Christ Is Our Guiding Light was composed by Rev. Eric Law of the Kaleidoscope Institute and works well as a canon or round in 2, 3 or 4 parts. There is also a lovely descant line for a cantor to sing once the group is confident. It could be used as a candle lighting song, for the Passing of Peace, and even in protests and marches.
"Christ is our guiding light:
Come, let us walk in the way of peace."
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress, or in Music By Heart.
Here's a video of Ruth Williamson leading Christ is Our Guiding Light at Music that Makes Community in Los Angeles in October of 2008.
Arise, Shine is a two-part layered song composed by Ruth Cunningham. It's been shared at many MMC workshops and is a wonderful way to introduce your community to paperless singing.
While the text from Isaiah 60 makes it useful for the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6), it could also be used as a sung refrain for the Third Song of Isaiah in the Book of Common Prayer.
"Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the *glory of the Lord has dawned upon you."
*Some leaders in the MMC community substitute 'glory of God'
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, or in Music By Heart.
Here's a video of Emily Scott leading Arise, Shine at one of our first Music that Makes Community workshops at St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in January 2008.
Here's a video of Patrick Evans and Paul Vasile leading an improvised setting of Isaiah 60 from our Music That Makes Community workshop in Ottawa, Canada in August 2011.
Canadian song leader Debbie Lou Ludolph brought this rhythmic, layered Alleluia to the MMC community. Transcribed from a Palestinian source and arranged by John Bell, it can easily be taught without paper.
The structure of the song means you only need to teach two phrases, which can be done through call and echo. It can help to use hand gestures to offer guidance as you thread the parts together. Once the higher part is learned, teach the lower. A stomp or clap on the downbeat of the second, ascending phrase helps keep the tempo steady and keeps the group in their bodies. When both parts feel confident, bring them together.
The piece is useful as a song of praise, a gospel acclamation, or even as a warm up for a choir or singing circle.
Copyright for the piece is held by GIA Publications, Inc. so you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the music.
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress. It is also published in Sing With the World, a collection edited by John Bell and Alison Adam of the Iona Community in Scotland and published by GIA Publications, Inc.
Here's a video of Debbie Lou leading the song at The Bishop's Ranch:
And here is a recording from GIA's Sing With the World collection mentioned above: