05/22/2026
Join us this Sunday, at 11:00 a.m., in the Sanctuary, for Pentecost as we try a new style of worship. All music today is drawn from, The Sacred Harp (1844), a landmark of early American hymnody also known as shape note singing. Shape note singing took root in eighteenth-century New England and soon spread to the American South, where it took firm root. To this day, many churches in rural Appalachia sing from this body of music. Today’s service is modeled on the traditional worship style of American South churches in the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. Sacred Harp worship endeavors to be a truly democratic experience. There are no rehearsals, and there are no separate seats for the congregation. Worshippers sit in a “hollow square” formation, all facing inwards, so we can see and hear each other in true musical and theological equity. Traditionally, there is no conductor - rather, congregation members are invited to come up one by one, announce the tune of their choice, and begin leading.
Concepts like singing in perfect tune and blend are alien to shape note singing. This style encourages a bright, reedy sound, swooping between pitches, and general liberties with the notes themselves. If you don’t know the music, that’s fine - simply fake it the best you can, and there will be no judgment! We will also spend a little time before service starts to teach some simple tunes.
Shape note music’s power lies in its emphasis on a democratic, community-focused worship style in which all are welcome to praise God. This is full-body, ‘shout-it-out’ singing: the music of a young democratic nation finding its place in the world and creating its own hymn-singing style out of whole cloth. The harmonies are stark and haunting -- raw, even. In Sacred Harp, you don't want a sweet sound. As one shape note singer told NPR, “it might not be the most traditionally beautiful music in the world, but it can be the most powerful.”
It's our hope that the story of Pentecost, with its wind, fire, and speaking in tongues, finds resonance in this very different, but deeply devout, worship style.
