Here’s a sneak peek at the cover design for the new CD… working on the finishing touches of the audio and graphic design… should be released in a few weeks (you can pre-purchase the record here)…
What do you think?
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Wednesday is the last recording session for the new CD… then it’s on to mixing and mastering, design work and manufacturing…
The CD is available for pre-purchase (at a crazy low price for multiple copies) here. Pre-purchasing the record helps to fund it “up front” (much appreciated!), guarantees that you receive the first copies (aiming to have it ready by the end of August), and by pre-ordering multiple copies you can help to spread the word and get this music into as many hands and homes and hearts as possible.
This is my fifth album of “songs of faith for small and tall” and I’m very excited about it! Where my last CD (A New Heart – 2009) was probably my most ambitious recording to date in terms of instrumentation and arrangements, this album has a more “stripped down” and rootsy acoustic approach. Singing scripture in new ways, these are songs that help us to explore and internalize how we are part of the ongoing story of what God is doing in the world. From the blistering bluegrass tune “New World Coming” to the evocative “Make Room”… from the playful “Detectives of Divinity” to the stark “Lofty Words”… from the fun sing-along “Fruit of the Spirit” to the vivid storytelling of “Take Heart,” this is a collection of songs that bring us face to face with the realities of our day-to-day life in light of the scriptural story, in a way that gets “small and tall” singing and talking and laughing and praying together.
Scheduled for release in August. Available for pre-purchase now - http://www.smalltallmusic.com/cds/pre-purchase-new-cd/
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Some folks have been after me for a long time, saying I should have more of a “video presence” on YouTube and so on. The world of video, at this point, is rather beyond my comfort zone, and has not been a priority for me… But some friends from Fraser Lake Camp contacted me a while ago, wanting to make a short video… so here it is. These folks (John Wideman, of Ode Productions, and Scott Eyre and Eric Musselman) really know what they’re doing and, much to my surprise, made it fun. Who knows, maybe after dipping this toe in the water of video, I’ll decide to “take the plunge” someday and do some more with this medium…
This particular segment was “cut” to keep it brief, and directly related to camp and how I (and my music ministry) have been impacted by my camp experience. There is the possibility of putting together a different “cut” of the interview, with more on songwriting, and so on… we’ll see (maybe)…
Anyway, you can have a look and see what you think…
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This past weekend’s adult Sunday School class in Wadsworth, Ohio was a new experience for me. The congregation is in the midst of a visioning and discernment process, seeking to have open eyes, ears and hearts for “God’s good plans for us” (Jeremiah 29:11). The pastor and I had put together a plan for the class, where there would be an invitation for people to share their experiences and reflections on what God is doing in their midst, and I would respond periodically with some comments and songs, reflecting on whatever was shared.
We started with a brand new song – “Detectives of Divinity” (possibly the title track for the new CD that I’m recording):
“We are detectives of divinity, we’re looking all around
For signs of God’s activity wherever they are found
God is up to something, of that you can be sure
So start the investigation, the clues are everywhere…”
I had no idea what would happen, or how it would go. But I found it to be a deeply moving time, as people shared about realities in their town, in their congregation, in their own physical bodies… searching and sharing and celebrating together the “signs of God’s activity wherever they are found”… and finding ways to sing those experiences and realities, expressing our openness and desire to see, to hear, to follow.
Choosing the right song…
A couple of weeks earlier, I had a similar-but-totally different experience. I had been asked to help to plan and lead worship at an international, ecumenical conference on mining, hosted by KAIROS. Preparing for this event was a rich experience in itself – working closely together with two colleagues – one Mennonite, one Catholic – crafting worship experiences for this event.
The conference happened on Sunday to Tuesday, May 1-3… and the Canadian federal election took place on Monday, smack dab in the middle. Needless to say, given the KAIROS funding situation that has been unfolding over the past couple of years, there was deep concern at the conference about the implications of a Conservative majority government…
In our planning for the rhythm and flow of the worship times over the course of the conference, one of the songs we had chosen for Tuesday morning was this one – “Inspired by Love and Anger.” . This choice was made well in advance of the election and the election results, but it seemed to “hit home” at that time and place in ways that we could not have imagined.
Choosing the right song…
Since September I’ve been participating in a once-per-month class on the book of Job… taught by this exceptionally excellent prof (who happens to be my brother)… and one of the things that has struck me has been the degree to which the conversation (debate/argument/knock-down-full-out-no-holds-barred-verbal-bout) between Job and the three friends has to do with “choosing the right song.” The friends are constantly quoting scripture, and Job is too… but Job is not satisfied that the texts they are quoting constitute “the right song” for the situation… Job says that his friends “mock me in song” (Job 30:9… see Lamentations 3:63… “taunt-songs”), and says instead that “my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep…” (Job 30:31)
Choosing the right song…
Sean Gladding’s recent book “The Story of God – The Story of Us” demonstrates beautifully the dynamic of the urgent need to choose the right songs… depicting the people of Israel, in exile, trying to make sense of their situation… and the relationship between the wise elder, telling the story, and the young hothead/poet/musician… drawing on the resources (songs) of their tradition, and also composing new ones, debating which are the appropriate songs for this time… Psalm 137… captors (sarcastically?) requesting a song… but “how could we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?”… and the new poem that expresses such anger and desire for revenge (137:7-9)… and the ongoing debates between the young poet and the old storyteller re: which is the right song for this moment…
Choosing the right song…
A couple of weeks ago, during a “community forum” at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, I asked the gathered group how many had heard of the “Prayer of Jabez.” Lots had. Then I asked how many had heard of the “Prayer of Agur.” Almost nobody. “Exactly,” I said. When I came across the “Prayer of Agur” (Proverbs 30:7-9) a while back, it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is a prayer that I need to pray, regularly. What if this prayer became a regular part of the worship and spirituality of more of our communities? So I came up with a musical setting of that prayer.
In a “Christian Nurture of Youth and Young Adults” class after the forum, the professor spoke of the importance of the songs we song, reflecting on this song – and the contrast between the prayer of Jabez and that of Agur – as an example of the “practices of formation” and “practices of resistance” that they have been discussing in their class.
Choosing the right song…
Last summer my father told me a story about his father (my grandfather) that I’d never heard before. Apparently one of my grandpa’s roles in the church was to be one of two elders sitting at the front during worship, paying close attention to what was going on – the scriptures, the preaching, the responses of the congregation – and, after the sermon, to rise and indicate which song would now be sung in response, and to lead that song. This was how worship was structured in that time and place. The “hymn of response” was not planned out ahead of time, or printed in a bulletin. It was discerned and announced by this leader – my grandpa – who had been called (somehow, I don’t know how) to exercise this leadership ministry of choosing the right song.
My father remembers, growing up, that almost every Sunday afternoon the phone would ring, and someone would have a complaint or a concern about the song that was chosen.
It’s important… and quite possibly contentious… choosing the right song.
This has come to be how I understand my own ministry and vocation… to be immersed in scripture, in prayer, in the realities of my community and the communities with which I am engaged… to PAY ATTENTION, as best I can, to what is going on and to what God is doing… to constantly ask the question: “what do we need to sing?” … and to create musical resources that can help to “build up the body of Christ” for just such a time as this.
At times this means that I am the one responsible for “choosing the right songs”… for a particular worship time, a particular concert, a particular event or occasion. Sometimes I feel (or people will tell me) that that really was the right song for this time and place, for this situation. Sometimes I don’t really know.
And often it means that I am offering songs and making them available to others who have been charged with this task of “choosing the right song” for their community. My task is to faithfully pay attention, and offer possibilities, and it is the role of others, who know their own communities, to decide… to “choose the right songs” for their context and situation…
What a joy, and a responsibility, and a blessing, to be a part of this important, contentious, mysterious process.
Choosing the right songs.
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(The following has been reconstructed from top secret files and the memory of several key agents. Well, one in particular. We have reason to believe it is a reasonably accurate depiction of the sequence of events, if not an exact transcription of actual conversations and timelines. The phone lines and vehicles were not bugged at the time in question.)
——-
It all started with a surreptitious call from an elderly secret agent in Donnellson, Iowa.
“Hi. Our pastor really likes your music, and we’d like to get her three of your CDs as a baby shower present. We want it to be a surprise. Can you get them out here by the weekend?”
Transaction completed. Parcel delivered. Surprise sustained. Mission accomplished.
Until…
“Hello. I’m a pastor in Donnellson, Iowa. I really like your music. If you’re ever coming through this area, please let us know – we’d love to have you come and do an event with our community.”
Operation phase 2, approximately 10 months later…
Morning assignment completed. Gathering with local chapter of agents in Iowa City… instructions deciphered from scripture, allegiances reaffirmed, all sent forth to continue the mission…
Sustenance attained (compressed energy via stacked noodles in lasagna formation, stimulating conversation, uproarious laughter, new connections and allies in the cause), rolling down the highway en route to rendezvous in Mount Pleasant McDonalds parking lot… anticipating transference of asset to agent in green Buick…
Positive identification on green Buick… approach initiated… transfer completed… next rendezvous: Donnellson.
Asset hustled into building… more compressed energy via stacked noodles… more conferring and connecting with co-conspirators… equipment checked, materials (digital discs, printed transcriptions) laid out in plain view… operation smalltallsongs awaiting signal, ready for launch…
…communication delivered and engaged… multiple agents deputized, equipped, mobilized, dispersed…
… subsequent multi-location operations initiated… awaiting further instructions…
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I’ll admit, I was getting nervous before the show in Pueblo, Colorado. A sequence of very large men in cowboy boots and hats had come up to me, saying things like “So you’re the PROFESSIONAL musician! Looking forward to hearing the way the PROS do it…”
And so on. Yikes.
The place was packed – people were arriving an hour ahead of time to get good seats – and this was thanks to the fact that it was a joint concert with Fireweed, a local bluegrass group (with a sizable and dedicated local following) playing first. They did a fabulous set, which I (and, clearly, the whole audience) enjoyed very much. After a short intermission it was my turn. Just me and my guitar and these simple, simple songs. Gulp.
My set went well as well. I was certainly enjoying myself, and I think the audience did too. But I found myself huffing and puffing and struggling to catch my breath between songs. Phrases where I know exactly what my voice can do, but I was running out of air… Partway through the concert I had to apologize to the crowd and say I didn’t know what was going on… I didn’t think I was that out of shape… maybe it was that “slopper” we’d had for lunch at the Sunset Inn (watch this for an introduction to this unmatched Pueblo delicacy that makes poutine look like health food).
The audience just smiled knowingly, and someone hollered out “Don’t worry – it’s the elevation!” Ahhh… yes… I hadn’t thought of that… Pueblo is at 4 and a half thousand feet elevation. Now at least I had an excuse. It takes practice, you know, to learn to perform while “high”…
For the next three days – with performances in Colorado Springs (6 thousand feet), Lakewood (Denver – the “mile high city”) and Boulder (5 and a half thousand feet) I got used to it… took my hosts’ good advice and drank lots of water (even during performances – not something I normally do)… and though I still got breathless sometimes, it felt really good to sing my songs, for the first time, in the Colorado air… Rocky Mountain High indeed…
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Little did I know, when this tour began with the “Sustainable Food and Farming” conference 3 weeks ago, that the very geography of the tour would serve as a kind of “commentary” on the themes we explored there.
I led worship times at this year’s “Sustainable Food and Farming” conference in Laurelville, Pennsylvania. During our worship sessions we spent some time reflecting on God’s “alternative economics,” including a different kind of food and land-use policy being implemented (manna and quails – Exodus 16) and legislated (sabbath, sabbatical, jubilee – Leviticus 25 and 26, a text that vividly links obedience to God’s laws regarding land use to the health and productivity of the land…)
As we wrestled with these issues, we explored the stories of Joseph and Daniel, both dreamers and dream-interpreters (visionaries and policy analysts) in the context of empire, embodying different approaches to pursuing “wisdom” in terms of food and food policy.
Joseph, who becomes the architect and administrator of the “food policy” of Pharaoh’s Egypt, which we typically consider to be a wise and prudent policy of “food security” that provided food in the midst of famine and saved Joseph’s family… but reading the devastating details of this “food policy” in Genesis chapter 47 prompts a lot of other reflections and questions and analysis (and some remarkable resonance with contemporary realities, including the control of seed).
And Daniel who, with his friends, is the subject of the strategy of another empire (Babylon) to co-opt and retrain Israel’s elite, including, significantly, by seeking to change their traditional diet. But Daniel and his friends resist the diet of empire (which, it turns out, is not as healthy as their traditional dietary practices). Again, some remarkable resonances with current realities.
From Laurelville I spent a week and a half in southern Manitoba and western Saskatchewan, and then I flew to San Francisco where I spent time in the Bay Area and in Davis… heartland of the “local food” movement for the past 40 years (Alice Waters, et al). These travels (and conversations) provided an interesting geographical counterpoint to Joseph’s granaries and Daniel’s dietary resistance.
And then, on Sunday night, I was visiting the Church of the Sojourners, a “live-together church community” in San Francisco, and the topic of reflection that night was… you guessed it… food and food policy, scarcity and enough, Joseph and Daniel, manna and quails… (the person who led the reflection drew on some of the same materials that I had for the sustainability conference – eg: Walter Brueggemann, “The Truth of Abuncance: Relearning Dayenu” – and introduced me to a new one – Daniel Erlander, “Manna and Mercy”).
In the midst of my journeys – which have included uncountable potlucks and shared meals with such wonderful people everywhere – the meal and worship time with the Church of the Sojourners seemed to put an exclamation point on the tour so far.
So very much to learn, such a long way to go… so glad for all these companions on the way.
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“Amidst the glut of new worship music, Bryan Moyer Suderman offers a much-needed gift to the church: songs that all ages can sing together that ground us in the Person and Mission of God, and that are infectious in their simplicity. Here is the rare musician who writes songs that young and old (small and tall) will not get tired of singing, whether in the sanctuary, in the car or in the woods. Here are songs for the soundtrack of the Kingdom of God.”
Sean Gladding, author of The Story of God, the Story of Us
(from Sean’s introduction to the “God’s Love is for Everybody” CD, which went into its 5th pressing this week.)
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Ten years ago, on a January afternoon, I sat down on the living room floor with our then-3-year-old son, and sang, for the first time, “God’s love is for everybody, everyone around the world…” Little did I know that this song would open the floodgates, and that a new vocation was being born.
2011 marks the 10th anniversary of this ministry of “building up the body of Christ by creating and sharing songs of faith for small and tall” (although that mission statement and the name “SmallTall Music” weren’t formulated until a couple of years later). It’s hard to believe. I am deeply grateful that, after about a decade of various forms of ministry, a new vocation emerged that brings together my passions for biblical study, theological reflection, church leadership, worship, ministries with children, youth, and adults, peace and justice, ecology and care for creation – and, of course, music!
This 10th Anniversay year promises to be an exciting one, with lots (and I mean lots!) of projects on the go. Stay tuned (watch this space, visit the STM Facebook page, subscribe to the e-mail list near the top of the right-hand column of this website), and I’ll do my best to keep you posted. Can’t wait to see (and hear and sing) what the coming decade(s) of ministry will bring!
Thanks be to God!
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It’s a rare podcast/interview indeed that covers everything from music to farming to faith to climate change to Bruce Cockburn and John Howard Yoder and the vocation of the church… rather far-ranging for a 20 minute podcast, even if for some reason I seemed to be speaking rather slowly that day (I must have been particularly pensive… or perhaps the coffee was decaf that morning…)
Anyway, click here to hear the podcast based on an interview we did a bit ago, in anticipation of the Sustainable Food and Farming conference in Laurelville, Pennsylvania, where I’ll be leading worship at the end of February. (That weekend will be the beginning of the spring/summer tour, which will take me to 4 Canadian provinces and 7 US states in the next few months).
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