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Faith, music and love
Carol Meier, the music director for Eagle Lake Lutheran Church of Willmar, has been singing, directing and composing Christian music since she was young. She recently earned her master's degree from St. John's University, an ambition she has had for many years. Shelby Lindrud / West Central Tribune
From music director to composer, Carol Meier explores prayer through song
BY SHELBY LINDRUD | WEST CENTRAL TRIBUNE
WILLMAR — Since she was a child, music and faith have been intertwining pillars of Carol Meier’s life, a bedrock upon which she has built both her personal and professional lives.
It started with learning piano from her grandmother, and has taken Meier to composing music that is sung not only in her church but in others across the local area and even further afield.
“I feel called to the intersection of music and spirituality,” said Meier, the music director at Eagle Lake Lutheran Church in Willmar and a composer of liturgical music.
Music has the power to open us in a way, to touch something inside of us in a way that is unique, that only music can do.
Music and faith seem to go together, a relationship that lends itself to speaking to the hearts and souls of those who hear, listen and perform it. It is a partnership that Meier has seen impact not only her own life, but those around her.
“Music has the power to open us in a way, to touch something inside of us in a way that is unique, that only music can do. Music speaks this language of the heart and of the soul,” Meier said. “It is kind of a mystery. I can’t tell you why that is, I just know it is true.”
She also finds music as a great way to communicate an idea, thought or need when words alone are not enough.
“It has been a very important prayer language,” Meier said. “Sometimes when I don’t have words, a way to express what is going on inside me. This is how I process life.”
A life of faith and song
Meier attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where she majored in vocal music education with a minor in religion. She taught school for four years in Roseville Public Schools before life took her in other directions.
She married her husband, Steve, and the two did missionary and youth ministry work, and began raising their family. In 2007, Steve was ordained and the family moved to Willmar when Steve became the pastor of Eagle Lake. Soon afterward, Meier accepted the position of music director.
Throughout those years, Meier also kept music close by, performing in churches, giving lessons and leading choirs.
She also kept composing her own music, something she started in high school and continued to do as she grew older. The process of creating a song can sometimes be as mysterious to explain as the impact of music on listeners. Her inspiration can come from many things — including scripture, prayer or a conversation.
While sometimes a melody or line of music will come to her, mostly she composes at her piano. It can take a lot of trial and error and experimentation to create a finished piece.
“Sometimes you just start trying and you find something that works,” Meier said.
With putting the lyrics and music together, Meier’s goal is to create a song that not only speaks to the audience, but is accessible. One of the functions of liturgical music is to explain theology, so it’s important to Meier that her music accurately portrays what she wants to get across.
“The lyrics are very important,” Meier said.
Over the years, Meier has had to get more comfortable with sharing her compositions, especially during the creation process.
“When you are creating, it is so very personal and it’s such a personal expression of yourself that feels private and vulnerable,” Meier said.
However, as she has become more comfortable with herself, her talent and learned how helpful feedback can be, it has been easier for Meier to share her music both during the creation process and afterward. Meier explained it has been helpful to get the feedback from the choirs singing the music, and her husband has offered important assistance when writing up theological matters.
“You learn the gift of someone speaking into that,” Meier said.
A dream realized at St. John’s
As Meier grew as a musician and a composer, an idea was always hovering in the back of her mind — to go back to school to learn even more. During a spiritual retreat in 2015, which started a process of Meier setting time aside to focus on her composing, she started to seriously start expanding her composing.
“The more I did, the more I wanted to do,” Meier said, and with her children graduating high school, she would soon have even more time to focus on her music. “This makes me feel like I was doing what I was meant to do.”
Meier believes it is important for one to listen to their dreams, figure out their priorities as their lives change and find the courage to take a different path.
“It is important for people to feel like they have a purpose,” Meier said. “What is it that gives you meaning, gives you life.”
In fall 2020, Meier enrolled at St. John’s University, joining its Master of Arts liturgical music program, which melds studying church music and composing together.
She graduated in December 2022, and has already been using what she has learned to better her music. In the past, there would be times Meier would get stuck when composing, not having the training to figure out a difficult passage or movement. Now she has a much larger musical toolbox.
“It is definitely richer; I am devoting more time and energy to it,” Meier said. “I’ve learned and I am learning how to pay more attention to the details.”
She has had some major composing successes both during and after her time at St. John’s. In 2022, a song Meier composed and submitted to the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada was chosen to celebrate the organization’s 100th birthday last year. And, currently, Meier is composing new worship liturgy for the Shalom Hill Farm near Windom.
An evening of prayer
Her time at St. John’s also led to the creation of one of Meier’s newest endeavors, “Light of the World,” a complete setting for evening prayer service.
Meier said her composing instructor at the college urged her to write something more challenging than just a single song. The service is a contemporary spin on the traditional liturgy of hours that has regained popularity in the Lutheran church over the last few decades. It is a separate time for prayer set apart from the normal Sunday morning services.
The evening prayer service started as a school assignment. To gather feedback, Meier performed it during a clergy retreat in September 2022. It was then the idea to offer the service to area churches and welcome anyone, no matter their denomination, took hold.
A group of six local churches — First Presbyterian, Hope Lutheran of Spicer, Eagle Lake, Bethel Lutheran, Ebenezer Lutheran and Tripolis Lutheran — have offered “Light of the World” on a rotating basis since early this year.
Meier said the hope is to start the rotation back up this fall.
“We are super open to more (churches) and expanding the denominations that we represent,” Meier said.
The mission of the setting of evening prayer, not to mention all of Meier’s work, is to bring people together, feed their faith and perhaps make the world a better place.
“The goal is to provide the opportunity for people to gather for prayer and fellowship and in doing so build ecumenicism,” Meier said. “Our prayer is it would build unity, heal divisions, renew peace and is a gift for this community.” ■
