Jo Sandin
Published in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7/8/95
Popular Cantor Program Includes Many Ranges, Many Ages
At Peace Lutheran Church in New Berlin, worship does not mumble, mutter, or drone. It sings.
Loudly, enthusiastically, and harmoniously, the congregation at 17651 West Small Road follows a team of cantors whose voices range four octaves from celestial soprano to vigorous bass and whose ages span three decades from teenagers to fortysomethings.
If the Lutheran Book of Worship provides music for any part of the appointed order of service, people here sing it. Sometimes they sing even when there is no appointed music. On a recent Sunday, for example, the lector merely introduced the Old Testament lesson for the day and left the text about the miraculous resurrection of the widow’s son to a duet from Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Exchanges between pastor and congregation, psalms, even benedictions are chanted.
For Lutherans, including the many congregations that do not chant the service, it is an article of faith that the liturgy is a gift to be celebrated, said Martin W. Bangert, pastor of the 650-member congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. “The liturgy becomes the setting for the jewel that is the Word of God,” he said.
Therefore, eighteen months ago, when teenagers were invited to act as cantors, it was tantamount to entrusting them with the family treasure. “They were up to the challenge,” their pastor said. “Now I just sit back and enjoy the service.”
When Bangert became pastor of the New Berlin congregation in 1970, he realized instantly that good liturgical practice was a priority for the people of Peace.
The small congregation numbered no more than 300, but it already had purchased a pipe organ. Its sacristy closet held a chasibule (a special overgarment worn by the pastor during Holy Communion) for every season of the church year. Members expressed delight that their new pastor could lead the service in a vibrant bass. “I didn’t have to knock any heads or convert any holdouts to a sung service,” Bangert said.
Six years ago, when a newcomer displayed a glorious soprano, members readily accepted a woman cantor as worship leader. Before long, Debbie Schneider, 27, who had been trained as a cantor by her music professor father, was alternating duties with William Raabe, 41. In time, they, too, had company.
“All that Bill and I did was let our congregation know that we were interested in training young cantors, boys and girls from 12 to 18,” said Schneider. “Almost instantly, we had volunteers. All of them had grown up in the congregation hearing everything chanted. Their families value worship highly.”
There are five young cantors -- Alex Puetz, 13 (on temporary leave while his voice changes); his brother Joe, 14; Justin Engebretsen, 18; Mark Eurick, 13, who sang his way from soprano to baritone without a break; and the newest recruit, Christine Nakielski, 15.
Sandy Engebretsen, 44, whose son Justin will pursue a dual music major in voice and piano at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater this fall, said the cantor program “gave him a chance to serve his church and to gain some wonderful experience.”
To the youngest of the cantors, Mark, who was baptized at Peace and began singing solos in church before he was in first grade, a chanted service seems as natural as sunrise. “Singing adds sparkle to the service,” he said. “There’s more excitement when the liturgy is chanted.”
For Raabe, the act of singing rather than saying the service deepens his ties to centuries of church history. When he sings the Benedictus during and Advent and Lenten Vespers, “I can’t help thinking how God led his people by fire and smoke and that Jesus himself may have sung this hymn.”
In the trembling silence that follows the last notes of the pipe organ, Raabe hears the echoes of Christian worship in catacombs.
Schneider puts it this way. “I think there is something about hearing words with music that magnifies the meaning. There is that connection to God, that you feel no matter what instrument you use.”
For organist Emily Porter, the whole cantor program has only strengthened the congregational singing that makes it possible to sing any and all hymns, whether they are familiar or not. “There are so many people here with good voices,” she said.
Bangert considers the cantor program to be an invaluable aid to his preaching, as well. “A good musical setting lifts up the whole congregation, reflects the Word of God and further emphasizes the theme of the day. When you’re the pastor giving the homily, the music really propels you up into the pulpit.”