Authors: Tammy-Jo Mortensen

This Lent-Easter 2023 issue (Year A) explores extemporaneous prayer. According to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, extemporaneous means “spoken or done without preparation.” Sometimes, as artists, we extemporize, too, don’t we? In music and some other art forms, this is called improvisation. Improvising means composing or performing on the spur of...

In past issues of Gathering, we have been featuring hymns from various cultures from Voices United. This began with Loraine McKenzie Shepherd’s lists of the cultures she catalogued, and then we continued compiling some more lists. In the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany 2022-2023 issue, we were planning to feature hymns with a German...

The focus of this Advent/Christmas/Epiphany issue is cultural appropriation. In the Music for Worship section of Gathering Pentecost 1 2021, we focused on Indigenous composers and music resources. I gained much wisdom from Cree and Dene songwriter Sherryl Sewepagaham a few years ago. She shared some customs from her Cree...

Even though I haven’t been in active music leadership during most of the pandemic, I’ve still learned many things, including how much support the many facets of the church provided us when we needed it most. Help came from colleagues, teamwork between churches, seminars, national United Church support, licensing agencies...

If you are looking for hymns for Earth Day or for Wild/Forest Church, or for services with a creation theme, then look no further! Our full communion partner, The United Church of Christ in the United States, has posted a wonderfully curated list of hymns called “ Sing for the...