EMMANUEL
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
We invite you and your family to participate in our music programs. For more information, please contact Dr. Linell Gray Moss, Music Director.
The music programs at Emmanuel are deeply valuable aspects of our church life. Our music volunteers and staff support critical ministries and impact diverse areas of programming, including Eucharists, Youth and Children’s programs, Evensong Series, Adult Forum, Welcoming and Fellowship, and in the community outside of Emmanuel. We challenge ourselves to support inclusivity and diversity.
Our mission is to support the expression and exploration of our faith through music. The Music Director and Organist work with the Priest to choose the best music and texts that will nurture a variety of worship experiences. We maintain the great tradition of Anglican church music, while energizing our repertoire with high quality music from many traditions.
Our Parish Choir includes singers whose dedication, commitment to excellence, and generous spirit are remarkable. The choir explores a diverse range of sacred choral repertoire, from many eras and styles and in many languages. We continue to celebrate and feature the music of Emmanuel’s composers, including Brad Lehman, Carol Warner, Michael Norton, Brian Cockburn, and student composers. Our Parish Choir represents a wide range of ages and backgrounds, and includes singers from teens and college through retirement. Young singers are welcomed into the choir when possible. The Parish Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings - contact Linell Moss if you would like to join us.
Four Choral Scholars sing with the Parish Choir. Chosen through audition and interview, the Scholars provide valuable continuity in each section of the choir, offer solos, and gain valuable experience in sacred music and the Anglican tradition during their time with us. The Scholars are supported through the Bowman Memorial Endowed Scholarship and through generous donations.
Dr. Bradley Lehman's expertise in organ, harpsichord, and piano ministry, as well as composition, elevates our music programs.
Choral Evensong is a contemplative service of sung prayers, hymns, and anthems. It is celebrated at 5 pm on the first Sunday of the month. There is no charge for admission. Guest choirs from colleges, community and churches in our area are featured in this series.
Instrumental Music is a treasured part of Emmanuel's music ministry. We often feature professional and amateur instrumentalists, and nurture instrumental music ministry among our young musicians.
Shrine Mont Camp Song Sunday allows our campers to share their favorite camp songs with the congregation. Camping at Shrine Mont nurtures powerful faith experiences for our children.
In the spring of 2021,
members of the Parish Choir made this virtual video of These Things Did Thomas Count As Real, a hymn by Emmanuel’s organist Brad Lehman.
Brad's hymn sets a poem by Thomas Troeger of Yale Divinity School. In it, Troeger reflects on the "Doubting Thomas" story, which is the appointed reading from the Gospel of John for the Second Sunday of Easter. The hymn is one of four by Brad that were selected for Voices Together, the new Mennonite hymnal published in 2020.
(Video starts after ~30s)
These things did Thomas count as real:
The warmth of blood, the chill of steel,
The grain of wood, the heft of stone,
The last frail twitch of flesh and bone.
The vision of his skeptic mind
Was keen enough to make him blind
To any unexpected act
Too large for his small world of fact.
His reasoned certainties denied
That one could live when one had died,
Until his fingers read like Braille
The marking of the spear and nail.
May we, O God, by grace believe
And thus the risen Christ receive,
Whose raw, imprinted palms reached out
And beckoned Thomas from his doubt.
Text by Thomas H. Troeger (1983)
Please enjoy this virtual video made by the Parish Choir in November 2020.
Sung by members of the Parish Choir of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Harrisonburg, VA:
Helen Penrod; Peggy Rapp; Brenda Seal; James Vaughan; KT Vaughan; Mary El Vaughan; Carol Warner; Jim Warner; Susan Wheaton; Kathy Gray; and choral scholars Grace Mead; Sarah Petko; Kareem Abdelmoneim; and Benjamin Gofton.
Dr. Linell Gray Moss, Director
Dr. Bradley Lehman, Organist
Lucy Moss, Video Engineer
Mary El Vaughan, American Sign Language Interpreter
Gaudete!
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born of the virgin Mary.
The time of Grace has come, which we have waited for.
Let us devotedly render Him joyful songs.
God has become Man, and Nature is astounded.
The world has been renewed by the reigning Christ.
The closed gate of Hezechial has been crossed.
From there the light has risen, Salvation has come in.
Therefore, our congregation, praise Him in brightness!
Bless the Lord! Greeting to our King!