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St. Paul organ keyboard

Message from Chris Nelson

A view from the organ bench

By Chris Nelson, director of music ministries

I have to tell you right from the start, I have a lot to say. Please don’t get nervous. A lot of what I have to say is said during worship, and not verbally. I let my fingers do the talking.

The way a hymn is introduced or led or if the star is twirling, you might begin to have an idea of what is going on in my head at different points of the service — maybe. A lot of what I do during worship is, for the most part, planned out. I have a game plan that can all change in an instant, depending on the flow of worship. Sometimes, I have an idea that doesn’t work, so we adjust, on the spot. I’ll let you in on how I think during a worship service. Just don’t tell anyone!

It all starts with the prelude. The prelude is a way for us to center ourselves for worship. Most of the time, the prelude is based on one of the hymns we are singing during the service, or it has something to do with the day. For example, on Ascension Sun­­day the prelude started with an ascending line in the pedal and continued the ascending theme throughout the piece.

The postlude sends us out into the world to share the Gospel. The majority of time the postlude will be based on a hymn from the service. Sometimes there are melodies that run through my head and I will improvise on one of those. Generally if you see “C. Nelson” listed, I am working through an improvisation on a hymn tune or a rogue melody in my head.

These are just a few of the things that we think about when planning worship for the day. There should be a flow in worship, a cohesive and constant theme throughout the service.

The hymns that we sing during worship are a mixture of old and new. We have the great hymns of our faith that were written hundreds of years ago, but we have hymns that have been written within the last 50 years that have the same staying power. Therefore we have a responsibility to learn these hymns and sing them in worship. My job as a worship leader is to introduce these hymns in a way that we are able to sing them. I take the texts of the hymns and find ways to bring out a word or phrase with a musical motif.

For example, we recently sang the hymn Come Down, O Love Divine. In the introduction, I imitated the movement of a feather as it gently floats to the ground. Through the little intricacies, we find a different meaning to the hymns we sing. I think about each introduction to the hymn by reading the text, listening to the sermon, and applying those images to each hymn.

The music in worship is there to enhance our worship, to enhance the preached word, to enrich the meal at the table, to better equip us for the world in which we are sent every week. I encourage you to listen for the little things and let them help to enhance your worship experience.

Soli Deo Gloria! *

Chris Nelson,

Editor’s note: Soli Deo Gloria, or Glory to God alone, is a tenet of faith rooted in the Protestant Reformation. Johann Sebastian Bach signed the initials “SDG” to the musical manuscripts of each of his cantatas. If you look closely on the St. Paul pipe organ, you’ll find Soli Deo Gloria inscribed there too, signifying that the music is inspired not for our glory but to God’s.

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