This short canon by psalmist Richard Bruxvoort Colligan is based on Psalm 85:5. It can be used as a psalm refrain, a prayer song, a Gospel Acclamation, or an invitation into spaces of discernment, listening, and centering.
The piece can be sung with or without accompaniment but a steady rhythmic pulse is essential.
"Let me listen God is speaking peace."
Richard's music is licensed through CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you print the text or music for your community.
Find sheet music on Richard's PsalmImmersion website. Here is a video of the song from Richard's album Shout for Joy:
This short song by psalmist Richard Bruxvoort Colligan is a personal and corporate invitation to stewardship of our lives, our time, and the resources we have been given. Richard teaches the piece through call and echo, lining out each line of the song until the group feels ready to sing it from beginning to end.
The song would be suitable for seasons of discipleship and stewardship. It can be sung a cappella or accompanied by guitar or keyboard.
"To be faithful with what I've been given
To be faithful with who I am
To be faithful with how I am living
I (we) pray to be faithful.
To be faithful with what we've been given
To be faithful with who we are
To be faithful with how we are living
We pray to be faithful."
Richard's music is licensed via CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you plan to print the text or music for your community.
Sheet music and a recording are available on Richard's website.
Here is a video of the song.
Based on Ephesians 3:20, this tender prayer song by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan invites space for prayer requests to be spoken aloud or sung by the community.
After the refrain is taught and begins to deepen, you can transition to an instrumental vamp (or drone, if sung unaccompanied) during which a leader can invite petitions. When the group is ready to move on, the leader sing the phrase, 'Hear, oh, hear our prayer' to signal a return to the refrain, or 'Amen' to conclude.
"More than we can ask,
More than we can ask,
More than we can ask or imagine.
Hear, oh, hear our prayer. Amen."
Richard's music is licensed via CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you print the text or music for your community.
Sheet music is available for purchase on Richard's website. The song is also published in the songbook Sing Prayer and Praise.
This song was composed by Amy McCreath, who now serves as the Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, MA. It has become a sort of Music that Makes Community anthem because of its simple but powerful lyrics and easily taught (and harmonized) melody.
Based on a the final line of the poem The Wild Geese by Wendell Berry, it can be shared in a variety of contexts, within and outside faith communities.
"What we need is here."
The Rev. McCreath has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without restrictions. She simply asks you properly acknowledge the author of the tune and text.
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress.
Here's a video of Paul Vasile leading What We Need Is Here at a Music That Makes Community workshop at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.
This Eucharistic response by psalmist and singer-songwriter Richard Bruxvoort Colligan invites the community to partake in the bread and wine. It's a straightforward melody that can be taught phrase by phrase through call and echo patterns.
"The gifts of God for the people of God,
Come now for all is prepared.
The gifts of God for the people of God,
The Gospel is among us.
Richard's music is licensed via CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you plan to print the text or music for your community.
You can hear a recording of The Gifts of God on Richard's website.
Here is a video of the song.
Tar a thighearna is a beautiful Gaelic chant by singer and composer Ruth Cunningham. Translated "Come, Lord, come thou Being," the piece is a powerful invocation and useful for centering/gathering, prayers, and times when a gentle, focused energy is needed.
The text and the melody can be learned through call and echo. Take your time and repeat passages that need extra care, especially those with ornamentation. Invite improvised harmony when the community is ready.
Gaelic:
Tar a thighearna.
Pronunciation: tahr ah hear-nah, tahr-ah-hee
English translation:
Come, Lord, come thou Being.
Ruth has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without copyright restrictions.
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress. It also appeared in Music By Heart, MMC's first collection of paperless music.
Ruth and Ana Hernández recorded the song on Blessed By Light. Here's a link to a recording of Emily Scott teaching the song, then offering suggestions for how to lead it without paper.
Watch Rachel Kroh lead Tar a thighearna at Union Seminary in September 2015:
This joyful sending song was composed by Pastor Chad McKenna at a Music That Makes Community workshop in Chicago. The text is based on the Canticle of Simeon from Luke 2 and invites us to name the ways we have experienced God's salvation with all our senses.
The piece can be taught phrase by phrase using call and echo patterns. Notice the third line changes for each verse. Some leaders sing that alone, then invite the group to respond affirmatively with the final phrase. A more advanced technique is calling out the upcoming text (singing or speaking several beats ahead), essentially feeding the group the new words while they sing.
"Send now your servants, send now your servants,
Send now your servants, Lord.
Our eyes have seen salvation here.
Send now your servants, Lord."
Additional verses:
"Our tongues have tasted salvation here...
Our ears have heard salvation here...
God has given salvation here..."
Chad has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without copyright restrictions.
You can find sheet music for Send Now Your Servants here.
Psalm 141 is commonly used during Vespers or Evening Prayer. This setting by psalmist and singer-songwriter Richard Bruxvoort Colligan invites the community to sing a refrain which alternates with solo verses.
Use call and echo patterns to teach the refrain phrase by phrase. Weave them together when the community is ready and proceed right into the psalm setting without breaking the flow.
Refrain:
Our breath is incense, sweet smell rising.
Our hands are open, lifted up in the evening.
Verse 1:
I call out to you Come and hear me
Give ear to my voice, my God, and quickly. Refrain
Verse 2
Watch the door of my mouth for integrity
Guard my lips and keep my heart from turning. Refrain
Verse 3
Let the elders guide and correct my way
Keep my words and actions true I pray. Refrain
Verse 4
Watch the farmer's plow turn the blessed earth
Bones of death and signs of rising birth. Refrain
Verse 5
You are the earth, I am a seed
Hide me, grow me, love and never leave me. Refrain
Richard's music is licensed via CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you print the text or music for your community.
Sheet music and a recording are available on Richard's website.
This is a mass composed by Daniel Schwandt in honor of Scott Weidler when he left his position as cantor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago, IL in 2014.
Here are the sections of this Mass:
Kyrie - simple melody
This is the Feast - call and response
I Saw the Water Flowing - simple melody (repeated with cantor part)
Gospel Acclamation - Alleluia - simple melody
Holy - echo
Lamb of God - layered (with cantor part)
Thankful Hearts and Voices Raise - (call and response, solo verse with refrain)
This expressive melody by Pakistani composer R.F. Liberius invites us into communal grief and lament. The tune can be taught through call and echo, with hand motions providing direction, as well as invitation into the swoops and slides that are an essential part of the musical style. Listen to the recordings below for guidance in pronouncing the Urdu text.
The song can be used in many different contexts: during Advent or Lent, in interfaith or ecumenical worship gatherings, as well as in liturgies centered around themes of justice, peace, and reconciliation.
It can be sung unaccompanied or with a drone instrument (like a shruti box).
Urdu:
Khudaya rahem kar.
Masii haa rahem kar.
Khudaya rahem kar."
Singing Translation:
"Have mercy on us, Lord.
Have mercy on us, Christ.
Have mercy on us, Lord."
Copyright for the piece is held by GIA Publications, Inc. so you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.
Sheet music is published in the Iona Community's songbook Love and Anger, and it also appears in several songbooks and hymnals.
Here is a video of Scott Weidler teaching the song at our Music that Makes Community Presenters' Retreat at Holy Cross Monastery:
Here is a recording from Sing with the World: Global Songs for Children, compiled by John Bell and Alison Adam.