Today was supposed to be the one day a year when the Tabernacle Choir recognized those who were retiring--those who had given many years of dedicated "musical missionary" service. (As a reminder, choir members retire from the choir for one of three reasons: they have reached 20 years; they have turned 60; or they've decided to leave for personal reasons) Due to the pandemic-related social restrictions of course (what ISN'T related to that), retirement has been placed on hold--to be scheduled on some future mystery date. A date we wish we could actually know the month and day of. Thankfully however, those retiring will be invited back to sing on another broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word and will thus get the "closure" experience they can both prepare for and treasure.
I don't know all of the people retiring, but one of my best friends, Ryan Bateman, is. I've been thinking about him today and feeling very grateful for all of the wonderful experiences we've had in Choir together. I have many more thoughts to share about Ryan, along with a few photos, too, but I'll save all of that for the actual day in which he will be asked to say goodbye to the Tabernacle Choir experience and gently place his astounding 20 years of choir service on the shelves of his memory.
As for me, I continue to miss not being able to participate in the Tabernacle Choir experience. I almost hate to admit how much I've counted on it to give me a boost every week--both spiritually and socially. It'd be one thing if we just knew when--exactly when--we would resume normal operations. But we don't, and know one knows, and it's just all frustrating. Several people have been asking me about whether or not we're still going on tour this summer. And all I can ever say is, "I don't know." I'd frankly be surprised if we still were, but miracles can happen! We're all just waiting for the choir presidency and all involved in tour planning to analyze what they can and make decisions accordingly. I have no doubt they are doing their best with the information and forecasting they have available to them and when the time is right, they'll make the choice and let us all know.
Until next time, God be with you.
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