December 31, 2022 Voices Found resolutions

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Voices Found: Women in the Church's Song.  As I looked in 1997 for liturgical music by women for a small service at St. Mark's Locust Street in Philadelphia this is the first piece I found in the Bryn Mawr/Haverford music library.

This is an antiphon by Hildegard of Bingen, Laus Trinitati, a song in praise of the Holy Trinity.  A group of women who enjoyed medieval studies and the Latin language loved learning and singing this piece for an inclusive language Eucharist.  Eventually Church Publishing, Inc. published it along with a collection of liturgical song by, for, and about women.  Finally there were some songs available to the Anglican and Roman communions by and about women of faith.  Some congregations began to sing from Voices Found as well as from other official supplements to the Hymnal 1982.  

Most musicians and pastors choose music for worship based on the liturgical lectionary shared by the Anglican, Roman, and Lutheran lectionaries.  The rarity of Scriptural readings about women in the Bible in the common lectionaries has limited the use of songs about women.  This year Church Publishing has produced a lectionary that intentionally lifts up Biblical stories about  women.  I applaud Wil Gafney for undertaking this enormously important task.  If approved her lectionary readings will bring the lessons of Biblical women to the attention of the whole liturgical Church.  

My resolution for 2023 is to write the story of Voices Found along with suggested meditations.  I will invite others to offer their thoughts, prayers, and meditations based on the diverse collection of texts and music we compiled in the book.