Incarnate in Word and Song Exploring Music in Liturgy and Life

Orin Johnson combines serious scholarship with the practical wisdom of thirty years in music ministry to highlight a topic that has long needed greater attention: the right relationship of the liturgical rite, music, and preaching. This accessible yet substantive book will help start an important conversation among the various liturgical ministries in worshiping communities.

Moving beyond traditional studies of the role of music in the liturgy, Johnson’s book explores what insights music and musical performance can bring to preaching. Johnson carefully shows his readers how preaching in our churches could be enriched if preachers incorporated basic insights from musical performance into their preaching. Reading at times like the work of a poet, the book is enriched by skillfully crafted examples that model attention to intonation, pacing, volume, and the need for silence. This book is a must-read for all preachers and those studying preaching, as well as parish music ministers. It serves as a poignant reminder of the need for presiders, preachers, and other parish ministers to work in concert with one another to help our assemblies raise their hearts and voices to the Lord.

Written for preachers, evangelizers, lovers of scripture, and liturgical musicians alike, Incarnate in Word and Song draws on Johnson's considerable experience as a liturgical musician and composer to highlight the connections between the Word and music in liturgy and life. He explores the 'indwelling of music, liturgy, and the Word,' providing specific examples and suggestions, reinforced by quotations from Pope Francis's Desiderio Desideravi, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Catechism of the Catholic Church, and other documents, as seen through a lens of Dominican spirituality. Johnson poses questions and encourages readers to consider their own engagement with the Word ‘for their betterment and for the greater holiness of the whole Church.’

Incarnate in Word and Song is like an afternoon coffee break with an observant and inquisitive friend. Drawing from fields as diverse as theology, literature, hymnody, and homiletics, Johnson brings his years of experience as a pastoral musician to bear on the relationship between preaching and liturgical music. Read it for fresh perspectives on preaching in the rich context of the liturgy.

What can homilists learn from music ministers about preaching better? Quite a bit! The relationship between preaching the living Word in the midst of the assembly and singing that Word into life upon the lips of the faithful seems obvious but is rarely illuminated as deeply and clearly as Orin Johnson does in Incarnate in Word and Song. This book will inspire those who communicate the gospel in spoken word or ritual song to deepen their craft and work more closely together in leading the assembly to glorify God by their lives.

An expert in liturgical music and a gifted preacher himself, Orin Johnson explains how musical techniques from dynamics to poetry can help preachers craft more engaging homilies and reflections. Avoiding the trap of polemical arguments about liturgy, Johnson uses church guidance—especially Pope Francis’ new and difficult-to-parse document Desiderio Desideravi—to shed a refreshing light on the ultimate goal of both liturgical music and preaching, inspiring congregants to a more Christ-like life.

Orin Johnson’s new work is an engaging exploration of the pastoral arts of preaching and liturgical music. Our tour guide, Johnson, is a master musician, composer, liturgist, and teacher who rarely lets his erudition show. He aptly resorts to humor, invites reader reflection, and, seamlessly, leads us to sincere spiritual reflection. Incarnate in Word and Song: Exploring Music in Liturgy and Life is recommended reading for preachers, musicians, liturgical ministers, and for every thoughtful lover of Catholic liturgy.