Music and Choir Ministry at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
Music has long served the Christian Church as a beautiful servant of God’s Word. At St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Shaker Heights, our music ministry seeks to place the treasures of sacred Christian music into the mouths, ears, and hearts of God’s people. From teenagers to retirees and every age in between, members of our parish choir join together to sing the faith confessed by the Church and proclaimed in Holy Scripture.
St. Paul encourages Christians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,” as believers teach and admonish one another “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). This beautifully describes the purpose of church music. Sacred song is not simply an ornament added to worship; at its best, it carries the Word of Christ, teaches the faith, and gives the congregation language with which to confess, pray, praise, and give thanks.
Singing the Faith of the Church
The Lutheran Church has inherited a particularly rich musical tradition because the Reformation understood how closely music and Christian teaching belong together. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession speaks approvingly of Christians singing psalms so that people may learn and pray, even noting the importance of children becoming familiar with passages of Scripture through song. Music therefore serves both confession and catechesis.
Our choir specializes especially in the western classical sacred music tradition from the sixteenth century to the present. This allows singers and congregation alike to encounter centuries of music shaped by the biblical texts, the Church Year, and the confession of Christ. The goal is never performance for its own sake, but music that supports reverent worship and directs attention to the Gospel.
Music Throughout the Church Year
The parish choir ordinarily sings on Sundays except the fourth Sunday of the month. The choir also supports St. Peter’s Wednesday evening Vespers services during Advent and Lent, seasons in which the Church gives particular attention to prayer, repentance, expectation, and the saving work of Christ. On Christmas Eve, the annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols brings together Scripture and sacred music to recount God’s promises culminating in the birth of Jesus Christ.
These services reflect the Lutheran conviction expressed in the Small Catechism’s explanation of the Third Commandment: Christians are called to hold God’s Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Sacred music serves that hearing and learning when Scripture and biblical teaching are faithfully joined to melody. What we sing remains with us, often carrying the promises of Christ into moments of joy, grief, uncertainty, and prayer.
New Singers Are Welcome
The choir rehearses Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 8:45 a.m., beginning the Sunday after Labor Day and continuing through Trinity Sunday. New singers are always welcome, whether you live in Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Beachwood, University Heights, South Euclid, or another Greater Cleveland community.
If you enjoy sacred choral music and would like to serve the Church through song, we invite you to become part of this active ensemble. Together we sing not merely because music is beautiful, but because Christ’s Word is beautiful—and because the Church has been given a song worth singing.