WEEKLY REFLECTION I August 23, 2026 – Proper 16A

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On Sundays, when you come into church and are handed a bulletin, did you ever wonder how the service details are put together? You know, of course, that participants volunteer for specific things, and Janice Clymer, Nancy Cygan and Kathy Leber create schedules. Because there is an official insert with the readings, you probably guess that’s something that comes from the national church. Everything else? Lynne Wert designs the bulletin and puts all the huge number of moving parts into a coherent format. The list of people in the Prayers comes from you. Birthday and anniversary commemorations come from information you give the office. (If you have changes or would like to see your special Day listed, please let us know! We haven’t become mind readers YET. Working on it…and failing so far.) Then, every 4-6 weeks, Dodd and I sit down together with a table-full of liturgy books, lectionaries and hymnals, to choose the service music, Eucharistic prayer and hymns. Finally, Dodd takes EVERYTHING all together and chooses preludes and postludes that reflect the themes and readings for each Sunday. So there you have a brief peek into what happens behind the Sunday scenes. On a regular Sunday, that is. If it’s a holiday, there is a baptism, or we have special visitors (Bishops!), then there are even more layers. We’ll look at that some other time.

Beginning in the fall, we would like to experiment with a different sort of music. Dodd has written a piece to introduce you to it. As always, there will certainly be hymn teaching!

See you on Sunday!
Mo. Laura+

DIALOGUE WITH DODD: Introducing Taizé at St. Margaret’s

Many of you have experienced worship songs and chants from the monastic community in Taizé, France. The community, made up of brothers from all continents and major denominations, gather together three times a day, seven days a week, throughout the year to pray. The Taizé community models reconciliation among Christian denominations and prays for the reconciliation of all humanity. Taize’s unique style of song uses simple musical lines and core Biblical texts that – repeated over and over – can be sung by a whole assembly of various nationalities, languages, and denominations.

For a week in 2008, a sabbatical colleague and I were guests at Taizé. Thrice-daily worship was the highlight, as we shared the huge-yet-simply-appointed chapel with more than 1,000 other pilgrims, mostly college students and young adults. Led by a single monk playing a synthesizer, whose harpsichord sound was broadcast into the many side rooms, our tenor and baritone harmonized with voices of people from all over the world.

As we at St. Margaret’s move into autumn, I’d like us to experiment with some of the simpler Taizé chants in our Sunday liturgies. On the appointed day, we’ll learn a melody during the

Prelude time, then at the Offertory sing it repeatedly until the altar is set. We might – if it seems right to us and the Spirit – use that chant for a month, then learn a new one.

In Christ, always,
Dodd