Music at FCC
"From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us."
--St. Teresa of Avila
Worship at First Community is full of music and little of it could be deemed silly or appropriate for the sour-faced saints. It is as rich and diverse as the blooming plants grown at the local arboretum.
Our Choir sometimes offers complex classical pieces that draw us into the mysterious presence of the Holy, and within a week, they can be singing a spiritual which embodies the joy of God’s liberating work among us. There are Sundays in which both these styles can be experienced in worship along with other genres of music. The quality of their music is excellent, but how their gifts are integrated into worship by Organist/Choir Director Richard Abrahamson is what is most effective and moving.
The J.D. and Elizabeth Francis Bell Choir also enriches worship on occasions as the clear tones of the Schulmerick English Hand Bells, or the rich tones of the Petit and Fritsen Dutch Hand Bells can be heard resonating throughout the worship center space.
Congregational singing is as lively as it is diverse. We sing traditional hymns, spirituals, chants, and various parts of the liturgy. Most Sundays the Lord’s Prayer is sung responsively and even the "Words of Assurance" occasionally have a sung element. Superb soloists are also interspersed periodically and to add further to the diversity we also have been known to include a gospel quartet.
Our worship center instruments include the powerful 27 stop Kney tracker Pipe Organ and a Steinway studio grand piano. Our staff percussionist plays a traditional drum kit, and also regularly employs a wide gamut of hand drums and other percussion instruments from Middle Eastern and African traditions.
Music at FCC?—Whatever you can imagine we’ve probably done it. Don’t you want to add your voice to ours as we worship a God of surprises?
Music at FCC
"From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us."
--St. Teresa of Avila
Worship at First Community is full of music and little of it could be deemed silly or appropriate for the sour-faced saints. It is as rich and diverse as the blooming plants grown at the local arboretum.
Our Choir sometimes offers complex classical pieces that draw us into the mysterious presence of the Holy, and within a week, they can be singing a spiritual which embodies the joy of God’s liberating work among us. There are Sundays in which both these styles can be experienced in worship along with other genres of music. The quality of their music is excellent, but how their gifts are integrated into worship by Organist/Choir Director Richard Abrahamson is what is most effective and moving.
The J.D. and Elizabeth Francis Bell Choir also enriches worship on occasions as the clear tones of the Schulmerick English Hand Bells, or the rich tones of the Petit and Fritsen Dutch Hand Bells can be heard resonating throughout the worship center space.
Congregational singing is as lively as it is diverse. We sing traditional hymns, spirituals, chants, and various parts of the liturgy. Most Sundays the Lord’s Prayer is sung responsively and even the "Words of Assurance" occasionally have a sung element. Superb soloists are also interspersed periodically and to add further to the diversity we also have been known to include a gospel quartet.
Our worship center instruments include the powerful 27 stop Kney tracker Pipe Organ and a Steinway studio grand piano. Our staff percussionist plays a traditional drum kit, and also regularly employs a wide gamut of hand drums and other percussion instruments from Middle Eastern and African traditions.
Music at FCC?—Whatever you can imagine we’ve probably done it. Don’t you want to add your voice to ours as we worship a God of surprises?