Music at St. Paul Presbyterian

St. Paul Exclusive Interview of Maryann Mori                    by Joyce Allard

Maryann Mori began her new position as music coordinator at St. Paul on Sunday, June 8. Maryann, and her husband, Akira, recently relocated to the Des Moines area from Evansville, Indiana, for her husband’s position as the orchestra conductor at Drake University. She is a degreed librarian and is the Outreach Services Coordinator for the Des Moines Library.
Maryann was born and raised in Indiana. Her husband is from Japan. She has six grown children with her first husband. Her children and six grandchildren live in Indiana and Ohio. She has a son in the Air Force and he will be living in Germany.
Maryann said her favorite Bible verse is John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

She noted that she has seen God work many times during her life, especially with the recent move to Des Moines. “Everything just fell into place for us. I’m glad to have this opportunity at St. Paul. I was playing for two churches before our move.”

When asked if there was something that most people at St. Paul wouldn’t know about her she chuckled and said, “Everything since I’m new!” 

In her spare time she enjoys reading, music and playing the violin. Maryann smiled and said she also has a fondness for chocolate.

Music is such a wonderful expression of worship! We find many ways to offer our praise at Saint Paul Presbyterian.

We sing old hymns and favorite hymns at the monthly Hymnsing, first Sunday of each month, and we learn new hymns throughout the year.

Our youth participate in music at the beginning of our Sunday School hour, and at our Wednesday Logos events. Elementary and Middle School youth also sing special songs at various worship services throughout the year.

Choir meets on Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m. from fall to spring. If you like to sing, you're encouraged to join us! Contact the church office for details, 515-276-2818.

Do you like to play handbells? Our Bellmeisters have weekly rehearsals following choir on Wednesday nights, 7:45 p.m.

We love to celebrate the seasons with special presentations. At Christmas we have a church-wide Christmas program that tells the Christmas story in word and song. At Easter we again celebrate the season with the Easter story and beautiful music provided by instrumentalists, youth, choir, soloists, and congregation. Another favorite service is World Communion Sunday (first Sunday in October), where we sing songs from around the world.

For our Lenten journey we offer reflective music at the Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday services.

Join your voice with ours as we praise our Creator!