Progressive Sacred Music

My free-use worship music resources are available on my website. I am happy to work with you to find appropriate music already available on the website or to write new music for your congregation. I take commissions for hymn texts using traditional tunes as well as for new worship songs with original music as well as lyrics, in any style of your choice.

Examples

Here's a video of a new hymn text (2025) set to a traditional tune: Love Your Neighbor - No Exceptions: A Hymn Text by Amanda Udis-Kessler

 

Here's a video of an original worship song for which I wrote both text and music (2021): Rooted and Grounded in Love by Amanda Udis Kessler (choral version)

“ Thanks again for your amazing work, Amanda!!! What a gift to the whole progressive Christian movement! ”

— Rev. Jim Burklo, Author/Songwriter/Pastor

“Amanda Udis-Kessler's music is a gift to progressive worship, blending inclusive and affirming lyrics with melodies that are both memorable and deeply singable. Her work inspires connection and joy and is simply a treasure for both our choral and worship settings.”

— Julie Stiles, Music Director, United Church of Austin (Austin, TX)

“Amanda gifts us with fresh tools to ponder, sing-pray, and experience the Divine Mystery. Our congregation loves Amanda's new music and inclusive texts used to sing our praise, lament, and values. Yours will too!”

— Rev. Dr. Peter Stickney, Chaplain, United Church of Christ Musicians Association; Senior Minister, Newfield Community Church (Newfield, ME)

 

Congregations and organizations that have previously commissioned new worship music include:

  •  Central Church Disciples of Christ (Indianapolis, IN)
  • Church of the Ascension (Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
  • Edgebrook Lutheran Church (Chicago, IL)
  • First Church Somerville United Church of Christ (Somerville, MA)
  • The Fountains United Methodist Church (Fountain Hills, AZ)
  • Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (Houghton, MI)
  • Mattapoisett Congregational Church (Mattapoisett, MA)
  • Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church (Southfield, MI)
  • St. Stephens Episcopal Church (Houston, TX)
  • United Church of Christ Minister for Economic Justice
  • United Church of Christ Rocky Mountain Conference
  • United Church of the Valley UCC/DOC (Murrieta, CA)
  • Vista Grande Community Church UCC (Colorado Springs, CO)
  • Worship Design Studio (Dr. Marcia McFee's enterprise)

In addition to having eleven hymn texts published by GIA (six available, five in process), my worship music appears in:

  •  Sing Justice! Do Justice! (Selah/Hymn Society, 1998)
  • Shaping Sanctuary (Reconciling Congregation Program, 2000)
  • Singing the Journey (Unitarian Universalist Association, 2005)
  • Sing Your Faith (General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (UK), 2009)
  • Selah Songs of Rejoicing (Selah Publishing Company, 2011)
  • Songs for the Holy Other (Hymn Society in the US and Canada, 2019)
  • Resounding Voices (Women's Sacred Music Project, 2023)
  • A Liturgy for All Bodies: New Words for a New World (Cyclical, 2023)
  • Then Let Us Sing! (United Church of Canada)
  • Sing Out Love (Unitarian Universalist Association, 2025)