and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
I sang in the pick-up choir at Grace church yesterday and it was a great experience!
On the first Sunday of the month, our normal choir gets the day off and the rest of us can have a chance to sing unto the Lord in an informal gathering that rehearses for the hour before the service.
Yesterday I got to church early with my fabulous homemade rum cake and was collared by Mark, our choir director, as I was helping set-up breakfast. Are you going to sing today? He asked.
Uh, Ok. Sure. I replied. I'm game for anything that gets me closer to the altar.
It was the first time I have joined in, and I found it surprising.
Who knew that our very serious and a little intimidating choir director was so wonderful to work with? Not only does he have a sly sense of humor, but he is very good at leading. Clearly he understands that this is worship. I was worried that I would miss notes or go off key, but he shepherded us wonderfully. I felt very supported throughout the whole service, which allowed me to get my focus off my fear of screwing up and keep it on singing to God with joy. Which I did... in my raspy, nodes on the vocal chords, tenor.
We sang the psalm and played hand bells. We did a Taize chant. We sang an exuberant march at the end. We sang hymns from Pakistan and Tanzania and ancient Israel and France. And best of all, we got to sit in the choir seats, up in the chancel, right next to the pulpit and the altar.
I think I might just do it again next month.
6 comments:
Sounds like fun. Good for you!
What a great idea. That sounds like a wonderful way to give everybody a chance to get into making a joyful noise. Glad you enjoyed it.
It's new for us.... since the merger. I think it started because some of the folks from the Messiah choir couldn't do the rigorous rehearsal schedule that our regular choir has. So this was a wonderful innovation.
Next month I have to decide between doing healing prayers during the service... or singing. Hmmm.
That's a fantastic idea! (I've got to start writing these down somewhere...)
Hi Rachel,
So glad you got to make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
When I first read your title, I thought it said "spew forth thy praise"! Got to admit I was curious about where that was going :-).
Tough decision for next month, I'm sure, cause healing is so important too....
Actually,
I might skip both and head over to my former UU church. My dear minister is leaving for Oregon and his last few sermons are in June. He has promised that the one on the 3rd will be funny. Who can resist?
Mother Laura, spew forth his praise sounds like what I do most of the time. That is hilarious!
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