Deep and Wide: Reflections on the New Upper Room Worshipbook

Introduction. The new edition of the Upper Room Worshipbook: Music and Liturgies for Spiritual Formationwas dedicated and first introduced to Upper Room program participants, staff, and the public in a delightful "launch-celebration" at the Discipleship Ministries in the summer of 2006. The gathering culminated a five-year editorial journey and a much longer dream of the Upper Room -- especially its Academy for Spiritual Formation program participants over the previous two decades. Those who gathered represented communities all around the country, as well as Puerto Rico, Africa, and elsewhere. The 1985 edition had served long and well in Academy and other retreat- and small-group settings, but so much had occurred since its first introduction, including:

Publication of The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and The Faith We Sing (2000)

Global Praise 1, 2, 3, and the growing influence of the Taizé and Iona communities, all inviting our awareness of the Body of Christ in global relationships

The contemporary "praise and worship" movement, our burgeoning digital culture and media explosion, and confusion about what "tradition" means

Events of deep and disturbing significance, especially 9/11, wars and rumors of wars, famines and disasters affecting millions

Astonishing changes to our worldview and self-understanding as American Christians, and a growing post-Christian environment in all parts of the country

Divisions among people both within and without the church.

We needed a fresh Worshipbook -- for a new day and on behalf of leaders and congregations straining toward an emerging church for the twenty-first century. We needed a book that would dig deeper into what is at stake for the spiritual formation of individuals in community and that would also embrace even more fully our baptismal call to participate in the work of God in the world, in the name of Christ. Could we give fresh impetus to a movement of renewal in the Wesleyan spirit? The new Worshipbook was launched with prayerful, high hopes for its transformative impact, cross-culturally, cross-generationally, Cross-shaped.

Matt Berryman, a participant leader in the summer 2006 event commented: "Here, at last, is a musical and liturgical resource whose depth and richness shows forth the infinite depth and richness of the One to whom it is offered. As with Sylvia Dunstan's masterful text, 'Christus Paradox,' this entire volume bears witness to the generative power of seemingly contradictory, but always complementary, forces in both the Holy Scriptures and human existence."

Long an advocate for the new Worshipbook, spiritual director and author Larry Peacock added, "The new UpperRoom Worshipbook nurtures the soul and strums the heart strings. Truly, singing and praying at its deepest and highest."

Then, a year after the pew edition had been introduced, the massiveAccompaniment and Worship Leader edition 2007 was published, just before the Fellowship convocation in St. Louis and the SoulFeast gathering at Lake Junaluska, at which the resource was received generously.

Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources for the Discipleship Ministries, described his experience with the Worshipbook at the Fellowship gathering:

I relied entirely on the URWB in planning and leading one of the morning worship services . . . It was marvelous to be able to draw such diversity from a single source -- a contemporary song in gospel style, spoken and sung Scripture, Spanish-Latino musical prayer with percussion, and an authentic African song of praise and liberation that engaged the entire assembly in spirited song and dance that seemingly would never end. None of these songs was available in our hymnal or The Faith We Sing, so they were new to most of those present. And many, many of those came to the Discipleship Ministries booth following the service to purchase copies of the book.

Reflections. With the release of both the 2006 pew edition and the 2007 Accompaniment and Worship Leader edition, I felt tremendous relief, as primary compiler and editor partnered with scores of others, at the completion of an amazing, overwhelming project that had occupied so much of the recent years of my own life, and the significant time and resources of many others. Actually, in some profound ways, the project represented my soul's own journey of ascents. This pilgrimage has been made among wonderful worshiping communities, has tapped the experience and represented the gifts and insights of many companions and numerous worship leaders and spiritual mentors, and has been graced by countless transformative encounters with the living, risen Christ. But the journey has not been easy.

After the general format for the new edition was agreed upon with a risk-taking and faithful Upper Room staff (remembering that Upper Room Books is itself not a music publisher), actual discernments about liturgical and musical content had to be derived in these ways:

• One two-day face-to-face advisory team meeting for defining guidelines and priorities for determining URWB content, convened by Academy director and prime mover of the project Jerry Haas. Other consulting Discipleship Ministries staff members included Dean McIntyre, Dan Benedict, and Francine Taylor-Thirus; guest Academy faculty and gifted theologians Dr. Don Saliers and Dr. Wendy Wright (whose interpretative essays and liturgical contributions appear in the pew book); and experienced Academy leaders Larry Peacock and Claire Childress, representing hosts of others.
• One two-day musical marathon to review possible inclusions with three other great Fellowship musicians who serve regularly as Academy worship leaders (Ginger Howl, Judy Holloway, Nancy Crouch). An event in itself!
• Subsequent consultation and communication -- an "online" exchange of opinion and recommendation from key people across the land, including composers, Fellowship, Discipleship Ministries, and seminary partners -- coupled with surveys and testing in several Two-Year Academy settings. All of this was undergirded by personal acquisition or creation of new materials and examination of piles of existing worship and hymnal resources. There were months when my husband Dick and I didn't see the dining room table at our home in Dayton!

Actual editorial tasks progressed slowly, supported by seasonal huddles with gracious Upper Room editors and excellent production support from experts at the United Methodist Publishing House; but, most often, through online surveys, charts, messages and drafts, and many late nights at the computer. It all seemed so impossible at times. Was this new resource going to be and do any good? Would it ever be completed?

With the public release of the Worshipbook, though, it turned out that my feelings were not only ones of great relief. Instead, an overwhelming sense of awe, humility, and fulfillment flooded me when the Worshipbook actually began to be received with enthusiasm and delight and to be celebrated as genuinely useful in motivating and enlivening worship in a surprising diversity of settings. Completing the Worshipbook project was truly not about me and my personal experience over twenty years with the transformational community of the Upper Room Academy for Spiritual Formation, and with many mentors and partners, but about a spiritual movement stirring in the church, toward recovery of Wesleyan "roots and wings," of aiming toward an ecumenical worship which is both "deep and wide." Alleluia, indeed.

Overview. The Upper Room Worshipbook: Music and Liturgies for Spiritual Formation contains over 400 pages of hymns and songs, psalms and psalm prayers, service music, and classic and refreshed liturgies for daily prayer and for Eucharist. All are offered to enliven and enrich worship and the spiritual journey of worshipers by providing resources for Upper Room and other spiritual growth programs, retreats and camps, congregational and small-group meetings, many kinds of conferences, seminary chapel services, and individual, personal prayer.

Contents of the Worshipbook reflect a number of "deep and wide" priorities, understood as essential to the ongoing, lifelong learning and spiritual formation of Christ-centered leaders for the emerging, twenty-first century church:

• Praise to God-in-three-persons, a Trinitarian spirituality
• Expressions of God's vision of shalom for all creation and all peoples
• Personal and social holiness in the Wesleyan spirit -- songs of justice, compassion, communal praise, Koinonia, and Sabbath-keeping
• Prayer reflecting the full, honest, emotive range of the Psalms
• Image-rich and Word-soaked texts that are foundational, evocative, and formative for Christian discipleship
• Music that is delightfully varied in origin and style, yet accessible
• Songs that pray for aching creation and peoples, yet embody the expectancy of healing and restoration
• Eucharistic joy in community, expressed in fresh language
• Recovery of the daily office and of healing prayer
• Alternative Eucharistic prayers and musical settings for Holy Communion and the Lord's Prayer.

Jerry Haas, in his preface to the resource, celebrates the Worshipbook as a gift to the whole church.

Worship as delighting in the love of God is a rare thing today. Perhaps in our haste to create new worship resources, we have neglected the spiritual life of the worshiper! Every page in the Worshipbook is for your formation and growth in Christ.

Some have characterized the Worshipbook as a wellspring for fresh texts sung to beloved tunes as well as new songs composed by both established and emerging writers, musicians, and practicing pastors. It also includes a rich section of global songs, introducing the worship gifts of rapidly growing Christian communities in the southern hemisphere. The Upper Room Worshipbook is being recommended as a boon to congregations who are experimenting with classical worship forms such as Evensong, with renewal of psalm singing, or experiencing the profound sung prayer of Taizé or Iona communities. Some new congregations and alternative worship service designers are even choosing the Worshipbook as their primary hymnal, and many church choirs are using it to enrich traditional worship contexts.

The large Accompaniment and Worship Leader edition (AWL) features major contributions by additional writers and contributing editors, with many practical helps, several major indices, and a number of reflective articles by worship mentors, along with full accompaniments, cantor and instrumental parts, and many suggestions for creative usage. It is now being cited in worship planning guides provided by Abingdon, Discipleship Resources, and other denominational and ecumenical worship manuals. Michelle Grimm, Cokesbury book store manager at United Theological Seminary, and a church musician herself, has commented, "I appreciate the Upper Room Worshipbook accompaniment edition (AWL) because it is easy to use. The additional parts provided for instrumental obbligatos and vocal soloists in the back of the book allow many musicians to join in worship leadership easily and without the problems associated with photocopying."

A sampler of other responses from worship leaders around the country:

The Rev. Hoyt Hickman, UM author, editor and liturgical scholar:

The new edition of Upper Room Worshipbook is the best liturgical/musical resource that I have ever seen for weekday worship by persons new to the disciplines of daily praise and prayer and spiritual formation ... The Psalter selections are the best and most usable that I have ever seen for mainline Protestants who were deprived of a Psalter tradition and are seeking to return ...

Marcia McFee, Co-Director of Worship of General Conference 2008:

The URWB is a worship designer's dream! So much poetic imagery is packed in this resource because of the high volume of alternative texts for tunes. Its variety of genres of music and lyrics means that whether I'm looking for a piece of music that will embody the depths of spirituality or searching for just the right poetry to proclaim the need for justice, this resource doesn't disappoint.

Dan Benedict, retired Director of the Worship Resources unit of the Discipleship Ministries, and active writer and consultant:

This is a book every pastor and committed disciple should have at hand. When people open this book and sing its songs and psalms, they light up. There is an honesty and "on-the-ground" quality to these selections. It is well suited to our postmodern context.

Rusty King, active Fellowship member and United Methodist Deacon, Spring Valley UMC in Dallas, TX:

I love the new texts to familiar tunes. The new settings of Psalms are refreshing. Communion musical settings are creative, especially the one using the tune "Now the Green Blade Riseth." I have so many new favorite songs/hymns that have come from this book.

Discipleship Ministries staffer Melissa Tidwell:

In this one resource we find a collection of songs that feature texts that are theologically meaningful and deeply creative; a happy blend of lively new tunes and new texts set to well-loved hymn tunes. Included are songs that fill special needs of worship planners in selecting music that calls participants away from the rush and business of daily life, that lift up the goodness of creation, and that creatively enhance our repertoire of images for the divine.

Sue Joiner, program director of Called Back to the Well ministries:

I have been looking for a songbook to use in retreats. I had given up and decided to create my own when I found the Upper Room Worshipbook. I am so excited to find a resource like this -- beautiful hymns and chants, easy to sing, music that takes us inward to reflect and outward to change the world. Thank you, Upper Room, for a wonderful worship resource!"

Finally, UM Deacon Judy Holloway:

... imbedded in the "DNA" of UMs is the call to a holiness of heart and life. The URWB advances and awakens the ongoing prayer of God's people, nurturing the love of God and neighbor. I think of the URWB as a resource for worship, liturgy, and song; and I also think of the WB as a kind of prayerbook. I can turn to the WB to hear the voices of those in the wider community, brothers and sisters from all over the world, singing and praying with them deepens my sense of connectedness.

So, the invitational journey continues for all of us worship leaders in 2008 and beyond. May the simple gifts of love to be found in the Worshipbook be transformative and helpful to you and all you serve in the name of Jesus Christ, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit, embraced and sustained by the grace of the great I AM.

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Fellowship member ELISE ESLINGER, director of the Institute for Applied Theology at United Theological Seminary, Trotwood, OH, is compiler and editor of the Upper Room Worshipbook.