Weekend of Wonder
February 25-27, 2022
Wonder Through Music
Deborah Carlton Loftis is committed to encouraging the vitality of congregational song in worship and other aspects of the congregation’s life. She taught church music courses for nine years at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. As former Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, she believes that “the holy act of singing together shapes faith, heals brokenness, transforms lives, and renews peace.”
Session description “Hymnkus”:
Experience writing short songs for worship using the form of Haiku poetry—we call these short songs “Hymnkus.” These short pieces are useful at many points in our corporate worship, such as a Call to Worship or a Response to Prayer. No rhyming skills needed!
Deborah is one of several excellent workshop leaders who will guide us on Saturday afternoon. Participants will have the opportunity to select two sessions out of seven selections. These will focus on a wide variety of topics and experiences because we know that each person experiences awe, joy, and wonder in different ways. The areas of focus are: science, photography, art, music, sports, movement and meditation, and poetry.
“It resonated with me so clearly and so powerfully because that’s what a magician is trying to do. A magician is trying to take an audience and pull them away from the world for a moment and to give them this moment of genuine awe and wonder. If I can do that with a card trick, that’s great. If I can do it with a mind reading illusion, that’s great. But if I can do it just by encouraging someone to stop at 9:30 this evening and go outside and look at the sky… I have never looked at it deliberately and not been astonished by it. And so that’s my idea. That’s my recommendation. It sounds like a cliché until you try it and then it just takes over everything for a few minutes.”
― Nate Staniforth