Infinitely More is on Facebook!

We've just started our new Infinitely More band page on Facebook!

If you're a Facebook member, please visit our page and click "Like." And we'd love it if you'd please share our page with your friends!

If you're not a Facebook member, you can still visit the page and take a look around.

Here's our page: www.Facebook.com/InfinitelyMoreBand

To start us off, I've added a photo album of our recent Worship Team Workshop.

Book Review: "The Sacred Meal" by Nora Gallagher

Of the books I've reviewed so far, this is definitely my favourite.

Part of The Ancient Practices Series (edited by Phyllis Tickle,) I expected The Sacred Meal to be a fairly academic book, and to my pleasant surprise, it really wasn't.

Nora Gallagher weaves history, tradition, and memoir to explore Holy Communion. Her writing is effortless, full of imagery, and at times, poetic. Even though she explores the practicalities of this universal practice, she keeps the ultimate story of Communion to be a personal one. How does Communion affect you, today, and in these circumstances?

In reading other reviews of this book, I found it interesting that a lot of reviewers would have preferred a more academic approach to the topic, and that's definitely a fair opinion. I guess, for a lifelong Christian like me, it can get easy to fall into the sameness of Communion. Nora's book reminded me that everything I do pre-altar can feed into my Communion experience, and likewise, my Communion experience can feed into everything I do in 'real' life.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

New Video!

Yesterday, I wrote about our performance of Isaac Everett's Psalm 130. Thanks to Rev. Tay Moss, we have a great video from the service.

I've decided to use this video to kick off the new Video page of our Infinitely More site!

Please visit www.InfinitelyMore.ca/Video to see the new video!

The Emergent Psalter

One of the things we love is receiving a cool creative challenge.

This week, we returned to Church of the Messiah where we were asked to sing Psalm 130 in the style of The Emergent Psalter.

The brainchild of composer Isaac Everett, The Emergent Psalter introduces a new musical style to the ancient art of singing the psalms. Isaac has written a simple, singable refrain for each psalm, and it's up to the musician to create the musical setting for the verses. On his podcast, he meets with different musicians who improvise until they create something they think works. The same refrain could be used to create a psalm setting that is gentle and reflective or urgent and rocking.

Since we were singing Psalm 130 in Lent, we decided to keep it simple but with intensity. For the verses, Gerald riffed on the guitar, while I did mixture of singing and speaking. Luckily, we got a great video of it, so I'll post a link to that tomorrow.

In this same service, we also performed The Wood Song, which we rehearsed last week. It went really well, and the addition of the extra voices and violin was a real pleasure.

This evening, we played for the Gathering at St. John's, which was awesome. We're nearing the end of our Lenten musical themes, and as we sang the final lines of Mighty to Save, I could feel Easter rumbling underneath, ready to break forth...

Saviour
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of Salvation
He rose & conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Hymns & Their Stories

A small sample from my collection...

Tonight, we presented our new program: Hymns and Their Stories. We designed the show to be used in seniors homes (which was our venue tonight), but really, it could also be used for any kind of gathering that needs a light, 60-minute musical presentation.

I love collecting hymnals, and I love finding the stories behind my favourite hymns. It was that love that inspired Hymns in the Key of Grace, and it was also the inspiration for this new show.

Tonight, we sang lots of favourites - "Be Thou My Vision," "How Great Thou Art," "In The Garden," and "Amazing Grace." We told the stories behind their creation, and encouraged lots of singing along.

We knew we'd hit the right note after the show, when staff and residents alike stayed behind to share their own favourite hymns and stories. If you'd like to bring Hymns and Their Stories to your seniors home or event, feel free to contact me.

Church of the Messiah & The Gathering

Our busy weekend continued this morning with an awesome service at Church of the Messiah. We love visiting Messiah because they're very open to all kinds of musical voices. This morning, we lead most of the music, but we also had organ and choir for certain pieces.

Messiah's beautiful Sunday school room. The mural spreads around the room and over the ceiling.

For the Kyrie (Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy), I decided to try something different. I took a very traditional setting, shifted the metre a little, and turned it into a round. I lead from the centre of the church, directing each side in their part. It sounded so beautiful!

After the service, we met with Laura and Betsy to rehearse for next week's service. Betsy has chosen an Indigo Girls song that she thinks will resonate with the congregation. The four of us will trade off on the verses, Gerald will play guitar, and Betsy will play violin. I think it's going to sound great.

Betsy and Gerald rehearsing for next week.

This afternoon, we met for the Gathering service at St. John's York Mills. Our friend, Susan, had originally been assigned to piano for the night, but when she showed up with her guitar, it changed everything. She's a great guitar player, so to have her and Gerald playing together was just awesome. Susan is also a songwriter, so after the service, we took some time to share some of our songs with each other. It was a great way to end a musical weekend!

Gerald and Susan, trading axes.

Worship Team Workshop - Sharing Break Forth

As you may remember, this past January, Gerald and I flew to Edmonton to attend the awesome Break Forth conference (You can see photos of our experience here.)

Our church generously provided some financial assistance for the trip, so as a thanksgiving, we organized a Worship Team workshop today to share some of the things we learned at the conference.

We started by sharing the basics of Break Forth - the enormous crowds of worshipers, the amazing speakers, and the freakishly cold weather. We gave the highlights of each class we took, and shared a few nuggets of information that we felt would be interesting or useful to our team.

Then, Gerald and I took turns teaching on one specific topic. I loved what Paul Baloche taught about our role to "minister to the Lord" and the practice of personal worship. I played a clip from one of his training DVDs that addresses this exact topic, and shared my notes and thoughts from the workshop.

Then, we broke the crowd into small discussion groups of 3 or 4 people. Each group was asked to the following 2 questions:

1. What is one thing you do Monday through Saturday (ie: not going to church) that you consider an act of worship?
2. Thinking outside the box, what is one new thing you could try that could weave more worship into your everyday life?

After 15 minutes, we regrouped, and each group shared one or two ideas that they found particularly interesting or inspiring. The discussions were spirited, and it was awesome to hear some of the new ideas.

After a short break to refresh the coffee and grab more snacks (it's a church event - of course we ate!), we gathered for Gerald's talk on songwriting. We don't have a lot of active songwriters in our group right now, but we have a lot of people who are interested in songwriting, so we're excited about nurturing and developing this in the team. Gerald based part of his discussion on Brian Doerkson's class "The Agony and the Ecstasy." He talked about the writing process, the challenge of writing songs that actually minister to people, and the power of a great idea. There were a lot of questions and some great discussion. Gerald shared our dream of starting a Christian songwriting group, where we could meet together to share songs, learn new skills, and encourage each other to write great songs for worship.

All in all, it was a great experience, and the feedback was very positive. I'm hoping to get some photos soon, so I'll let you know when they're up.

Searching for Spring...

Two days ago, it snowed.

On Tuesday, it might snow again.

So I'm celebrating signs of spring...

Tulips growing in my parents' backyard.


Sedum that survived the snow in our garden.

The seasonal aisle is selling grass seed instead of ice salt.

The only time of year I'm happy to see weeds in my garden.

Mom has put up her spring wreath,
a reminder that Easter is just around the corner!


See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
Song of Solomon 2:11-13 NIV

East Coast Tour - mapping it out!

Last summer, my heart longed for Newfoundland
(as it tends to do in all Newfoundlanders)...

As the longing grew, we decided to plan an ambitious tour that will take us through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland over the entire month of August 2011.

I've been sharing our plans in our newsletter (there's a sign up box for our newsletter on the right side of this blog), but I just realized I haven't been blogging about it! What's up with that?

So, now we're blogging!

Our goal is to do a minimum of 20 concerts in festivals, private homes, and churches of all denominations. We have a few concerts on the books, and a few more in talks.

The current challenge is the route. So today, we took advantage of Mom and Dad's road-trip experiences. The four of us sat down with all the maps I'd ordered (thank you, provincial tourism!) and mapped out a driving route.

Here's our current plan for the tour (dates are approximate):

August 2 - Start the drive from Ontario.
August 4-7 - New Brunswick.
August 10-22 - Newfoundland, moving west to east.
August 23-29 - Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

If you're in any of these areas, or know any churches or venues in these areas, we'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me via the Contact page on www.InfinitelyMore.ca

Living Manna, Living Bread

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!

This morning, we visited St. John's Weston for another dose of Cafe Church. People gathered around tables as we played gentle welcoming music. Instead of a traditional sermon, the priest, Michelle, divided people into small groups. Each group was asked to discuss a Bible verse on the theme of "sacrificial giving," and then write and read a prayer based on their discussion. We then moved into Communion, transitioning from a meal of coffee and sweets to one of bread and wine. We sang our own songs for reflection, and to emphasize the theme, finished with the congregational song, "Sister Let Me Be Your Servant." Powerful worship in a casual setting!

This evening, we joined an awesome team at St. John's York Mills for the Gathering service. In addition to our standard band tonight, we also welcomed a keyboardist and a violin player!

As the final song of the opening set, Monique had chosen my song "Living Manna, Living Bread." It was the first time we'd done it for the Gathering, so I knew people would just be learning it on the first verse. As we got to the second verse, I could see mouths moving as people started to recognize the melody. But by the third verse, people had started to worship - hands raised, eyes closed, voices singing.

It's hard to describe the feeling of watching all this unfold. We know the songs come from a source greater than ourselves, but to see the songs connecting people back to that source, well, it's pretty awesome.

Nashville - Capturing Songs

I decided to take advantage of some quiet time today and dip into the song-filled air of Nashville.

I sat in Tara's living room by a sunny window with my favourite songwriting tools - my pink MacBook, my pink Bible, and my Masterwriter.

A blank Masterwriter page, ready for a new lyric...

Masterwriter is our favourite lyric writing program. A new file opens for each song. From that page, you can visit several resources - rhyming and regular dictionaries, thesaurus, pop culture references, a full Bible - and collect words and phrases that might inspire your song.

In the silence, I transcribed a lyric I'd recorded last month on my iphone. As I wrote out the first verse and hummed the melody, the structure became clear, and I wrote a second verse and chorus. Next, I drifted through songs that are in my "close" category - lyrics that need a final polish or maybe a pass with a co-writer. Finally, I opened a new page, and thought about Palm Sunday. A first verse came, and then more verses that took the singer through the events of Holy Week. I wrote a full lyric, but it's a different theme than I first intended, which is always kind of fascinating.

I'm feeling more and more inspired to write these days. I often think of Brian Doerkson's term "writing for the gaps." In contemporary praise music, we don't have a lot of songs for liturgical moments or certain seasons of the church year. I want to write songs for these gaps.

It's been a funny trip. We haven't been able to get out and hear any music, but I feel like the music's been coming to us...

Nashville - Good Friends, Good Songs, Good Food

We spent the early part of the day with Tara, having a long lunch at the amazing Monell's. We lingered in the garden for while, drinking in the sunshine, and sharing favourite praise songs with each other. I took notes and I'm planning a "song shopping" session on CCLI when I get home.

The Cupcake Collection, while waiting in line!

In anticipation of tonight's dinner (not that we should have been thinking about more food at this point!), we walked over to The Cupcake Collection, where the line-up meandered out the door and down to the sidewalk. As we approached, people were cheering and dancing on the front porch. These are people who love their cupcakes! And trust me, their red velvet is dance worthy!

Jenna and I sat by this glorious saucer magnolia tree!

I spent the afternoon sharing caffeine and stories with my good friend, and Church of the Redeemer music director, Jenna. I talked about Infinitely More and the new songs we're writing and plans for our East Coast tour. She talked about the Redeemer team and her journey and where she feels God is directing her path. It was an inspiring visit.

As she told her story, I heard the start of a song. As I drove back to Tara's, it started to grow. I rushed into the apartment, shunning everyone til I could write down the things that were brewing. It's still very rough, but it's a start.

Gerald always says the air is full of songs here in Nashville... you just have to listen and pull them out...

Nashville - Studio Day

Last summer, we recorded 9 demos of Gerald's country songs. We were really happy with the results, but as we listened to the demos, we realized one of the vocal performances wasn't quite what we needed it to be. It's nothing against the singer, but sometimes, you just need a different feel for the song.

Denny Martin & demo singer, Paul Pace

Today, we returned to the studio of Denny Martin to re-record the vocal. We were joined by powerhouse vocalist Paul Pace. He sang 4 hours of demo singing this afternoon, was heading to a showcase at 6:00pm, and then had another full performance gig from 8 til midnight. That stamina is a great mix of natural talent and healthy technique.

And what a voice! He nailed the song - lead vocal and harmonies - both in notes and performance. He gave it just the right kind of energy. After Paul left, we stayed with Denny as he did the mixing. So interesting to watch how it all comes together, and to hear Denny's stories about his experiences in producing and songwriting.

We now have 9 awesome demos! Tomorrow, we start getting them out to the people who can do something great with them.

We're in Nashville!

In the last 2 days, we've changed countries, time zones, and seasons.

We've ditched our winter coats and admired the blooming magnolias.
We've had catfish, pulled pork, and fried green tomatoes.
We're hanging out with friends, laughing lots, and saying y'all.

We're in our southern home...

Spiritual Fitness Plan for Lent

My Dad, Rev. Hollis Hiscock, is writing a weekly Spiritual Fitness Plan for Lent. His plan includes scripture, reflections, and practical spiritual exercises.

To follow along, visit Dad's blog: www.MossFromARollingStone.blogspot.com

St. John's York Mills - Part 2

Gerald and I were back as team leaders tonight, and what a great band we had! Gerald on guitar/vocals, Brian on percussion, Carol on guitar, Steve on bass, Susan on piano/vocals, and me on vocals/worship leader.

We chose a mix of praise songs ("Indescribable") and songs that reminded us of the Lenten message ("Refiners Fire"). Like this morning, we offered Gerald's song "All The Things I've Broken" as a song of reflection. We tied it together with lots of prayer, led by Drew, Brian, and myself.

Playing on the team is always good, but sometimes, the music flies off the page, and the worship transcends the everyday. That's what it felt like tonight. Effortless, beautiful, and open.

Nights like tonight, I'm so glad I said "yes" when God came calling...

St. John's York Mills - Part 1

This morning, Gerald and I led the praise team at St. John's. This was also the morning we welcomed our new interim music director, Eric Osborne. (Eric will lead the choir and play the organ while we're looking for a new full-time music director.)

It also marked the first Sunday of Lent, so with all these things coming together, Gerald and I decided to try a few new things today:

Traditionally, the organist has only played for the choir, but today, we invited Eric to leave the organ bench and play piano with us for "My Heart is Filled With Thankfulness."

For the first Communion song, we played Gerald's original song, "All The Things I've Broken," as a song of reflection. The praise team never gets to play a song that's not congregational, so it was nice to be able to offer this message in this way.

Our final Communion song was the beautiful "King of Love." The band played the first two verses, and when we got to the third verse, Eric joined us on organ! Yes, organ and praise band! It was majestic and awesome!

For so long (and like so many churches!), we've had two distinct music 'camps' in our church - traditional and contemporary. But today, we broke the seal. We're far from being one cohesive music team, but I truly feel that today was the first step towards a music team united by a love of great music and powerful worship.

World Day of Prayer

Today I participated in the World Day of Prayer service at St. John's. Each year, women from a particular country write a new prayer liturgy for the service. On the same day, women from over 2000 communities in Canada and 170 countries around the world lead the liturgy in their home churches.

This year, the service was written by the women of Chile, and it reflected their particular culture and language. The theme "How Many Loaves Have You?" was woven into the prayers and the music. My involvement was as a dramatic reader for the story of Elijah and the Widow. (1 Kings) I played Elijah, and it was fun to stretch my dramatic muscles a bit.

The whole service was so lovely, with references to Chilean culture and history. We had women from seven different churches participate in the service, with a reflection offered by our rector. I wasn't able to stay for the reception, but rumour has it there were empanadas and homemade bread!

New Song Sunday

This morning, we lead the music at the Church of the Messiah in Toronto. They're a great church with a very open and creative attitude towards music and worship, so I knew we'd have a great time with them.

Since this is the last Sunday before Lent, we decided to sing lots of uplifting songs, like "How Great Thou Art" and "Shine Jesus Shine". In the Anglican tradition, we don't sing Alleluia during Lent, so we included lots of Alleluia songs, like Michael W. Smith's "Agnus Dei."

One of the challenges of visiting different churches is the service music. Most often, these pieces (like the Sanctus, the Psalm, etc) have been written for keyboard or organ and they don't work well on the guitar. So for today's service, Gerald and I decided to write two new pieces of service music!

I wrote an Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God") with a gentle, pretty melody. Gerald added his beautiful guitar, and I was really happy with the results. For the Gloria, we decided to create something based on the tradition of "paperless music." In this style, the leader teaches the congregation a simple, singable piece by rote. I made the text "Gloria to God in the highest and peace to His people on Earth" into a 2-line refrain with an uptempo beat. Gerald added a cool groove to keep the pulse going. I taught the refrain to the choir and congregation, and then sang the verses myself. People sang out, and it was really fun!

I think there are other churches who might have a need for songs like ours, so I've decided to register them with CCLI. It's going to take a little while before they're available to license them through their services, but I'll let you know when they're online.

We really had a great time at Messiah this morning. We're going to return for two Sundays in Lent, and we're talking with the cantor about ways we can work with the choir for those services.

Later in the day, we sang with our mega-sized band at St. John's for the Gathering service. Then, we came home and watched the 25th anniversary concert of Les Mis. All in all, a great day of music!

New photos!

I've spent the last few days reworking the Photo page of www.InfinitelyMore.ca

I decided to create photo albums so we could share more stories and photos from our adventures. I moved the photos we already had on the site into albums, and added two new albums for Break Forth and our Fireside Concert.

You can visit the newly reworked page at www.InfinitelyMore.ca/Photos I'd love your feedback on the look and feel of the new albums!