The United Methodist Music & Worship Planner 2020-2021 NRSV Edition
By Mary Scifres and David L. Bone
()
About this ebook
Weekly pages in spiral-bound format that help you plan the entire worship year, from September through August.
Eight or more suggested hymns for each service keyed to United Methodist worship resources: The United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, Worship & Song, The United Methodist Book of Worship, and The Africana Hymnal.
Complete lectionary text of the Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel readings using the Common English Bible translation.
Reproducible worship planning forms.
Resources for holidays and special days.
Suggestions for prayers, solos, anthems, visuals, and much more.
Also available with Common English Bible (CEB) texts
Mary Scifres
Mary Scifres is a United Methodist pastor and church growth consultant. She is the author of The Gospel According to Beauty and the Beast, and co-author of both The Abingdon Worship Annual and Is It Communion Sunday Already?! Find out more at www.maryscifres.com.
Read more from Mary Scifres
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The United Methodist Music & Worship Planner 2020-2021 NRSV Edition - Mary Scifres
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We want you to have the best planner, designed to meet your specific needs. How do you know if you have the right resource? Simply complete this one-question quiz:
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USING THIS PLANNER
How We Organize the Resource Lists
This United Methodist Music and Worship Planner (UM Planner) is designed to give you as many ideas as possible about a given worship service. Use it alongside a worship plan notebook that you create and copies of The United Methodist Hymnal, The United Methodist Book of Worship, The Faith We Sing, and Worship & Song. Features of the UM Planner include the following:
•The lectionary verses found on left-hand pages of the UM Planner come from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Where available, we have added psalter numbers from the UM Hymnal. The UM Planner is also available with lectionary texts from the Common English Bible, the CEB (ISBN: 9781501896408).
•NEW THIS YEAR! The Contemporary and Modern Suggestions now include the CCLI number from https://songselect.ccli.com. These numbers are used universally by musicians working in these worship styles.
•AGAIN THIS YEAR! Themes for the day are listed in the Other Suggestions and found in the Theme Index on p. 132. These tools will help with thematic planning when a community is following a thematic/sermon series rather than the Lectionary.
•ALSO THIS YEAR! Most Anthem suggestions include a link to the publisher’s online version of the anthem, which often includes recordings. Simply enter the http://bit.ly/. . . link in your browser to reach the appropriate page.
•Each week Primary Hymns and Songs for the Day are suggested first. These suggestions include various helps for singing the hymns. These hymns and songs have the closest relationship to the scriptures and are widely known. The lengthier lists of Additional Hymn Suggestions and Additional Contemporary and Modern Suggestions will add variety to your musical selections.
•The musical suggestions are chosen to suggest a wide variety of styles, using The United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, and Worship & Song to their fullest.
•Each item is referenced to scripture or occasion.
•Opening (O) and Closing (C) hymns are suggested for each worship service.
•At least one Communion (Comm.) hymn is recommended for the first Sunday of each month and liturgical season. When appropriate, Communion hymns related to the scriptures are noted on other days as well.
•Additional Contemporary and Modern Suggestions include not only praise choruses but also global and ethnic music, folk music, and meditative music from traditions such as Taizé. Information about resources referenced in this section can be found on page 7. Please note that contemporary songs may also be listed under Additional Hymn Suggestions, Vocal Solos, or Other Suggestions.
•One word of advice: Be sure to consult all the music suggestions regardless of the type of service you are planning. In the changing world of worship, no one style defines a song or a worship service. Many items appropriate for contemporary and emergent styles are listed under the Additional Hymn Suggestions and many resources for traditional and blended services can be found in the Additional Contemporary and Modern Suggestions list. Vocal Solos, Anthems, and Other Suggestions may be appropriate for congregational use as well. Don’t let the category
here deter you from using any item that will enhance your worship service. Planners should consult all lists when choosing congregational music.
•Vocal Solos and Anthems provide ideas for vocal music performance
offerings and may also inspire ideas for additional congregational selections.
•The recommended Vocal Solos are taken from a group of eleven collections that range from contemporary settings of hymn texts and praise choruses to spirituals to well-known classics (see p. 7). Augment these suggestions from your own library.
•The Anthem suggestions include new works as well as generally known works that are already in many church choral libraries. Your study of the scripture and hymn texts will lead you to anthems in your church library that are appropriate. Many anthem suggestions are taken from the three volumes of the Augsburg Easy Choirbook (AEC) series.
•Other Suggestions also include words for worship, primarily from The United Methodist Book of Worship and Worship & Song (Worship Resources edition); suggestions for choral introits and sung benedictions; and ideas for musical responses related to the spoken liturgy.
•Suggestions for "Visuals are offered for each service. See the article
Visuals in Worship" (p. 4) for discussion of these suggestions. Visual ideas are found in the Other Suggestions lists. They have been compiled by Ashley M. Calhoun and supplemented by our authors. Ashley is known for his inventive use of found
items in creating visual worship settings. Worship committees, visual artists, dancers, and altar guilds can use these ideas to create their own unique worship centers, altar pieces, banners, and dance images. Screen visual artists can use these themes to select appropriate background and theme screens for worship.
•A two-year, at-a-glance 2020–2021 Calendar follows the Worship Planning Sheets (see p. 144). It includes a note on the lectionary years covered in this edition of The UM Music and Worship Planner.
Planning Worship with These Resources
When planning any worship service, it is always best to start with the scripture and let it guide your thoughts and plans. If your church is not using the Revised Common Lectionary but you do know what the scripture text will be for a service, look up that text in the Scripture Index on page 133 or consult the Theme Index on on page 132.
As you read and study the scripture passages, read all of the suggested hymn texts. The hymns may remind you of anthems, solos, or keyboard selections. It is wise to mark your hymnal with the dates individual hymns are sung to avoid singing some too frequently. The Hymn Resources (see p. 7) can enhance congregational singing but should be used sparingly.
Use a three-ring binder to organize your plans. For each service of worship, include a copy of one of the Worship Planning Sheets found on pages 136–38 (or design your own!) along with blank paper for listing further ideas. Do not simply fill in the blanks
for each service, but use the Planning Sheet to guide your work.
Use the suggestions in the UM Planner along with your own page of ideas to begin making decisions about worship. Will the choir sing a Call to Worship
? Can a hymn verse serve as a prayer response? Can a particular anthem or vocal solo give direction to the sermon? What prayers will be used?
Once your decisions are made, complete the Worship Planning Sheet. Make a separate list of tasks related to that service. Planning worship is an awesome responsibility but one that can be accomplished with an organized effort along with spiritual guidance.
VISUALS IN WORSHIP
Ashley M. Calhoun
The suggestions for visuals in this planner are meant to help worship leaders use objects and images to increase the impact of the gospel on a people who are increasingly visually oriented. These suggestions can be incorporated into many visual elements: hanging and processional banners, worship settings (whether on the altar or in the chancel or narthex), worship folder covers, and bulletin boards. The ideas can also be used to suggest ways to use classical and contemporary works of art, sculpture, needlework, and photography in worship services.
With more churches incorporating screens and video walls into their worship spaces, there is tremendous potential for the use of still or moving imagery. Also, interpretive movement and drama can be very strong in visual impact.
The visual suggestions in the planner have several characteristics:
•The suggestions are not meant to give detailed plans but to spark your imagination and creativity.
•Some are drawn literally from the lessons; others are thematic.
•The suggestions are organized by reference to the lectionary passages:
•Chapter and verse numbers are sometimes given to indicate actual phrases in the scripture passage that can serve as visual elements.
•Themes such as forgiveness,
love,
or rejoicing
are offered to encourage creative use of video and photographic images of people engaged in demonstrating those themes.
So much about worship is visual and intended to strengthen the proclamation of the gospel. The worship space is filled with visual elements that send a message. The church year is a treasure trove of color, texture, symbolism, and visual imagery. Special Sundays and special days in the cultural and denominational calendars also offer opportunities for visual expression. Evaluate the visual aspects of your worship services and find ways to enhance the worship experience with thoughtful, intentional use of visual elements and images.
PLANNING WORSHIP WITH A TEAM
Mary Scifres
Planning worship not only provides an important opportunity for church staff members to work together as a team, it provides an opportunity for worship committees to deepen their ministry.
Unfortunately, our fast-paced society and the production focus in current culture pushes far too many pastors into a solo effort in worship planning. We call this all-too common model The Lonesome Approach.
The Lonesome Approach—A Non-team Model
1.Preaching pastor picks the scripture readings, prayers, hymns, and sermon title.
2.Church secretary or pastor types and prints bulletins.
3.Musician(s) pick up note in mailbox with hymn numbers for coming Sunday. If time permits, choir rehearses hymns during evening rehearsal along with anthem(s) and choral responses for Sunday.
4.Preaching pastor writes sermon.
5.Lay liturgist arrives early to review worship plans.
6.Worship commences.
If this is how worship most often comes together in your church, we’ve created this resource to help you move beyond the lonesome approach. First, you already have Mary Scifres and David Bone on your team. If you add The Abingdon Worship Annual to your resource library, you’ll add B. J. Beu and a couple dozen other writers to your team.
But resource writers can’t sit in your office on Monday mornings to discuss how Sunday’s service went. We aren’t present to experience worship each week with you. This is why it’s particularly life-giving to move beyond the lonesome approach to The Team-Based Approach,
which allows you to integrate and represent your worshiping community into the worship planning process. Within the book you hold in your hands, we hope that pastors, musicians, and worship leaders find encouragement and assistance for planning worship in cooperation with one another.
Let this book encourage you to transform the lonesome approach into the exception rather than the rule for your worship-planning experience.
The Team-Based Approach
When pastors, musicians, and worship leaders develop a team-based approach to service planning, everyone benefits—planners and worshippers alike. Here are some basic suggestions, which you can adapt for your setting.
Gather a Team
Review the talents of your church for artists, visionaries, leaders, organizers, and workers. Choose team members, balancing gifts and talents, as well as time and commitment levels. Your team may be as few as two or as many as twelve. Members of the worship planning team can expect to meet at least biannually. Some worship teams find weekly, monthly, or seasonal planning meetings helpful, but even two meetings a year can improve communication and coordination efforts immensely.
Hire a Worship Consultant
Hiring a consultant to run a worship planning retreat will inspire your team and alleviate extra work for your staff.
Convocations and Training Events
Organizations such as The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts (UMFellowship.org) and Mary Scifres Ministries (www.maryscifres.com) provide periodic convocations and training events to assist worship leaders and teams develop skills for planning worship. These are great training grounds to learn how to think outside the box.
While many models exist for team worship planning, the one offered here entails each team member having a copy of this UM Planner (particularly for use of scripture readings and hymn lists), a Bible, hymnals, and ready access to The United Methodist Book of Worship. Musicians may find it helpful to have copies of the music collections suggested in this planner as well as a single copy file of the anthem collection and praise song collection of your church. Distribute copies of the Worship Planning Sheets from pages 136–38 to each team member for each Sunday being discussed.
A Team-Based Approach to Worship Planning (Adapt in whatever way works best for you!)
1.Preacher provides scripture and sermon themes prior to first meeting; musicians also prepare repertoire lists as well as special performance plans beforehand.
2.Team meets for a designated time period. (A retreat setting is particularly helpful, followed by monthly or weekly meetings.)
3.Open meeting with prayer and discussion of worship. Worship leaders may bring a diversity of views about the meaning and focus of worship, enhancing the process by expressing philosophies and values honestly.
4.The preacher introduces sermon topics or themes.
5.Team reads or reviews scriptures, with emphasis on the preacher’s primary focus.
6.Discuss and outline seasonal needs.
7.Team discusses visual ideas, perhaps helping visual and screen artists to choose seasonal themes.
8.Team discusses hymns, perhaps helping musicians and preacher to choose hymns. Keep in mind thematic and scriptural emphases, musical abilities, sermon topics, congregational hymn preferences, and plans to introduce new music.
9.Introduce and discuss special ideas or plans for specific worship services (e.g., Palm Sunday cantata, Christmas Eve candlelight service, children’s Sunday).
10.Choose spoken words (prayers, responsive readings, blessings). The entire team or part of the team may do this, depending on number of participants.
11.Choose vocal, choral, and keyboard music (team or part of team).
12.Review services for integration, unity, and diversity.
13.Address specific service logistics.
14.Close with worship, music, and prayer.
In any one of these steps, all members of the planning team may have valuable input. A preacher may have an idea for a choral anthem to enhance a sermon idea; a musician may have an insight into a sermon topic as it relates to the congregation. At any of these steps, all members of the team will find helpful suggestions in this Planner. Entries provide the text of each scripture reading, season, and liturgical color, suggestions of visual images for artists, hymn and music suggestions, liturgical suggestions, and other ideas that may spark interest in an innovative type of worship service.
When worship leaders, preachers, musicians, visual artists, and other team members coordinate their work, they can educate one another about preparation timing and skills. Preachers need to know the time requirements for planning music. Choir directors and instrumentalists can educate team members about the time needed to choose, obtain, and rehearse music prior to a worship gathering. (Congregations often discover that both playing and singing improve greatly on hymns rehearsed a few weeks in advance.) Finally, the musicians can share with the team their visions for music ministry in worship.
Preachers and other pastoral leaders, likewise, need to inform musicians of how they might interact not only in worship planning but also in worship leadership. Some pastors establish cues to alert musicians when light background music is needed during worship, or might want to educate the musicians to become worship leaders in their own right. Additionally, the pastoral leaders can communicate with the musicians what their visions are for both music and worship ministry.
These initial communications enhance the synergy and Spirit-led collaboration of the worship team. When constant communication and interaction exist among all worship planners, the creative and logistical planning processes flow through the worship leaders into the congregation. Unity among the worship leadership team ends up strengthening the entire worshiping community. Good team worship planning invites the Holy Spirit to bring a unity and freedom into the worship process that draw the entire body of Christ closer together.
RESOURCE KEY
HYMN RESOURCES
CONTEMPORARY RESOURCES
The Contemporary and Modern Suggestions now include the CCLI number from https://songselect.ccli.com. These numbers are used universally by musicians working in these worship styles.
See also Vocal Solo suggestions from V-3 and V-5 volumes.
VOCAL SUGGESTION RESOURCES
ANTHEM RESOURCES
Most anthem suggestions include a link to the publisher’s online verion of the anthem, which often includes recordings. Simply enter the http://bit.ly/… link in your browser to reach the appropriate page.
SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
Exodus 12:1-14
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ²This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. ³Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. ⁴If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. ⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. ¹⁰You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. ¹²For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. ¹³The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
¹⁴This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
Psalm 149
Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
²Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
³Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
⁴For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
⁵Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
⁶Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
⁷to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
⁸to bind their kings with fetters
and their nobles with chains of iron,
⁹to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the LORD!
Romans 13:8-14
⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet
; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, Love your neighbor as yourself.
¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹²the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; ¹³let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Matthew 18:15-20
¹⁵If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. ¹⁶But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. ¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
Primary Hymns and Songs for the Day
Additional Hymn Suggestions
Additional Contemporary and Modern Suggestions
NOTE: NEW in 2020. The numbers after each title are the CCLI # from songselect.ccli.com.
Vocal Solos
Sing a Song of Joy
(Pss)
All Creatures of Our God and King
(Pss)
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace
(Pss)
There’s a Quiet Understanding
(Matt)
Anthems
NOTE: Enter the URL (bit.ly/...) for each suggestion in your browser to reach a page about that anthem.
Just as I Am
(Exod, Matt)
Arr. David Barton; Augsburg 9781506452494
SATB with piano (bit.ly/AF-52494)
As This Broken Bread
(Comm.)
Wayne Wold; AEC-1 p.5
2-part mixed, organ (bit.ly/AEC-1-5)
Other Suggestions
Visuals:
Introit: WS3147, stanza 3. Built on a Rock
(Matt)
Greeting: BOW378 (Pss)
Act of Congregational Centering: BOW470 (Matt)
Prayer of Confession: BOW484 or BOW488 (Matt)
Call to Prayer: BOW202. Where Two or Three Are Gathered
(Matt)
Prayer: UM412. Prayer of John Chrysostom (Matt)
Prayer: BOW507. For Creation (Pss)
Prayer: BOW535. At the Beginning of a New School Year (Season)
Prayer: BOW443. Labor Day Prayer (Labor Day)
Litany: BOW496. The Ten Commandments (Rom)
Litany of Preparation: WSL73. We Come Broken
(Exod, Matt)
Baptism Response: UM609. You Have Put on Christ
(Rom)
Response: 2179. Live in Charity
("Ubi Caritas") (Rom)
For additional ideas, see The Abingdon Worship Annual 2020.
Theme Ideas: Remembrance, Passover, Love/Great Commandment, Light, Forgiveness and Reconciliation
SEPTEMBER 13, 2020
Exodus 14:19-31
¹⁹The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. ²⁰It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. ²²The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. ²⁴At the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. ²⁵He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.
²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.
²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the LORD tossed the Egyptians into the sea. ²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. ²⁹But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
³⁰Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses
Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 (UM135)
¹b "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
²The LORD is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
³The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.
⁴"Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
⁵The floods covered them;
they