28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #12, pt.2

Segue #12 - Scripture, part 2

We talked in part 1 about why scripture is a "segue on steroids." Now let's look at how we can use this muscle to carry us between between songs.

A Connector of Themes
This Sunday we're singing Crown Him With Many Crowns and then moving into Hillsong's Hosanna. Hosanna's lyrics are heavily drawn from Psalm 24. As the last chord of Crown Him... is ringing out, the leader will read verses 24:7-10, which connects to the King theme in Crown Him.... As the leader concludes with...

Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.

 the vocalists will begin singing the opening lines of Hosanna: "I see the King of Glory..."

This scripture connects the different--but related--themes between these two songs. It also helps transition us from the big ending of a big anthem to the more subdued beginning of Hosanna. And here's a bonus: we're revisiting the Psalm 24 during the instrumental of Hosanna by using verses 3-6, which is a great set up for the bridge.

Stories
Often we look for verses from Psalms or an epistle, but don't forget about narrative passages of scripture. Once I wanted use John 11:25-26 (where Jesus tells Martha that he is "resurrection and the life") to segue into a song focused on new life. Some wild hair struck and I decided to use the whole passage, starting at verse 17 and concluding with Martha's confession of belief and faith in Jesus as the Messiah. I honestly don't remember what specific songs I was bridging that Sunday, but the power of reading Jesus' (and Martha's) words in context of the story is something I won't forget. As I read Christ's words, "I am the resurrection..." a flood of emotion hit me. I could barely finish. Not only did the story help deepen the experience of verses 25-26, but that scripture then stayed with us as we sang about new life in Christ.

Collage

Don't limit yourself to one passage. Maybe you're singing Redman's Blessed Be the Name and moving to Baloche's Your Name. Try a collage of scriptures that focus on the Name of God. This page contains an example you can download and use (scroll a bit to find it). I have available a few other scripture collages you can swipe: God's "Greatness", "Who is Like You" and the "Love of God."

Multiple Voices
When using longer passages or multiple scriptures (like the collages), consider using more than one reader. Multiple readers can add energy and variety. This could be a whole article in itself, but I'll move on with one admonishment: encourage your readers to use inflection and emotion--and at a pace that doesn't drag.

Great Tool
The links on the scripture references above took you to BibleGateway.com. Outside of personal quiet time, I use this site more than I use a hard copy Bible. Within a couple clicks you can see scores of translations for the passage you're looking up. Can't remember the reference? Just type in the phrase or word you're looking for. The same keyword search also allowed me to easily assemble those scripture collages. As you're planning these segues, having a tool like this gold.

Underscoring
Should we put music under these scripture readings? When it's a short scripture connecting two songs with disparate styles or keys, don't use music. Let the reading do the heavy lifting of the segue. Also, the non-musical moment will cleanse our sonic palette for the next song.

Almost always use a musical bed or underscore during longer scripture. You can allow the reader to fly solo for a few moments after the previous song ends, but ease in some guitar or piano noodling that can easily take us to the intro of the next song.

We'll talk a little more about using scripture as a segue when we look at connecting non-musical elements of the service.