ELW Setting Eight

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

ELW Setting 8

We’ve been singing music from Setting 8 in Evangelical Lutheran Worship for a good part of the summer.  This setting lends itself well to leadership from the piano, with percussion, bells, flute, and other instruments involved.   It could be called the “contemporary” setting in ELW, since the composers of the music within are associated with a number of musical groups or worship styles that tend toward the praise band side of the liturgical spectrum.  

However, these pieces are not really that new or part of the most current musical expressions in the church!  Consider this:  I first encountered the “Kyrie eleison, on our world and on our way” either as a camper or a camp counselor in the late eighties (which is the decade my children consider “way back when” when getting ready for a themed dress up day at school).  And the creator of the setting of “This is the Feast,” John Ylvisaker, will turn eighty in 2017.  John’s life story is fascinating and his mission has always been to proclaim the Gospel, but his days of being avant garde were sometime in the early seventies.  

Setting 8 is a collection of music created by different composers who have explored the expression of liturgy in a folk or pop oriented style, all the while remaining very faithful to the texts of the historic liturgy and to the theology which Lutherans uphold.  The music is quite melodic, with some rhythmic syncopation representative of the style, and fairly easy to negotiate as a congregation.  Some of the contributors are well known to the broad community.  Jay Beech, who composed the lovely “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord” and “Lamb of God” was a mainstay at national youth gatherings for many years and now continues to engage music and theology as the director of the Center for Worship and Music Studies in Minneapolis.  This latest project is an effort to teach and guide the practice of worship music that is strong in both theology and musical craft.  Larry Olson, a member of Dakota Road, created “Kyrie eleison.”  He is still active as a leader and composer in the Sioux Falls area, creating liturgies and songs that do engage our contemporary needs, wishes and prayers.  Others who have contributed to Setting 8 are active church musicians, including Phil Kadidlo, Robin Cain and Dennis Friesen-Carper.

I hope that a little bit of background helps you appreciate this setting a little more!  I’ve always enjoyed how well our congregation sings this setting and how it allows us the opportunity to explore a different musical style during the more relaxed times of summer.