SERVICE OF HYMNS & READINGS

1
SERVICE OF HYMNS & READINGS
CTI 233 FALL 2021
SUGGESTED TOPICS
Liturgical: Confirmation, All Saints Day, Reformation Day, Ash Wednesday, Ascension, Christ the
King
Non-liturgical:Thanksgiving, Baccalaureate/Commencement, Earth Day, Mother’s Day/God as mother
figure, Father’s Day/God as father figure, Celebrating the Calvinist tradition, Celebrating
the Transcendent God, Celebrating the Immanent God, Three Themes of the Lord’s
Prayer/Our Father, Blessing of the Animals
Social justice: Racism, gender identity/sexual orientation/coming out, illness, physical/mental conditions
(includes dementia), socio-economic conditions (for example, financial distress,
homelessness, food insecurity, class), war, world peace, pacifism, love for neighbor
Relationships: Family, birth, adoption, youth/young adults, elder care, end-of-life concerns (this could
even include organ donation or donation of the body to scientific study)
Other: Recovery from a natural disaster, belief and unbelief, Christianity around the world (four
different ethnic traditions, none with English as native language), military service, death
Off-limits: Funeral/memorial service, marriage/wedding, liturgical seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent,
Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost), baptism, Holy Communion
CLAIMING YOUR TOPIC
Only one person will be assigned to any given topic. Submit your top three preferences via email
no later than 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, 2 December.
You will receive email confirmation of your topic, and it will be posted on Moodle
as having been claimed and made ineligible for others.
You may propose a topic that is not included on the list above.
4 HYMNS
(This is different from the sample service on Moodle.)
• All must logically relate to your topic.
• At least two must come from Glory to God.
• At least one must come from an online source. Start with www.hymnary.org and click on the
“Topics” link. The list there is huge, but not exhaustive; in some cases, you have to think about
what you want to express about your topic, and then look for that term. For example, the link to
“race” does not lead you to hymns about racism, and there are no links to gender identity. In some
cases, you will need to Google “hymns about ____” in addition to or instead of hymnary.org.
• For each hymn, you must prepare a paragraph of information about its history. Hymnary.org is a
great source for this, but you are likely to find other information online as well. Do not simply cut
and paste what you find either in print hymnals or online. You should consult at least 2 different
sources per hymn and pull together what you consider to be useful facts about the hymn in an
original statement that you craft yourself. As always, Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica are
not acceptable sources for this assignment.
• You must also add to each paragraph a statement of why you chose that particular hymn.
NOTE: This is missing from the sample service posted on Moodle.
2
4 READINGS
• All must logically relate to your topic.
• You must include the full text of each reading in your order of service.
• All readings must be at least three sentences or three Bible verses long, enough to develop a
thought. ***Readings shorter than that will not receive credit.***
• You must use at least one psalm. If you prefer, you may use a psalm setting for one of your
hymns. Settings of psalm texts are clearly marked in Glory to God.
• You must have at least one responsive reading for responsorial (reader alternates with
congregation) or antiphonal (two groups alternate) reading. This could be your psalm, a call to
worship, or another text.
• Because this is a Christian service, you must use at least one Bible reading that does not come
from the Book of Psalms. Texts from the Apocrypha are acceptable for this.
• Your remaining readings may come from hymnals, devotional books, prayer books, online
resources, or an original piece written by you. These actually do not have to come from the
Christian tradition. You may find this source to be especially helpful:
https://www.uua.org/worship/music/hymnals/singing-living-tradition/index-readings.
• There should be a logical and perceptible sense of flow from beginning to end, taking your
congregation on a spiritual journey of sorts as you work with different aspects of your topic.
PRESENTING YOUR SERVICE
Your order of service will contain the following: the full text of each reading; the title, tune name, meter,
hymnal source, and commentary (both historical and personal) about each hymn. You need to provide a
link to any hymns that are not found in Glory to God. Alternate the readings and the hymns! If you
wish, you may add a fifth reading to function as a benediction or something that otherwise ensures that
you are satisfied with the overall flow of the service. This is not a requirement, nor is it for extra credit;
it’s just an option for exercising your creativity. A sample service is posted on Moodle. As noted above,
the sample service contains an additional reading and hymn, and lacks the personal commentary on the
hymns. For extra credit, you may present portions of your service to the class on Friday, 12 December.
DOCUMENTING YOUR WORK
Provide a bibliography of all sources used at the end of your service. Your citations may be in either
Chicago (preferred) or MLA style.
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK
The deadline for submitting this project is Sunday, 12 December at 3:00 p.m.
Projects submitted by 11:00 a.m. on Friday, 10 December and presented to the class
will receive extra credit.
Submit it as a PDF using the Assignment link on Moodle.
The assignment is worth 50 points:
3 points per choice of reading = 12 points total
6 points per choice of hymn and documentation = 24 points total
8 points overall for service design and treatment of topic
6 points overall for writing mechanics and bibliography.
This includes proofreading any downloaded readings
and editing those sources as necessary.
3