Music at The Memorial Church
of the Good Shepherd
Roland Woehr, Jr., Choirmaster and Organist
Music at The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd enables us to give God a joyous gift of ourselves, a sacrifice of praise within our Eucharistic “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.” Parishioners experience music in our worship as ministry crafted to illuminate the Liturgy of the Word shaped by the Revised Common Lectionary. We are able to apprehend, claim and enjoy God’s word in a richer way through music than mere speech can afford. And it often seems that the Spirit’s “sighs” (Romans 8: 26 ) assist our prayers most meaningfully through the medium of music. Our choral anthems for the Word often precede our readings and thus ‘till the soil’ of our Christian consciousness for the ‘good seed’ contained in our appointed lessons. But beyond directed choral anthems, our congregational hymnody, psalmody and service music all have a role to play in vivifying our experience of the scriptures and of the Eucharist, and all worshipers are encouraged to participate fully to the end that our music itself becomes liturgy, the work of the people.
At The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd, we value our honored Anglican musical heritage as preserved in our anthem literature and in the 1982 Hymnal. However, we also value additional resources that have been published by the church (such as our African-American collection, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,”) and we include contemporary and multicultural anthems in worship that reflect our congregation’s rich diversity.
Our music is directed by Roland Woehr Jr., who holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Temple University, having studied with Alan Harler. An avid sacred music composer of over fifty anthems and a number of large choral works, Roland continues to compose and arrange for us in order that we might “sing to the Lord a new song.”
Our choir meets at 9:00 AM each Sunday, September through June, to prepare the directed music for the 10:00 AM celebration of the Holy Eucharist, Rite II. Parishioners and friends of the parish who are interested in singing with the choir are warmly welcome to meet with the choirmaster after the liturgy.
Cantate Domino, Omnes Gentes!
Sing to the Lord, All People! (Psalm 117:1)
