One of my favorite aspects of worship planning is selecting music for the sacrament of communion. The music needs to set a mood and encourage contemplation, but it should not call too much attention to itself. An added difficulty is that the time required for passing out the elements varies somewhat, so pieces usually need to be either extended or finished up early. Many organists solve this timing problem by improvising during communion services, creating effective and often elaborate pieces on the spur of the moment.

When I first started playing the organ, I would select pieces for communion that had lots of potential ending spots. But a couple of years ago, I decided to take a leap of faith and start improvising. To my surprise, it’s become one of my favorite aspects of service playing.

I don’t start with a completely blank slate. I decide in advance on the tempo, key, and general mood. Sometimes I’ll decide to incorporate one of the congregational hymns for that morning. I will often have a loose structure in mind, but many times I abandon that plan and simply go where the Spirit leads me. Improvising takes me to a sort of meditative state of intense concentration and deep prayer, and I can definitely feel the Holy Spirit working through me.

Lately I have been playing my communion improvisations on the piano instead of the organ. This gives me more musical flexibility, but I also feel that it gives me a feeling of greater connection and communication with God and the congregation.

Many people have asked if I could record an album of my communion improvisations, or if I could publish some of them. I might do that at some point, especially after our new sound system is installed. But for now, I simply enjoy them for what they are: ephemeral bits of music, channelling the Holy Spirit, passing through me to the congregation.