A spiritual practice common to a wide variety of churches is singing. Hymns and spiritual songs give people of faith a beautiful, corporate way to pray and sing what they believe. Hymn texts are also a means by which Christians learn the biblical story, theology and Christian ethics.

There is a need for new hymns that speak very specifically to faith and life in the twenty-first century by addressing issues such as world hunger, creation care, gun violence and vocation. I seek to write hymns that have theological depth and strong biblical content as well as beauty, and are written to familiar tunes that people enjoy singing.

This grant would allow me to dedicate time to writing twenty-four new hymn texts that would help churches to sing and celebrate their faith, affirm the rich biblical and theological tradition of the church, and lift up in sung prayer the concerns that people see on the news or experience in their everyday lives.