History

In the spring of 2003, Katie Derstine began contemplating the idea of starting a women's singing group. She and Joanna Souder kept coming back to the idea all summer, but nothing ever progressed beyond wishful thinking. That all changed in September, when Katie was asked to provide music to open an Eastern Mennonite University chapel. She decided this would be the perfect opportunity to gauge how much interest there would be among fellow musicians, so she sent out an e-mail to 10 women she thought might enjoy the opportunity, and was amazed when all of them responded enthusiastically before she went to bed that night! After singing only 10 minutes of hymns for prelude, the group began to flourish. They received invitations to sing at area churches, several more chapels, and organized a joint concert with a new men's a cappella group, Sons of the Day, to end the semester. After much brainstorming, they settled on the name Shekinah, a feminine Hebrew word for God's presence among the people.

Shekinah has continued to perform for area church services and community events, and has also traveled to other parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Shekinah’s first CD, When All Thy Mercies, was released in June of 2004 and was a followed a year later by a second recording, Here Together Singing. In September 2005, past and present members of Shekinah joined with Sons of the Day to create a recording of hymns from the new Mennonite hymnal supplement Sing the Journey, Hymnal: A Worship Book under the directon of Dr. Kenneth J. Nafziger. The recording was released before the Christmas season of 2005. A second recording from Sing the Journey was recorded in May 2006. The first recording is available at the Eastern Mennonite University bookstore or online.