The choir of Saint Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, debuted a new choral anthem in the Cherokee language on Feb. 8, 2026. (Photo by David Burke)
Great Plains Conference | Feb. 17, 2026
LINCOLN — In both her scholarly pursuit and her love of Indigenous art and culture, Dr. Mary Young has opened her mind and her heart to Native American music.
Young, who has been director of music and worship arts at Lincoln Saint Paul United Methodist Church since August, used the sanctuary of the church for the inaugural First Nations Choral Festival nearly two years earlier as a part of receiving her doctorate in conducting from the University of Nebraska. And Feb. 8, she directed the chancel choir as it performed the world premiere of a choral anthem by a Cherokee composer.
“I very quickly discovered the problem is not that you Google a Native American piece and nothing comes up,” Young said in introducing “To Hi Yi (Where Peace Lives)” to the congregation.
“The problem is the things that do pop up in the search bar are written by non-Native, or in a completely Western style or they’re not written in a Native language,” she said.
She worked with a Cherokee composer and friend, James Green, to provide a series of choral pieces all sung in Native languages that can be performed by church, high school and college choral groups.
“You can look at it and know the traceable, verifiable source materials for the tune, the song, the text,” she said.
The lyrics translate to “Peace on earth where peace lives in Cherokee/You will always find peace in Cherokee/Where peace lives in Cherokee.”
Performing in the Native language proved to be a challenge for the 30-voice choir.
“Cherokee’s tricky to sing in,” Young said of the one-month rehearsal process, typical for any anthem. “The tune, they were shucking and jiving with the drum and flute and everything. Which is part of the reason you sing in languages, to preserve them, like Latin.
“It’s very consonant-y,” added Young, a Rochester, N.Y., native who has no Native lineage. “It’s crunchy for our English-speaking tongues.” Chancel choir members say they were up for the challenge.
“We get to be a part of learning that language to sing it,” said Bruce Chapman, who has sung bass in the choir for most of the past 20 years. “You have to learn how to pronounce the words, which is good for us.”
“That’s why I come to choir, for the challenge of it,” alto Alice Corkill added.
Dr. Mary Young rehearses with the choir of Saint Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Neb. (Photo by David Burke)
Young said the Saint Paul congregation and leadership have been open to Native American offerings.
“This church has such a heart for indigenous culture, music and art. It seems to be a theme for this church,” she said. “It’s also about where we are located in Nebraska. There’s so much tribal history around here, and it’s something close to people’s hearts. They’re very mindful of the land that they live in, the cultures that came before. They had a heart for it, so it’s easy to get them excited about it, as excited as I am.
“They’re just organically curious about it,” Young added.
In the Feb. 8 service, Rev. Sarah Marsh, senior pastor, spoke about justice for those in the margins and used the First Nations translation for the scripture, Matthew 5:1-11.
Marsh says Young has “so much life and energy and passion for music, but also a passion for community.
“She has this great spirit of including all people and reaching out from friends she knows from the music world. We’re seeing a lot of collaboration under her leadership,” said Marsh, senior pastor since July.
Marsh said Young has taken choirs Christmas caroling to neighbors in downtown Lincoln, bringing goodwill to the community from the church.
Young’s passion for Native American music, Marsh said, was a perfect fit for Saint Paul.
“The church loves a diversity of music. They really love high church music, but they were really high when I came here of loving all kinds of music,” Marsh said.
“She’s so positive, she just spreads this good feeling to everyone she works with, and the choir adores her,” Marsh added. “We’re so blessed.”
Young had spent two years as a “scholarship singer,” a music student paid to sing with the choir at Saint Paul, during her college years and, after becoming music director at another church in Lincoln for about a year, was excited to see the opening at the church.
“Coming back was like a massive homecoming,” she said. “We were hugging and so excited.
Although many of her colleagues took the academic route after earning their doctorates, and Young was tempted by a couple of professorship offers, she decided to stay in church choral arts. Saint Paul leadership, she said, let her continue her academic studies, including a week of work time to study translations at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
“My fear was that I did all this work to get this degree, and I’m still wanting to be an academic and a scholar and a writer,” Young said. “They said they would support me, and they have.
“This was a God thing,” she added. “They said you can be an artist, and you can be scholarly, and we’ll support you.”
Besides her Saint Paul duties, Young is also an adjunct professor at the Lincoln campus of Concordia University, a Lutheran school
“I get to do it all. It’s amazing,” she said with a smile.
Young said the choir members were supportive of her efforts as well, including serving as test subjects for new material.
“Anything I get to working on I share with them and also try it out to make sure it works before it goes to print,” she said. “A lot of composers ... don’t have a choir at their disposal. They’re sitting in front of a computer and don’t have the resource I have to try stuff and say this works, this doesn’t. It’s just a goldmine. It’s great.”
The Saint Paul UMC choir has increased its average attendance from 25 to about 30, director Mary Young said. (Photo by David Burke)
Young introduced a showtune-heavy cabaret performance to the church last fall, and plans on a classical concert in the spring. She would like to have a revival of the First Nations festival, whose 2024 participants included Great Plains Conference Bishop David Wilson — the first Native American bishop in the denomination — perhaps broadening it to other cultures.
And the choir will travel to New York City on Dec. 1 to be part of a mass ensemble for the world premiere of a Christmas oratorio at Carnegie Hall, a piece they will perform on their own later in the month for a Midwest premiere.
Marsh and Chapman both said they appreciate the joy and energy Young has brought to Saint Paul.
“She just brings a vitality to it,” Chapman said. “She brings such succinct joy and passion and all that stuff. We’ve got a great history of music in this church, and she just fits right in.
“It’s very special for us,” he added. “Dr. Mary has brought so much joy to this church.”
David Burke is a content specialist, for the Great Plains Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.