Favourite music for worship meme

I haven't been tagged for this meme (yet!) but found it via Banksboy as part of an interesting reflection by Kathryn Rose on the CCM praise songs we have trouble with meme, so thought I would try it anyway. Kathryn's questions are:  

1. What is your favourite piece of music for congregational singing? Why?
2. What is your favourite piece of music for performance by a group of specialist musicians within a liturgical context? This might be a worship band or a cathedral choir or just a very snazzy organist or something else entirely, but the point is that it is not congregational singing and it is live music in liturgy.
3. What is your favourite piece of music which makes you think about God to listen to outside of your place of worship? Why? This could be secular music.
4. What is one thing you like about the music at your usual place of worship? Have you told the musicians about this lately?

1. Currently this would John Bell and Graham Maule’s deeply satisfying hymn ‘Will You Come and Follow Me?’ which sets challenging, thought-provoking lyrics to a well known, upbeat, and very singable traditional tune. John Vincent says that the hymn gives us hints of what discipleship can mean by taking its cues from the following of the first disciples and goes on to make the following points about the song's content:

• "Unpredictable journey. ‘Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?’ Jesus is on a journey. Disciples go with him. Where Jesus goes depends on his sense of mission. When everyone wants him to stay, he says, ‘Let’s go somewhere else.’ It’s unpredictable. So discipleship is uncertain, open-ended.
• Unpredictable company. ‘Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known?’ Jesus is a people person; out on the streets. Disciples have to make friends with those he makes friends with – publicans, outcasts, lepers, people outside legal society.
• Alternative community. ‘Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?’ Jesus is excluded from Church: his synagogue does not want him. Jesus creates a new Community, unrecognised and ridiculed by most people.
• Pouring out. ‘Will you let the blinded see … will you set the prisoners free?’ Jesus transforms homes into sanctuaries, sows’ ears into satin purses, and victims into partners, as he ‘pours himself’ out to others.
• Political ministry. ‘Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around?’ Jesus opposes enemies of the common people. Jesus pioneers and practises an alternative society which begins to change everything around it."

2.  'Freedom Samba' by the Late, Late Service from God in the Flesh. The Late, Late Service was an experimental Christian Community based in Glasgow which began in the 1990s using a mix of ambient, electronic and world music styles in their worship. 'Freedom Samba' is an exceptionally joyful dance track; lyrics and music move symbiotically to its samba rhythms while remaining eminently singable by a congregation through its call and response structure.

3. 'Credo' by Arvo Pärt. This is music which takes the listener on an emotional faith journey beginning with a confident fanfare of belief but then descending into the dissonant chaos of doubt before emerging into a more hestitant state of trust which opens out into contemplative silence. This is music to pray along with as you inhabit the emotional states conjured by this composition.

4. I like those occasions, such as Nine Lessons and Carols, when our choir joins with neighbouring choirs to lead our worship. This is because: doing so cements relationships across parish boundaries; a wider and more demanding programme of pieces is made possible; and they rise to the challenge with passages of real beauty. I do compliment them on their selections and performances after such services.

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Arvo Pärt - Credo (2/2).