At the dawn of the new millennium, the editorial staff of The Mennonite, with help from their readers, named twentieth-century Mennonite individuals or organizations whose impact on the life and belief of the church had been most significant. Among the twenty notables selected were five women: Edna Ruth Byler, Katie Funk Wiebe, Elfrieda Dyck (with her husband, Peter Dyck), Doris Janzen Longacre, and Mary K. Oyer, beloved teacher and well-known song leader, who "blazed trails for the arts and for women." Mary—through her extensive knowledge of the fi ne arts, exacting standards, infectious leadership, and generous sharing of herself—has influenced, even profoundly shaped, the lives of many people. Her creative energies have taught us to use our aesthetic senses to understand the world and our place in it. She has helped us value the experience of others in faraway places, and through her insight and excitement we have come to grasp the depth of our shared humanity. Nurturing Spirit through Song: The Life of Mary K. Oyer surveys this woman’s life (to date!) and celebrates her contributions to the many students around the world who encountered her as a teacher, and to professional colleagues within the Mennonite Church and beyond. In her more than eighty years, Mary has been daughter, middle child, sister, aunt, Mennonite, resident of Goshen (Indiana), pianist, cellist, student, music teacher, fine arts professor, musicologist, hymnologist, public speaker, lecturer, song leader, editor, author, cross-cultural observer and interpreter, African music specialist, Mennonite Central Committee liaison, seminary professor, enlivener, mentor, sage, colleague, and friend. Each of these identities opens a world of exploration. Taken together they off er perspective on Mary’s personality and character. They entail abiding commitments to people who link her to the world of sight, sound, and spirit. We began the Life and Legacy of Mary K. Oyer project in the spring of 2003. Both of us—Rebecca Slough and Shirley Sprunger King—had known Mary in various situations. The origins of this project I (Rebecca Slough) met the awesome Mary Oyer at the joint Mennonite Assembly at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1983. I was coordinator of morning worship, and Mary was song leader one of those mornings. Though I am a Goshen College graduate, I did not have Mary as a teacher because of my unorthodox approach to undergraduate education. I was a transfer student to Goshen who needed to work more than half time to avoid overwhelming college debts. By the time I was completing my general education requirements, the "Aesthetic Experience" course had replaced Mary’s classic "Introduction to Fine Arts." I met the introductory arts requirement with an independent study that further removed me from Mary’s sphere. I got to know Mary during her years of work (1984–89) on the project that eventually resulted in publication of Hymnal: A Worship Book. Although we served on different working committees, we both were members of the committee that met regularly to coordinate the work of the project. With fear and trepidation, I became the hymnal’s managing editor in 1989 after Mary left the project. Her support and cooperation were a great help to me in the months and years that followed. In 1997 I was selected as "Mary’s replacement" at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, Indiana), when she decided to finish her work as a professor of church music there. The prospect of following Mary in a second position has given me moments of terror—after all, who could possibly replace Mary Oyer?—as well as deep blessing. I have learned much from her understanding of the power of a well-chosen song for congregational singing at critical moments in worship. Our conversations frequently turn to how certain hymns or songs might sound at a particular place in a worship service. I always find this kind of playful imagining stimulating, instructive, and enjoyable. Several times before 2003 I suggested to Mary that when she was ready to sort through the vast accumulation of papers and books from almost six decades of teaching, I would be willing to help her. I knew we would find there the makings of a book on her life and legacy. Shirley Sprunger King also expressed to Mary her desire to do something that would honor her life and teaching. Thus, Mary, Shirley, and I met in the spring of 2003 and began our collaboration for the Life and Legacy of Mary K. Oyer project. As Mary prepared to move from her home on Eighth Street in Goshen to Greencroft’s Juniper Place, she sift ed through a teaching career’s worth of files. One afternoon she gave me four grocery bags full of old class notes, duplicated material she used in teaching fine arts, and copies of papers she had written for lectures. Sorting these disparate artifacts of a teaching life, some of them mere scraps of paper, was interesting, instructive, and at times maddening. In the midst of much redundancy were sparks of new insight and traces of new directions that Mary would eventually pursue. I borrowed folders of neatly organized teaching material that Mary wanted to keep and looked through everything she sent to the Mennonite Church USA Archives–Goshen. Thumbing through the Gospel Herald from 1940 until 1970 with an eye for music-related articles provided me with a sense of what was happening with music in the life of the Mennonite Church as Mary was coming of age and beginning to find her way as a scholar. Thumbing through Goshen College catalogs published in her early years of teaching also proved to be useful. I knew that some sadness and frustration surrounding the committee work on the 1927 Church Hymnal still reverberated for some committee members of the 1969 Mennonite Hymnal, and I gleaned insights through reading music committee reports to the Mennonite Church General Conferences related to both revisions. This research gave me a greater sense of the contexts in which Mary developed as a scholar and teacher. I (Shirley Sprunger King) first remember hearing about Goshen College music professor Mary Oyer in the early 1960s, when I was a high school student in Elkhart County. Although I have never had the privilege of formally studying with Mary, my interactions with her over the years have been important learning opportunities, and I continue to value how much I have learned from Mary. In June 1969, when I married into the King family (Mary’s mother was my husband’s great aunt), Mary agreed to play cello for the Bach wedding cantata we used. She recently reminded me that our wedding was just a few days before she made her fi rst trip to Africa. Five years later, energized by her study of African music, Mary came to visit us in Haiti, only weeks after we began a three- year term with Mennonite Central Committee there. I remember sitting under our mango tree, fielding Mary’s barrage of questions on Haitian music, about which I had no knowledge and no sources of information. Mary soon sensed my frustration; although I had grown up in Africa, I had no real understanding of non-Western music. Picking up on my culture shock, Mary tried to empathize with me, by saying that every time she had taken a sabbatical (and had not continued to perform regularly), she had lost some technique, "but I’ve always returned to teaching a better musician." I started to feel better—until she added, "But for three years?" Her honesty still makes me laugh. Although I never studied Haitian music in much depth, remembering Mary’s genuine interest in and enthusiasm for African (and Haitian) music provided a constructive alternative to my brooding during those years. Four years later, in 1978, I was honored to be invited to play the organ for the opening service of Mennonite World Conference in Wichita. Mary was the song leader, and I remember discussing much more than hymn tempos with her. (It would be the fi rst of many more discussions and collaborations.) What I recall most clearly almost thirty years later is the ease with which Mary led more than 5,000 voices in singing at her brisk and energetic tempos. The early 1990s brought new encounters with Mary. I have accompanied her when she introduced the new hymnal in a variety of settings, and I sat in on several of her classes at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. I have particularly appreciated her thoroughness and her insight as a scholar, her delightful ways of communicating, and her endless enthusiasm. But although I will always respect Mary as one of the fi nest musicians I’ve had the privilege of knowing, she has modeled far more than music making or scholarship. The impetus for this project arose in 2002, from our more general conversations about life and transitions. From Mary I heard about what she has gained through taking advantage of new opportunities, and I became convinced that her story needs to be shared. Mary’s generous sharing of wisdom gained through her varied life experiences and her infectious desire to keep learning continue to inspire us and make us grateful for her life and legacy. Mary’s influence reaches far beyond this continent—as expressions of appreciation from many quarters attest. This book is a chorus of voices from around the world. Mary Oyer’s students, friends, and colleagues—and Mary herself—offer a wide range of perspectives on her life. No one voice can adequately reflect the breadth of Mary’s approaches to topics or her ways of engaging people as her interest and curiosity develop. A conventional Festschrift seemed out of keeping with her approach to scholarly work. Since the 1960s her lectures and presentations have become more narrative, and she has had less patience with academic papers, which are often poorly presented—in writing or speech. A book of many voices seemed to us to be the best way of honoring her infl uence. Sometimes a Light Surprises "Sometimes a Light Surprises," by William Cowper (with which this introduction opens), is one of Mary’s favorite hymn texts. It appeared in Olney Hymns (1779), edited by John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace." Cowper, who struggled with debilitating bouts of depression, eloquently captures the healing of mind, soul, body, and spirit that can happen in a moment of singing. Mary Oyer is particularly fond of the first lines of Cowper’s text, because she too believes that singing holds potential for our transformation. Arguably, the five poems with which the parts of this book begin offer the clearest window on Mary’s spirituality, on the joy she continues to find in life. The presence of these poems in this book provides a large space of wonder, in which the voices of the various contributors can be heard. Part 1: Love Him in the World of the Flesh Historian Rachel Waltner Goossen’s opening essay, "Let the Sound Run through You," traces Mary’s childhood and young adulthood. Waltner Goossen situates Mary’s early years against the backdrop of North American Mennonite experience, particularly in relationship to women in the church and the role of women faculty at Goshen College after it reopened in 1924. She tells about Mary’s early music education and the aptitudes evident already in her childhood. Goshen, Indiana—as home that encompassed the overlapping worlds of family, college, and congregation—is fi rmly established as the geography of Mary’s early life. Rachel Waltner Goossen’s scholarly interests in women’s history and Mennonite history in the U.S. equip her to deal with this subject in a particularly illuminating way. The second essay, "Following the Way," by Rebecca Slough, picks up the biographical thread to narrate some of the most significant turning points in Mary’s evolving adult life. Most of these changes in direction are well known to many people, because Mary herself has often told these stories. In recent years interviews with her have appeared in church papers and scholarly publications. She described these turning points during an Afternoon Sabbatical presentation at Goshen College in the spring of 2004. What Slough’s essay attempts to provide are additional refl ections and continuities that undergird the various changes in Mary’s life. Lines from W. H. Auden’s poem "He is the Way" (which opens part one of this book) provide headings for various sections of the essay. Mary is fond of this poem, written in 1941–42, as a chorus to conclude the fi nal section ("The Flight into Egypt") of the libretto of a Christmas oratorio, For the Time Being. The theme of incarnation ("Love him in the World of the Flesh") is central to this poem and also to Mary’s claiming of the validity of the arts in the life of the believer and the church. After discovering a setting of this poem in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982, with a tune by Richard Wetzel, Mary introduced it to many Mennonite congregations. With provocative imagery, Auden’s words capture the richness of Mary’s life experience as a disciple of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Part 2: Ways of Looking One of Mary’s favorite poems, Wallace Stevens’s "Th irteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," reflects her delight in seeing something from a variety of angles. In the spirit of Stevens’s contemplation of the blackbird, eleven contributors—Mary’s former students and colleagues—offer their perspectives on Mary’s life. All the essayists have pursued music professionally, most of them as teachers. They were invited to address these questions: (1) What have you learned from Mary? (2) How has Mary influenced your work? Their relationships with Mary span her entire teaching career, from her early days at Goshen College to her time at Tainan Theological College and Seminary. The editors have made no attempt to find a consistent voice or style for these essays, because each refl ects something deeply personal about the contributor’s relationship with Mary. The honorific essay of an African student stands alongside the jotted note style of a former student and friend. What unifi es this collection is the personal warmth the contributors have received from Mary and gratefully offer her in return. Since 1969, when Mary first introduced "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," 606 in the Mennonite Hymnal, to the Mennonite Church General Assembly in Turner, Oregon, she has led people from many cultures in singing this enduring song of praise. This section, in which we hear voices from various decades and places speaking of Mary’s influence, begins with the text of this doxology in the languages of several parts of the globe in which Mary has invested significant parts of her life. Part 3: Ah! Bright Wings The book’s third section contains a selection of Mary Oyer’s own writings, some of them unpublished, and others that have been printed in sources not readily available now. References to "God’s Grandeur," written by Gerard Manley Hopkins (included at the beginning of this part of the book), begin appearing in Mary’s lectures and notes for other presentations in the 1950s. The lines "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things" and "Because the Holy Ghost over the bent / World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings" provide insight into Mary’s understanding of meaning in the arts and—perhaps more importantly—into her spirituality. Mary Oyer’s influence as a scholar has been felt primarily through her lectures and other oral presentations, interviews, and song leading. The trail of her written work is neither long nor wide. The majority of pieces in this section are end products of multiple presentations on a central topic in which she rehearsed her arguments or polished her illustrations. These essays span more than fi fty years and represent her interrelated yet divergent intellectual interests. The earliest piece dates from 1955, and the most recent is a presentation to the June 2006 meeting of American Theological Library Association. The essays illustrate her varied forms of address and display the development of her concerns, interests, thought, and voice. This collection demonstrates that Mary’s mind has changed over the years. When she reviewed the selections to be included in this book, she confessed to feeling some embarrassment about what she had written, especially early in her life. Yet she had spoken with honesty about the truth she knew at the time. What remains constant throughout these examples of her thinking is a desire that the arts strengthen people’s connections to one another, broaden their experience of and delight in their world, and deepen their faith in their Creator. A Joyful Song I’ll Raise The joyful song Mary’s life raises is evident in her written works (many of them derived from oral presentations), which are itemized by date, with some annotations of her longer and more recent works, in the final section of this book. A second section lists works about Mary Oyer. Reading the bibliography makes obvious the purpose of Mary’s written work: to serve the church. To a great extent, her scholarly pursuits were intended to strengthen Mennonite understanding of the arts and to expand the expressive horizons of people of faith as they respond to the astonishing wonder of God. "There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction, that the duty is suffi ciently rewarded by performance." So writes Joseph Addison in an essay on gratitude, followed by the hymn "When All Thy Mercies, O My God." Mary’s contributions elicit gratitude for her teaching vocation; for the many lives she has touched; for her pioneering ethnomusicological work that has contributed to cross- cultural respect and church unity; and for her hymn interpretation and inspired song leading, through which many worshipers have been "lost in wonder, love and praise." Visual Motifs The book’s Pennsylvania Dutch images were created for the 1943 Goshen College Maple Leaf, for which Mary Oyer (as a sophomore) was the art editor. In her recent move from Eighth Street, Mary found a large stack of pages with these patterns, which would have been reprinted on heavier paper, with color, then carefully cut apart and glued into each yearbook. The yearbook was likely the most labor-intensive that Goshen College has ever seen. A Companion DVD We have no illusions that a book can adequately refl ect Mary Oyer’s influence on generations of students and colleagues in the several institutions she has served. No "dumb book" can bring to life the energy and passion with which Mary teaches, leads congregational singing, or engages people. From the beginning of our imaginings of this project, we recognized that a book might best record aspects of her life, but the legacy of her teaching needed something visually alive and active. The companion piece to this book is a DVD created and produced by Mennonite Media, Nurturing Spirit through Song: The Legacy of Mary K. Oyer (for order information, see the back page of this book). It contains interviews with Mary, interviews with former students who have become professional teachers and performers, and conversations with colleagues. It focuses on Mary the teacher and the ways her approaches to the fi ne arts (especially music), hymns, and worship have shaped the understandings of music leaders of the Christian church. Acknowledgements We offer our gratitude to the Institute of Mennonite Studies at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, Indiana), and to Mary Schertz, its director, for IMS’s early endorsement of this project, which helped get it off the ground. The generous fi nancial support of J. Evan Kreider and the Anabaptist Foundation (Vancouver, British Columbia) ensured that we would be able to bring this aspect of the project to completion. Contributions from other donors specifically for the book were gratefully received. Publisher Michael A. King of Cascadia Publishing House has earned our gratitude for taking on this project when we presented it in its initial sketchy form. He worked with us even when we missed every imaginable deadline. His generosity also allowed for co-publication of this book with Herald Press and Institute of Mennonite Studies. Thanks to Rachel Waltner Goossen for bringing her understanding of women’s history in the U.S. and among Mennonites to bear in her fine essay, and to Mary Swartley for updating the bibliography she created ten years ago in an earlier attempt to see Mary Oyer’s life in larger perspective. We are grateful to Mary’s former students and colleagues, who sent their essays in a timely way and must have feared that their work had disappeared into a black hole of forgetfulness. Thanks to Douglas Bomberger, Philip Clemens, John Enz, Jean Kidula, Luzili Mulindi-King, James Miller, Harold Moyer, Julia Moss, Justus Ogembo, Lu Chen-Tiong, and Robert Weaver, for lending their voices to the testimonial chorus. And we are grateful to Mary herself for generously giving her time and for her open spirit. She has accepted with grace and courage the attention—even scrutiny—that receiving such an honor entails. Our gratitude also extends to those
involved in the book’s design and production: to
Alison King, for her graceful and pleasing design work on
the book; to Mary E. Klassen, who stepped in with her
customary grace and skill to help with the inevitable
refinements in design when Alison’s youth sponsor
obligations took her to Honduras just as formatting got
underway. Thanks, too, to James Nelson Gingerich, for his
careful and expeditious eff orts in typesetting the book
and preparing the musical examples during late evening
and early morning hours, around the demands of his day
job as a physician. Lastly, thanks to Barbara Nelson
Gingerich, whose calm spirit, steady patience, perfect
pitch for tone and voice, and impeccable editorial sense
brought the various voices of this book into a melodious
concert. Nurturing Spirit Through Song orders:
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