We’ve scarcely been home for a couple of days, and trying to adjust to the 12-hour time difference between Hawaii and Europe, and we’ll soon have to think about traveling again.
As Vice President of Region 4 of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, I have been on the committee to plan the regional conference, July 23-25, 2012 to be held in Thousand Oaks, CA at California Lutheran University. The theme of this year’s conference is “Behold, I Tell You A Mystery: Telling God’s Story in the 21st Century.” The conference will feature two major speakers: Mary Canniff-Kuhn, a master storyteller and Lutheridge pastor, and René Clausen, a composer and conductor from Concordia College, Moorhead.
It’s going to be a real family affair, starting with the conference brochure which you can view by clicking here, which was designed by yours truly. You’ll notice the cover photo of the Enormous Luther statue on the Cal Lutheran campus was by my brother, Rick Au.
One of the featured performing groups will be The Braeded Chord, an acoustic folk duo consisting of my sister, Doris Au MacDonald, and Sharon Dennis. You may recall that they were commissioned to write the “Alleluia Mass” which is sung at the 8:00 am service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Doris and Sharon will be introducing a new setting of Evening Prayer (called “Joyous Light) as well as leading a workshop on intergenerational worship.
Carl Crosier will be leading a workshop with Lutheran pastor/musician Lorne Manweiler called, “Bach: The Story for Us Now.” Carl will address the challenges and practicalities of presenting the works of Bach in one’s community while Lorne will talk about Bach as theologian.
The conference will welcome musicians, clergy, volunteers, worship leaders and students — you don’t have to be a Lutheran church musician to attend. There will be a hymn festival using organ, piano, guitar, marimba and percussion; a presentation of a Bach cantata; and organ recital by Kyle Johnson of California Lutheran University; and numerous workshops and worship services. I always come away from these events wishing that people from our congregation could share in these mountaintop experiences so now there’s no excuse about not knowing about it! If you are going to be in the area, you can register for the conference by clicking here.
