Gary Rand
Gary Rand loves making music and creating ritual experiences that open up people to mystery, justice, and a greater sense of community. He currently does that at LaSalle Street Church in Chicago and at McCormick Seminary, as well as through a new arts/liturgy collective, pluralguild.com. He’s also producing a new band, The Many, a collaboration working to create honest, reflective and prophetic music for people to sing in worship. A regular on the LaSalle softball team, he even thinks bowling can be fun, especially when done ironically.
Openings
Imagine a wild and holy rite of resistance to the dominant stories of scarcity, exclusion and violence in our world. Think emerging worship crossed with spoken word and ‘60s Happenings. Think about a space and time to sing, dance, lament, pray, and collectively find hope for a new day, a new way. And you’ll be close to describing what OPENINGS is all about. With music by acclaimed young indie band The Many, OPENINGS was born out of the creative collaboration of musician/alt worship leader Gary Rand, artist/pastor/teacher Shawna Bowman, nationally-recognized performance poet Cin Salach, along with storyteller Rebecca Anderson and writer Lenora Rand. But this experience will ultimately be created by you, by all of us, as we come together and participate in this disruptive, spirit-provoking, liturgy-rooted gathering in which music, words, art and ritual bring us into a new kind of holy communion.