by Richard Gray
The 2024 National Conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians will be held in Minnesota this year, and I am very excited that St. John’s will be hosting its Closing Choral Eucharist!
The Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM for short, pronounced “om,” rhymes with “mom”) is a member-led non profit group of church musicians and clergy who are dedicated to service through music within the Episcopal church.
I joined this group about three years ago and attended my first national conference last summer in Dallas. If you’ve been to conferences, you know that they are great opportunities for community: for meeting new people, seeing and engaging people you’ve met previously, seeing good friends, and learning together. The AAM conferences offer all these things and include special liturgies; concerts; panels for discussions on topics like Episcopal hymns and composers; and so much more.
I’ve been serving on the programming committee for the past two years, and I think that this conference is not only going to be another great summer offering for the AAM community, but it is going to highlight what is so special about serving God through the Episcopal church here in the state of Minnesota. We are going to experience and engage with communities of other denominations through things like hymn festivals at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and prayer services and guided tours at St. John’s University in Collegeville.
For the closing Eucharist on Thursday, June 13 at 10:30am, the conference will worship in our space with our clergy and choir. Everyone in attendence will get to experience the vibrant life here at St. John the Evangelist and what it means to be the church of the open door! All St. John’s parishioners are invited to come and worship at this Eucharist with us.
We are so honored and grateful for being entrusted with this leadership role.
