Pastors’ Wives Retreat

Christina will have 3 sessions covering:

• Hear the Song Resound: Music Listening as a Means to Confess Christ in our Culture
  Music is everywhere.  Some we choose, but much is placed in our ears by others.  Inundated with sound, Christians receive this God-given gift with joy, but we must also carefully learn how to listen.  In consciously attending to the music around us we can not only hear our Savior’s voice, but also confess Him as our New Song.
• Through the Church the Song Goes On: A Singing Tour of Christian Hymnody
  Using a carefully curated list of your favorite hymns we will sing our way through the history of Christian hymnody to see how poetry and music have changed throughout the centuries while remaining constant in the proclamation of Christ.
• Guard Every Childhood Day: Developing and Utilizing a Children’s Core Hymnody
  Christians are formed by the music they sing as a child.  By filling our children’s mouths, ears, and hearts with a small, carefully-chosen list of core hymns we provide them with a musical and theological education  which will form their faith.  We will examine this list of hymns and discuss the longterm benefits and methods of implementation.

Tentative Schedule

The Pastors’ Wives Retreat is normally held at Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca and begins on Friday afternoon and ends on Saturday afternoon. Meals are supper on Friday, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. The retreat, as always, will be casual and relaxed so there’s no need to worry about too many details.

The 2023 Pastors’ Wives Retreat is scheduled for November 3-4 at Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca. This year’s presenter is Christina Roberts, Kantor of Our Savior Lutheran Church and School in Grand Rapids, MI.

Christina J Roberts is Kantor at what she would argue is one of the greatest congregations in the cosmos, Our Savior Lutheran Church and School of Grand Rapids, Michigan. For over twenty years they have let her do all her favorite things: belt out Luther hymns with preschoolers, gather craft beer-sipping Millennials around the piano to chant millennium-old Psalm tones, turn the entire congregation into an a cappella SATB choir every Lent, utilize singers and instrumentalists as guinea pigs for new compositions, open windows of the dying to let in the life-giving song of children outdoors, flirt with the seventh and eighth grade teacher who blessedly married her 20 years ago, and watch as their five children move through the OSLS classrooms, into the halls of West Michigan Lutheran High School, and now on to Concordias.

She and her choirs have been heard at the Good Shepherd Institute, Lectures in Church Music, Lutheran Education Association National Convocation, Worship Anew, Seminary Women’s Assembly, KFUO, various hymn festivals, and worship services. Her desire to encourage God’s people to sing with full voice often results in unusual events like the 2020 Hymn Marathon where the children of Our Savior Lutheran enlisted the help of their brother and sisters in Christ around the country to sing continuously through all 636 hymns in the Lutheran Service Book.

Roberts matriculated at a one-room country school in Nebraska, the University of North Texas (Bachelor of Music), and Concordia University Chicago (Master of Church Music). She has written for The Lutheran Witness and contributed to Emmanuel Press’s 2018 publication He Restores My Soul and the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns. She is so adept at filling free time with running, biking, kayaking, reading, listening to podcasts, knitting, cooking, bullet journaling, and house tidying she seemingly has none.