‘And they sang’: Worship institute covers entire psalter in four days

By Cheryl Magness

“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26).

 In the first part of his two-part keynote at The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s (LCMS) 2024 Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music, Dr. Charles Brown spoke about the centrality of singing to Christian worship as it unites the faithful across time and space around shared devotion to God’s Word. Brown, who serves as professor of music and chair of the arts division at Concordia University Chicago (CUC), River Forest, Ill., highlighted multiple examples from Scripture, including Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper, noting: “You can just see how Jesus is heading to the cross on our behalf. And they sang.”

Sing they did. And so did some 530 LCMS pastors, musicians and laity who attended the institute July 9–12 under the theme “Songs of Deliverance: Psalms in the Great Congregation.” Hosted at Concordia University, Nebraska (CUNE), Seward, Neb., the event was a smorgasbord of music, worship, study and fellowship centered around the Book of Psalms. In fact, over the course of four packed days, participants sang through the entire psalter, including Psalm 119 — at 176 verses, by far the longest psalm in the Bible. Gathering on July 11 in the atrium of CUNE’s new music building, the Borland Center for Music and Theatre, attendees listened to instructions from Director of LCMS Worship Rev. Sean Daenzer.

“All right, everybody, this is it. Don’t lock your knees. Lean on your friends if you need to,” Daenzer said to some laughter. For the next 37 minutes, the group took turns singing a variety of different chant tones in various combinations of soloists, women, men, children and upper/lower levels of the atrium. They were supported by piano accompaniment as they periodically returned to the refrain, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). For Annika Johanson, who serves as organist and choir director at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lawrence, Kan., it was the highlight of the conference. 

“Singing the whole thing all together … was so fun,” she said. A first-time attendee at a national Synod worship conference, she also appreciated the breakout sessions that offered practical help and resources. Johanson, who has a bachelor’s in organ from the University of Nebraska, Omaha, is pursuing a master’s in church music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Asked why she decided to go into church music as a career, she said that at first it was simply “the need.” Her church needed a musician, and while she was not an organist at the time, she could play piano. She began playing for church and started studying organ. Then, “I kind of fell in love with it.” She plans to pursue her Director of Parish Music (DPM) colloquy after she completes her master’s degree. 

The next generation

At a time when the church is increasingly concerned about shrinking demographics, an aging population and a looming church worker shortage, the landscape of the institute should afford much hope for the future. Young people were plentiful throughout, from babies in arms (or strollers) to a concurrently running Institute Youth Choir camp of over 40 participants. Jude Krusemark, a 14-year-old attendee from Austin, Minn., said he was signed up for the children’s choir but had to drop out due to his voice changing. A violinist and pianist who is planning to be a pastor, Krusemark attended sessions on Gregorian chant and singing the psalms. He thinks it’s important for pastors to care about music because “a big thing about church services is the liturgy,” and pastors are responsible for overseeing the liturgy. 

In addition, a sizeable contingent of Concordia University System (CUS) church work students attended the institute. They helped chaperone the choir camp, contributed musically to the institute’s worship, and played in a recital showcasing their skills.

Nicholas Hansen, a 2023 CUC graduate who recently began serving as a DPM at St. John Lutheran Church in Sycamore, Ill., said the conference had much to offer him as someone just starting out in church work. Recalling a professor who once told him that church workers need to beware of “living on their own island,” he was especially thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. He intentionally went “out of my comfort zone” at the conference because he thinks “that’s how you really grow.” 

Olivia Thoelke, a cellist who is entering her junior year in the DPM program at Concordia University Irvine, Irvine, Calif., said she enjoyed digging more deeply into the psalms, seeing “how intricate they are” and learning different ways to incorporate them into worship through studying both historic and contemporary practice. “It’s really cool to see how we can interact with people across time and space [through psalm singing].” 

Luke Hahn, a voice major who just graduated from Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wis., was thankful to meet so many professional church musicians and realize the community that exists. “It’s helpful to see what people are talking about and doing, and how I can learn from that.” Jacob Huber, a graduate of CUNE, agreed. “An event like this is a good reminder that the practice, the preparation, the research … [are] worth it, not only because you see the fruition of your efforts … but also because of how it gives glory to God.”  

Hahn gave a shout-out to Stephanie Poyner, DPM at Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Flower Mound, Texas, who planned and oversaw the day-to-day activities of the Institute Youth Choir camp. “Please make sure you mention her,” Hahn said. “She has done an amazing job.”

Steeped in God’s Word

In addition to the sessions — 101 of them across a range of topics, from the practical to the theoretical to the theological — the conference included an abundance of worship services. Bookended between opening and closing Divine Services were opportunities for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Matins, Vespers, Corporate Confession and Absolution, and nightly Compline. The sermons were crafted to speak to the particular burdens, challenges and joys of those in attendance.

Preaching for Matins on Psalm 95, the Rev. Joshua Hayes, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer, Kan., referenced Numbers 20, which relates the story of the Israelites’ grumbling in the wilderness and Moses’ sinful striking of the rock to bring forth water. Hayes implored the assembly not to harden their hearts when trouble comes:

“Here’s the warning for us in this room: Sometimes it is our own sins that harden us, but sometimes it is the sins of others.

“You are pastors and musicians and leading laity in our churches. You are called to serve people who complain. And you get frustrated. 

“Are you not tempted to smite that rock as if God can’t get His work done without [your help]? … What is it that is annoying you, pressing on your spirit, moving you toward bitterness? What is it that you think you just shouldn’t have to put up with anymore, not now, not after all these years, maybe even 40 of them? … 

“Dear sheep, the Lord our Shepherd … sees, and He knows. He knows the complaints, the burdens of the years. … He knows how many of you will leave this conference to go home to situations where, no matter what you do … someone will be there to think that you did it wrong. … 

“You’re still the people of His pasture and the dear sheep of His hand, washed clean in the blood of Jesus. … Today, if you hear His voice … do not harden your hearts.” 

The Bible’s hymnbook

As the institute kicked off, Daenzer shared some of the rationale behind holding an entire conference about the Book of Psalms. 

“This is an old tradition in the church,” Daenzer said, “to sing the psalms regularly, monthly, weekly … daily, even. … [The psalter] really is the Bible’s hymnal, God’s own hymnal.”

Referencing Colossians 3:16 (“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”), Daenzer emphasized the importance of the words “one another”:

“This is the purpose of music joined together with the Word of God. … It’s not just the guy up front or the leaders in the back but the idea that the whole congregation is … dealing with one another according to the Word of God.”

In his keynote, the Rev. Dr. Adam Hensley, professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, provided a rapid walk through the entire Book of Psalms, outlining its overarching structure to demonstrate how the psalter is “a prophetic witness to Christ.” The Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Boyle, professor at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, discussed the psalms as prayers that are prayed not only by the psalmist but by Jesus and the church. He encouraged committing psalms to memory and making praying them a regular part of one’s devotional life.

“In the psalms,” Boyle said, “God speaks first and then invites us to join. Take God’s Word as your word. And though you may not feel what that particular psalm is saying at a particular moment, you will have it for when you do. … Imagine if our words to each other were shaped by [the words of] the psalter.”

All the psalms

If you’re wondering how a four-day worship conference — one packed full of learning, worship, recitals and fun, including an organ-accompanied silent movie, English country dancing and a Bach chorale singalong at a local brewery — fit in all 150 psalms, here’s how: every session, every event, every service included psalm singing. So, while not every attendee necessarily sang every psalm, the conference attendees as a whole sang the entire psalter, an apt reflection of the corporate nature of Lutheran worship, which calls upon all to lend their voice.

As participants spent their week singing psalms, they also spent it looking for psalms in scavenger-hunt style, namely, a series of psalm sheets developed by LCMS Worship and scattered at various locations around the conference. Each colorful, two-sided sheet — one for every psalm — included a brief introduction to the psalm’s background, structure and theme, along with suggestions for its use in the liturgy, daily life and prayer. 

Following morning worship on the conference’s final day, Daenzer asked for a show of hands of how many people had found 10, 50, 100 or more of the sheets. As the number of raised hands gradually decreased, Daenzer asked, “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone who attended could have all 150 [psalm sheets]? Wouldn’t it be great if the whole church could have all 150?” He then announced that the full series of sheets is being made available for free download “for the benefit of the whole church,” not just conference attendees. Find them at thelc.ms/worship2024.

Australian delegation

Attendees to the institute came from as far away as Australia. A group of nine young adults from the Australian Lutheran teaching mission “Creative Word Fellowship” attended with assistance from the LCMS Office of International Mission. Peter Wittwer, the group’s chairman, said the experience “stretched and strengthened” those who were able to come. 

“As a group we tried to attend as many different sessions as we could,” Wittwer said, “while still striving to bolster the individual gifts and talents that God has blessed us with. … We have since attended another two confessional Lutheran church conferences around the world that have all been steeped in the liturgy and hymnody and have found ourselves with the songs from all three conferences running though our heads as we go to sleep. What a blessing it has been to our own personal Christian lives. We have much to take back to Australia and teach in our own congregations, and we will forever be blessed by such an immersive experience … and [by] the friendships that we have made.” 

Refreshed and renewed

The first LCMS Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music took place in 2002. It was repeated triennially through 2017 but was delayed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and further delayed due to a staff vacancy. For many who came to Seward this July, the 2024 event was something of a family reunion, a long-awaited return to normalcy and an opportunity to refill their drained vocational, emotional and spiritual buckets. For others, it was an introduction to a panoply of resources and network of support that they may not have previously known about.

Oyeniran Oyedeji, who serves at Immanuel Lutheran Church and School in Danbury, Conn., grew up as a Southern Baptist. He converted to Lutheranism after he began serving at his current church. As someone who leads music for both the congregation and the school, he said one of his goals is for Immanuel to be a place that produces “people who will sing God’s Word all their lives,” maybe even by serving as a professional church worker. He found much at the institute to support that endeavor, specifically mentioning a session on making school chapel more liturgical.  

Michael Owens, a member of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Lititz, Penn., is another adult convert to Lutheranism. He loves Lutheran hymnody — “I’m obsessed” — and bemoans the decline of singing in the 21st century, especially among men: “They think it’s a ‘girl’ thing; it’s totally ludicrous.” At Mount Calvary, he regularly convenes informal gatherings of men and boys for the purpose of singing together. 

On July 10 in Seward, Owens had lunch with another conference participant, Tom Mueller of Bethany Lutheran Church, Naperville, Ill. After hearing about Owens’ efforts to foster male singing in his congregation, Mueller recommended a Concordia Publishing House resource with hymn arrangements for male voices. It was the type of conversation that happened countless times throughout the institute as attendees shared their experiences, expertise and wisdom with one another. 

Reflecting on the week, Owens said two things stood out: the friendliness and the quantity of singing. “I’ve been to music conferences where they talk about music but don’t actually do it. It’s really ridiculous,” he laughed. 

In Seward this summer, Lutheran pastors, musicians and lay leaders didn’t merely talk about liturgy, preaching and church music. They drank deeply of all three. In doing so, they were refreshed in their spirits and built up in their faith. They returned to their respective corners of the globe with renewed vigor, commitment and devotion to God’s Word. If any of these faithful servants belong to your congregation, be sure to ask them what they learned. Even more important, ask them how you can support their efforts to let the Word of God dwell richly in your midst in the preaching and in the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

Download free psalm “One-Sheets.”

Watch recordings of institute worship, interviews and recap reels. 

See more photos from the institute.

Posted Aug. 1, 2024