that our lives are fleeting. Our Lenten theme song was “I Shall Not Want” by Audrey Assad. It was sung every week by different people in the congregation. The passages in Matthew were of the parables which led to much interesting and challenging preach. The worship installation consisted of circles which were painted to express the message of each parable. They were hung in front of the pulpit and were then moved to a large apparatus hanging from the ceiling each. Many thanks are due to Jay Hartman who helped design the apparatus and to the various groups of people who worked on making and painting the circles.
The Sanctuary Choir, Children’s Choirs and Youth Worship Ensemble spent much of Lent preparing music for Holy Week. Many thanks are due to our dedicated and talented musicians of all ages.
