call to worship article published

January 04, 2022 by Paul Vasile in News, Article, Congregational Song

I’m grateful to be included in the most recent edition of Call to Worship, the liturgical journal of the Presbyterian Church (USA). There’s a fun photo on the cover as well as an article focused on paperless singing and my work with Music that Makes Community. And I was delighted to read the work of so many colleagues and friends in the same edition.

Thank you, Kim, for the invitation to share and the grace when pandemic burnout required some extra time to find my writing voice.

You can purchase a downloadable copy of the journal here.

we remember them

November 04, 2020 by Paul Vasile in Lament, Music, Pandemic, Congregational Song

I wrote this piece in 2017 but it has took on special poignance this year, especially as we consider the many lives lost to the coronavirus pandemic and related illnesses, depression, and isolation. It moves gently between spaces of grief and gratitude, and hopes to offer a space to name those who have died.

keep us faithful

August 12, 2020 by Paul Vasile in Music, Congregational Song

Keep Us Faithful was commissioned for Arlington Presbyterian Church for their move and grand opening of their new home at Gilliam Place. Read about their journey as a congregation and their commitment to create affordable housing in their community.

virtual hallelujahs: singing and making community online

April 23, 2020 by Paul Vasile in Congregational Song, Church, Leadership, Pandemic

Earlier this month, I was honored to facilitate one of Eden Theological Seminary’s new theological e-forums, which invite faculty to reflect on resources from their academic areas in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic.

It was rich, wide-ranging conversation about music making and community building and I was especially grateful to be joined by talented, insightful colleagues like Dr. Tony McNeil and Sarah Bereza, who helped offer a broader perspective on the gifts and challenges we're seeing.

waiting

December 01, 2019 by Paul Vasile in Advent, Congregational Song, Music

This jazz-inspired Advent song was written on the plains of Southern Ohio last spring and holds an invitation to reflection and wonder. Rather than assume we know who or what is coming (because we often struggle even to know ourselves), we are invited to look and listen, to be in the present moment, attentive to where and when Divine will manifest.

And it could be in any number of forms - sound, light, touch, a human body, or through the movement of grass on rolling hills. God is always being made known to us, and Advent calls us to heighten our senses, to practice paying attention both individually and in community.