Emma Allen (left), Olivia Allen, Caroline Ludwig and Rebekah Root, members of the children’s choir of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Leesburg, Va., learn hymns.
Hymn of the month club
By Julie B. Sevig W
ith the unbridled enthusiasm of a third- grader, James Daubert gives a high recommenda- tion—in the form of an “Oh yeah!”—to his congrega- tion’s “Hymns to the Heart” program.
Congregation writes songs on kids’ hearts
The program, which teaches one much-loved hymn each month to Sunday school students, grew out of a discussion about children in worship, said Nancy Fox, director of children’s and music ministry at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Leesburg, Va. “We realized our children and their families weren’t attending worship as regularly as we would have liked and that our kids didn’t know the hymns of the church,” Fox recalled.
If you go to worship and don’t know the music, it may not be “a great experience,” Fox reasoned. “We decided that unless we became intentional about teaching these hymns, nothing would change. … Songs are the first
things we learn and the last things with us as we leave this life. They’re on our hearts,” she said. In fact, Jeremiah 31:33 was Fox’s inspiration for designing the program: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Fox also remembered her years as a school music teacher: “There were no songs that the entire school knew, so we started a song of the month. Everybody learned the same song so we’d have a body of songs we all knew. The entire school spent an hour sing- ing together. I thought, ‘Let’s do the same with hymns.’ ” Holy Trinity’s six-year plan (taught to preschoolers through fifth-graders) includes hymns from throughout the church year, across time and from different regions in the world, and even those that might appear in other denominational hymnals. Fox uses a PowerPoint at the beginning of the Sunday school opening. Reinforcement comes during worship when the hymn is sung several times that month, and then throughout the year. In November the congregation celebrated with a Hymn
Festival. The children’s and adult choirs led the congrega- tion in the hymns the children had learned, interspersed with readings. “It was an exciting morning as we watched the entire congregation totally engage with the hymnody of the church,” Fox said. The payoff for Fox has been watching the kids perk up during worship when they recognize the song, and the parents’ faces as they “look down and hear their child’s voice singing enthusiastically along with the adults.” Diana and Tony Daubert, parents of James and his older sister, Alexandra, concur. “The kids know the song really well. I even perk up when I hear it,” Diana said. James didn’t miss a beat when asked for his favorite hymn so far: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” (Evangeli- cal Lutheran Worship, 325). The children learned it last March.
Perhaps that’s job security for Fox, who added, “It’s rewarding to realize that the hymn texts have been ‘writ- ten on the hearts’ of the children, and that they are receiv- ing a gift we hope will remain with them throughout their lives.”
Sevig is a section editor of The Lutheran.
For the six-year plan, find this story at
www.thelutheran.org/feature/march. For more information, contact Fox at
nanc_fox@yahoo.com.
March 2013 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52