MilieuWinter07PeopleNProgramsBreadfortheJourney

When Judy Congdon, professor of organ, attended a seminar during the summer of 2005, she learned of a grant program funded by the Lilly Endowment with the purpose of encouraging theological reflection about worship. Some months later, Congdon was in a meeting of the Committee on Spiritual Life when the group hit upon an idea. She explains: “The[y]…began to discuss matters related to congregational singing in chapel…and what we could do to foster…appreciation for a wider variety of congregational music...When the suggestion was made that we make a new book to use alongside the red hymnals, it occurred to me that this might be exactly the type of project that the grants program is looking for.”

In April 2006, Houghton’s grant application—the work of students, staff, faculty and representatives from both the Houghton and Fillmore Wesleyan Churches—was approved, and the “Bread for the Journey” project was born. The project has four main facets:

A leadership committee that meets biweekly to plan and organize events, to pray and worship together, and to study several grant-funded books on worship.
Monthly on-campus worship gatherings.
Three worship conferences featuring outside speakers (held on September 30 and November 4, 2006 and in February 2007).
The songbook itself (also called “Bread for the Journey”), which will be put together during the spring semester and ready for use in fall 2007.

Nominations for songs of worship are being solicited and accepted from the whole Houghton community.

Milieu welcomes your comments.

< Previous story l Top of page l Next story >