On Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. Church Organist Mark Mummert will present a hymn festival in the nave of Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church. The festival includes fourteen hymns from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), all centered on the theme of God’s justice and our common mission in the world. Mr. Mummert first presented the festival, Streams of Living Justice, in 2005 for the Tenth Biennial Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
In addition to Mr. Mummert, the hymn festival will feature Kurt Johnson, violin, and Colleen Matheu Johnson, flute, members of Christ the King Church. The event will also feature a choir, brass ensemble, and other instrumentalists. The arrangements for the festival were prepared by Mr. Mummert, and all involve the full assembly singing the many hymns from diverse times and places.
The Rev. Susan C. Johnson, National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, was in the choir that first sang for Streams of Living Justice in Winnipeg in 2005 and recently had this to say about the coming hymn festival:
“Dear Friends, I strongly encourage you to come and join in Streams of Living Justice A Hymn Festival on Mission to Others. The music is uplifting - texts and tunes work together to build up the body of Christ for our mission in the world. The musical settings are fantastic - singing in the choir that previously did this work was a truly mountaintop experience for me! You will be inspired and your spirits will be uplifted!”
Mark Mummert is a composer of the first musical setting of Holy Communion in Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Prior to his call to Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mr. Mummert was Seminary Musician at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (1990-2008). He was the featured musician at Church Music Symposium for the Church of Sweden in 2006, the organist for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly and Worship Jubilee in 2007, and was a presenter at the Valparaiso Institute of Liturgical Studies in 2009. He served as primary composer and editor of Psalm Settings for the Church Year (Augsburg Fortress, 2008) and his most recent compositions will appear in the forthcoming Music Sourcebook for Lent and the Three Days (Augsburg Fortress, November 2009).
A hymn festival is not a worship service or a liturgy, but is a singing event for all in attendance to sing, hear readings related to the theme, and be inspired for mission in the world. The hymn festival will include both new and familiar hymns and is a fine opportunity to enlarge our common core of congregational song. The hymn festival is open to the public. There is no cost of admission. Nursery care will be provided.