Hymn Choosing

I had another valuable session with Margaret and Veronica to choose hymns for St Mary's today. We picked hymns for all St Mary's services right up to Advent Sunday. I note (having done this) that I'm not going to be at any of these services! - oh well...

These sessions are hard work, but they are also a great example of productive collaborative ministry. There are various advantages. By working together:

• we can think of the "season" as a whole, rather than as a series of one off events.
• we become more courageous and pick more challenging hymns
• there is more variety and less repetition, but...
• we can choose to reinforce a new hymn
• everyone has the information in good time
• we can use a broader range of knowledge and experience

In other words, its a good example of the kind of thing I've been talking about on this blog...
Looking to the future, its effectiveness could probably be improved by widening the circle of participants. Who else would be a valuable contributor? Could the wider team become more involved? Is there a more appropriate process? - would anything in "Wisdom of Crowds" be helpful?