We’ve had a lot of opportunities to listen to great music during the pandemic. I’ve told you about them many times in this space. Studio Choir, Multi-home Ensemble, even my weekly Thursday evening music appreciation classes all have resulted in people’s ears being saturated with the finest music we can offer. My ears have rung for months with the sounds I have mixed and edited from past worship services and new recordings from Susan and Cheryl’s homes. It’s been inspiring and I’ve gotten a bit emotional at this wealth at times. But what do all these practices have in common? They were designed in our world of social distancing. Each and every one of those experiences involved some aspect of seclusion.
As we move back to our new world, we are returning to many of the old experiences we hold dear; still handled with a bit of tact, but on the right path. For possibly the first time ever, I didn’t take for granted the fact this past week, that I was singing in a tight circle to lead the hymns in worship. We were outdoors (the tact that I mentioned) but we were in fact singing together (the step on the right path). There will be more and more of these opportunities coming up, as we reach new milestones: worshiping indoors for the first time, singing in the sanctuary for the first time, singing as a choir for the first time. Each of these will likely happen gradually, not all at the same service. May we use each of those opportunities as a chance to remind ourselves not to take them for granted.
In early June I approached the known music makers of Edwards Church and proposed a Camerata in my backyard. Nearly twenty of us gathered for an evening of music making. And it was amazing. No audience, no “rehearsing,” just singing, plucking, and strumming, “lustily and with good courage” (to quote, as I always do, Charles Wesley). This was another step on the right path, with tact, for those of us who have missed that connection that is unique among music makers.
Our new world must respect and incorporate those elements which gave us joy in our old world, but we will not have grown at all from this middle-period, if we don’t bring some of its learnings with us into the new one. Later this summer, you’ll learn more about what has been percolating in my mind this spring regarding Edwards Church’s vibrant and ever-growing music program. It will not be the same as it was in 2019. But it shouldn’t be. Nothing ever will be the same as it was in 2019. The world has changed. We’ve changed. The Church has changed.
There is a song by contemporary Southern gospel songwriter Bill Gaither which illustrates the ways in which “loving God,” “loving each other” and “making music with my friends” mix with each other in a way that allows a greater whole to materialize. We’ve had two of those three on display throughout this past year. And now, my friends, we’re starting to add the final ingredient back into the mix. Praise God!
Rick Seaholm,
Commissioned Minister of Music