An Evening of New Songs, With Bret Hesla

Monday, January 13th at 6:30 in the Fireside Room.

​Bret is a songwriter and a songleader based in Minnesota. He writes songs and hymns for groups of ordinary folks to sing together, with lyrics that reflect a commitment to community, peace, care of the earth, social justice. Bret leads singing for community sings, church groups, school groups, and social change movements. He also leads workshops on community singing, songwriting, and songleading. Bret led worship music at Christ the King during the summer a few years back. 

He has recently written some new songs that he’s interested in sharing with us at CtK. In what we’re envisioning as a “participatory repertoire-sharing event”, Bret will be on hand with song sheets of some of this new music—reflecting themes of peace, justice, ecology, inclusion, and shared abundance. Many are pieces that we might consider using in worship; others are just plain fun to sing (he recently wrote a “rouser,” based on the new mission statement of his home congregation, Our Saviour’s in Minneapolis). 

A founding member of the nationally acclaimed music group Bread for the Journey, a Minneapolis-based ensemble that travels nationally to teach and lead songs of faith, hope, justice and inclusion from around the world. Bret’s songs are featured on Bread for the Journey’s recordings, including the three-volume “Global Songs, Local Voices” series, which helped broaden the awareness of hymns and songs from around the world, particularly among ELCA congregations. 

Come learn some new songs to sing in community! No particular experience or expertise necessary!

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