One thing can be said for the music at Wollaston Congregational Church: “It’s not like this every week!”
We strive to make music in worship eclectic in style and genre, appropriate for the season, and highly participatory.
Congregational singing, like many worship elements, shows that what the people do together, often means more than what is done for them.
This means that on a given Sunday, there may be a Bach prelude, traditional hymns, a sung psalm, a prayer response sung in Swahili, and a Curtis Mayfield tune played during Communion. All of the words to all of the music we sing are projected on the wall, so that the congregation may be freed from the shackles of bulletin and hymnal – but we have those too. Occasionally we have special music: a guest trumpeter, the children’s chorus, a soloist, ensemble, or guest pianist.
Ecumenical Worship
Wollaston also participates in ecumenical worship services through the Interchurch Council of Wollaston and North Quincy.
In 2009, we were the host church for the Thanksgiving Service, and in 2010, we (three kings) participated in the annual “Festival of Lights” with the Quincy Choral Society.
Worship Renewal
In 2007, we received a worship renewal grant from the Calvin Institute for Worship Renewal, which is located at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Funding for the project came from the Eli Lilly Foundation.
During this project, the church, along with 7 local churches, studied Protestant worship, and investigated possibilities for enhancing worship in our own congregations.
We sponsored a number of workshops and book discussions throughout the year. We were blessed to have Rev. Dr. Thomas Long, of the Candler School of Theology come and spend a weekend presenting his book Beyond the Worship Wars – Building Vital and Faithful Worship.
During Lent, each congregation hosted a Wednesday evening Lenten Service, in their own church. Members from each church travelled to worship and experience other traditions in our own community.
The series culminated in a city-wide Palm Sunday service at Wollaston Congregational Church, featuring the group “Cloud of Witness.” Singing are Sara Goplin, Barb Siftar, Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett, Alyson Greer (soloist), and Peter Johnston.
The Organ was built by the Allen Organ Company of Macungie, Pennsylvania and purchased through G. Paul Music in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1996. With 43 speaking stops, including percussion, and MIDI on two manuals and pedals, it is able to faithfully play material from all periods and styles of organ literature. It has a range of tonal resources that would be very difficult to duplicate in the space available to it, and at an affordable price, were it a pipe organ.
