It was a pretty good week in Tabernacle Choir land.
And even though Thursday's rehearsal started off with some very triggering/frustrating moments--which didn't set a very great tone for the rest of evening--focusing on the music itself and thinking about why exactly I was there, really helped.
Today's Music & the Spoken Word went very well and for the 2nd time in my Tabernacle Choir career, I heard Mack say at the conclusion of the program, "It couldn't have gone better." Mack has been very happy about our performances lately--particularly with seeing our eyes and faces more now that we've been utilizing the teleprompter and have little need to look down at our music. While there are downsides to the teleprompter which I've already talked about previously, it certainly does allow our countenances to more fully share our testimonies of Christ.
My favorite song of the day was the first one and the last one. The first one was "All Creatures of Our God and King" and it gave me all the feels. I particularly honed in on the lyric "Ye light of evening find a voice." Why that lyric, you ask? Well for me, it's symbolic of those who may not have a really bright light to share, but find a way to share it anyway in meaningful and significant ways.
The last song was a new one called "Lift Up Your Hearts", which was originally arranged by Mack for a specific out-of-state choir. The members of that choir were listening in this morning knowing that that we'd be performing that song. So it was kind of fun to envision them all tuning in.
We did have a live audience this morning of maybe 100 people or so. Always great to have someone we can actually see as we perform! I think most of us in the Choir were expecting to finally sing our signature closing piece "God Be With You" after the program was over. But then, something just plain weird happened.
With no warning, Mack said "OK, we're now going to sing the happy birthday song to KSL" and then proceeded to quickly sing it for us just so there'd be no question as to how it was supposed to go. So we just launched into singing happy birthday to KSL (a local TV/radio station) right after we had just ended MSW on such a spiritual note. The whole time I was thinking, "So we traded what could have been a very impactful song for the audience for what felt like some commercial?"
It didn't stop there though.
Following our happy birthday singing, Mack announced we needed to speak the words....oh shoot! I now forget what they were! Something like "Thanks for all you do Mark". That wasn't it, but it was something random like that--for a person we didn't know (at least I didn't). After THAT, the audience started filing out and we continued with our extra rehearsal.
Sometimes the Choir does do weird stuff--and it's been awhile since we have. So I guess we were due.
At any rate, in closing I wanted to mention some nice things people said to me today. Steve, on my left, showed genuine concern and asked how my eye was doing. Later, Jay, on my right, said I have facial expressions while I sing that he thought were great (my wife always says that too--so kudos to her as well). Wes gave me a fist bump and said he was glad to see me today. And Ben and Willy thanked me for driving.
Sometimes it's the little things that have the biggest impact.
Until next time, God be with you.
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