Friday I am going to this with this.
Saturday I am going to this with this.
There is a Joni Mitchell quote that would apply here.
Showing posts with label choir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choir. Show all posts
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Chance?
I was speaking with my choir director on the weekend and it came up that I have only sung the Messiah as an alto. So Gerry said that if I wanted, I could sing it as an alto.
We have to sing it on December 13 and have one more other concert before that, that we are learning music for too. I think we have 6 or 7 rehearsals before Messiah but only 2 or 3 of those will be 100% dedicated to the Messiah. So that is a lot of music to learn as a different part in a short time. But it is also a great chance to learn an important work in another part.
I have to decide by tonight - what do you think I should do?
We have to sing it on December 13 and have one more other concert before that, that we are learning music for too. I think we have 6 or 7 rehearsals before Messiah but only 2 or 3 of those will be 100% dedicated to the Messiah. So that is a lot of music to learn as a different part in a short time. But it is also a great chance to learn an important work in another part.
I have to decide by tonight - what do you think I should do?
Sunday, November 02, 2008
The Continuation of Good Things
Oct 30 - discipleship class
Oct 31 - Caesar & Cleopatra @ Stratford
Nov 1 - sung in choral concert concert
Nov 3 - choir rehearsal
Nov 5 - Cardus launch/Zylstra lectures
Nov 6 - discipleship class
Nov 7 - Romeo & Juliet @ Stratford
Nov 8 - singing in choral concert
Nov 9 - Emilia Galotti @ Stratford
Nov 10 - choir rehearsal
Oct 31 - Caesar & Cleopatra @ Stratford
Nov 1 - sung in choral concert concert
Nov 3 - choir rehearsal
Nov 5 - Cardus launch/Zylstra lectures
Nov 6 - discipleship class
Nov 7 - Romeo & Juliet @ Stratford
Nov 8 - singing in choral concert
Nov 9 - Emilia Galotti @ Stratford
Nov 10 - choir rehearsal
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
From The Inside
Shhh, don't tell. I may have snapped a couple shots at Monday night's rehearsal with the orchestra.
I may or may not have been sitting behind the percussion section.
I may or may not have been sitting behind the percussion section.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I Think It Was A Good Day
I spent some time at home on the weekend. I got pretty tired (for various reasons) and decided it wouldn't be safe for me to drive all the way back to London on Sunday night. Therefore I thought I would get a good jump after breakfast on Monday morning and be back to London just after lunch. That was a pipe dream.
The following are my facebook status updates that I made via my cell (with some commentary):
Laura is on the side of the 401 with a flat tire, although she is capable of changing said tire, she is glad to have caa. 10:51
-I'm just driving along and the car starts to handle all crazy and there is a bad bad noise coming from the back. I pull over and swear. Then I call CAA. Then I wait for CAA. Then CAA comes and puts the spare on and inflates it for me. Then I make phone calls to Dad and L.Bo for advice on where the heck to go and get this tire repaired. I end up at Northumberland Tire. They say its gonna be 45min or so. Alors, I take off on foot to kill the time.
Laura stly) replacement. Hurray! 12:01
-this was supposed to read "Laura is eating chinese buffet by herself in port hope. She was just informed that the tire cannot be fixed and she is waiting for them to put on a (likely costly) replacement. Hurray!" I had decided lunch was in order and a 6.50$ chinese lunch buffet is ok with me.
Laura gives up on trying to update this from her cell. Grrr. 12:03
-I was pretty frustrated that I had taken the time to put that whole long update up and it didn't work. though I think it may have worked over the mobile network because I got a text from L.bo saying that I was killing her. she felt sad that she was working and couldn't come and have 6.50$ chinese buffet with me.
Laura is killing Lesley, possibly slowly and with her song. 12:06
-so I thought I'd let everyone know that I was killing L.bo
Laura just watched some woman named Doris get surprised for her birthday at the aforementioned chinese place. 12:18
-yup, just as I was heading back to the buffet Doris and a couple of friends walked in and she spied a very long table full of more of her friends and very quietly and sporadically they started going "uh, surprise." "surprise Doris" "happy birthday Doris" I was pretty amused. And I was just killing time while I was waiting for N-Tire to put the newbie on my car.
Laura cannot do anything simple. Sigh. 12:42
-while I was in the bathroom my Dad called. he had just remembered that before I got the car, he and Mom had put new tires on it and they might be under warranty. but the warranty would be with Canadian Tire, which I was not at and which there is none in Port Hope. this frustrated me to know at this point. so I called Dad and said that it was too late for this tire as a new one was being put on, but I was glad to know for future tire 'incidents'. I got back to N-tire and the spare was still on my car. what? growl. they hadn't had time to find a suitable replacement. so I took that opportunity to check my glove box for anything that mentioned tire warranty. found it, called dad. after some discussion dad called cobourg CT for me and they said to bring the tire in. I got my tire back from N-tire and slowly headed to the 'burg.
Laura is on her way to cobourg canadian tire, frick. 13:00
-I was obviously thrilled to be back tracking and likely eating another hour of time. if I didn't leave cobourg by 3pm then I wouldn't be making it to London by 7 for rehearsal (because of traffic) and would just go back to my parents.
Laura was really wishing she would get an unsecured wireless signal at CT. that wish is going unfulfilled. 13:17
-I pulled out my laptop and thought I might get some work done while waiting for my 'free' replacement tire to be put on. this work would not be involving the internet
Laura has a new tire and is ready to take off across toronto (into traffic). Oh look, its raining. Fun. 13:51
-after about a million phone calls, a bunch of hours spent waiting on the 401, in port hope, and in cobourg, I was finally able to start heading westward again
Laura is back in London, thinking about supper and getting ready for rehearsal. 17:07
-traffic was nice, I made good time and I made it back with a bit of space to breath and have supper before choir rehearsal.
So I think that was a pretty stellar day and was in no way frustrating or a waste of an entire day. Cough.
The following are my facebook status updates that I made via my cell (with some commentary):
Laura is on the side of the 401 with a flat tire, although she is capable of changing said tire, she is glad to have caa. 10:51
-I'm just driving along and the car starts to handle all crazy and there is a bad bad noise coming from the back. I pull over and swear. Then I call CAA. Then I wait for CAA. Then CAA comes and puts the spare on and inflates it for me. Then I make phone calls to Dad and L.Bo for advice on where the heck to go and get this tire repaired. I end up at Northumberland Tire. They say its gonna be 45min or so. Alors, I take off on foot to kill the time.
Laura stly) replacement. Hurray! 12:01
-this was supposed to read "Laura is eating chinese buffet by herself in port hope. She was just informed that the tire cannot be fixed and she is waiting for them to put on a (likely costly) replacement. Hurray!" I had decided lunch was in order and a 6.50$ chinese lunch buffet is ok with me.
Laura gives up on trying to update this from her cell. Grrr. 12:03
-I was pretty frustrated that I had taken the time to put that whole long update up and it didn't work. though I think it may have worked over the mobile network because I got a text from L.bo saying that I was killing her. she felt sad that she was working and couldn't come and have 6.50$ chinese buffet with me.
Laura is killing Lesley, possibly slowly and with her song. 12:06
-so I thought I'd let everyone know that I was killing L.bo
Laura just watched some woman named Doris get surprised for her birthday at the aforementioned chinese place. 12:18
-yup, just as I was heading back to the buffet Doris and a couple of friends walked in and she spied a very long table full of more of her friends and very quietly and sporadically they started going "uh, surprise." "surprise Doris" "happy birthday Doris" I was pretty amused. And I was just killing time while I was waiting for N-Tire to put the newbie on my car.
Laura cannot do anything simple. Sigh. 12:42
-while I was in the bathroom my Dad called. he had just remembered that before I got the car, he and Mom had put new tires on it and they might be under warranty. but the warranty would be with Canadian Tire, which I was not at and which there is none in Port Hope. this frustrated me to know at this point. so I called Dad and said that it was too late for this tire as a new one was being put on, but I was glad to know for future tire 'incidents'. I got back to N-tire and the spare was still on my car. what? growl. they hadn't had time to find a suitable replacement. so I took that opportunity to check my glove box for anything that mentioned tire warranty. found it, called dad. after some discussion dad called cobourg CT for me and they said to bring the tire in. I got my tire back from N-tire and slowly headed to the 'burg.
Laura is on her way to cobourg canadian tire, frick. 13:00
-I was obviously thrilled to be back tracking and likely eating another hour of time. if I didn't leave cobourg by 3pm then I wouldn't be making it to London by 7 for rehearsal (because of traffic) and would just go back to my parents.
Laura was really wishing she would get an unsecured wireless signal at CT. that wish is going unfulfilled. 13:17
-I pulled out my laptop and thought I might get some work done while waiting for my 'free' replacement tire to be put on. this work would not be involving the internet
Laura has a new tire and is ready to take off across toronto (into traffic). Oh look, its raining. Fun. 13:51
-after about a million phone calls, a bunch of hours spent waiting on the 401, in port hope, and in cobourg, I was finally able to start heading westward again
Laura is back in London, thinking about supper and getting ready for rehearsal. 17:07
-traffic was nice, I made good time and I made it back with a bit of space to breath and have supper before choir rehearsal.
So I think that was a pretty stellar day and was in no way frustrating or a waste of an entire day. Cough.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Something You're Going To Want To Do
On November the 1st and 8th, I'm singing with Chorus London in some pretty fantastic concerts.
The concerts are basically the same actually - or at least the music being sung is the same - Orff's Carmina Burana - you can see the first/last movement here - and Ruth Watson Henderson's Voices of Earth. Both concerts will have Chorus London and the Amadeus Choir and a children's choir, along with orchestra.
On Novemeber 1 the concert happens in London at Centennial Hall. On Novermber 8 the concert happens in Toronto at York Minster Park Baptist Church.
A few of the differences will be: the childrens choirs will be different for each city, and I believe the pianists will be different as well. We were told a few weeks ago that Ruth Watson Henderson herself will be one of the pianists for the Toronto date.
I think these will be very hot concerts - 200 voices, amazing music, orchestra, hmmm yes. I'd never heard all of Carmina Burana before I entered the ensemble and it is one crazy b!tch goddess of a piece of music - the rhythm is crazy at times, it's sung in medieval Latin and German. There are even some yiddish words thrown in for good measure. The translations of the lyrics are pretty crazy too. Some highlights:
"If the world were all mine from the sea up to the Rhine, this I would willingly forgo to have the queen of England lie in my arms."
"Some gamble, some drink, some live without discretion. From those who spend their time in gambling, some are stripped bare, some win clothes, some are dressed in sacks; there no-one fears death, but for the wine they throw dice."
"May God grant, may the gods grant, what I have set myself to do, and that is, to unlock the bonds of her virginity."
Voices of Earth draws its lyrics from the Canticles of the Sun and poetry by Archibald Lampman. One of my favourite parts of singing it is the way the two choirs are written. There are many times when one choir is kind of singing the back up vox for the other choir. Sometimes this means that the lyrics get a little skewed. At one point our choir gets to sing "oo-ooooooo grass." And at another "a pool, a pooool, cool." Or another favourite "with joy for Captain fancy at the helm." I want to meet Capt. Fancy.
The V.O.E (as I've taken to calling it in my head because I don't have anyone to talk to such choral matters about) is something you'll want to take in for a variety of reasons
Oh, yeah, siiiiigh and one last reason why you may want to come to this concert.... double sigh... this, cough, will... ugh... be (I can do this), my first, siiiiiiiiiigh, concert as... deep breath... a soprano (of the 2nd variety). There, I said it. So you'd better come.
(ps - if you call for tix in London, mention my name - i'm required to sell a certain number)
The concerts are basically the same actually - or at least the music being sung is the same - Orff's Carmina Burana - you can see the first/last movement here - and Ruth Watson Henderson's Voices of Earth. Both concerts will have Chorus London and the Amadeus Choir and a children's choir, along with orchestra.
On Novemeber 1 the concert happens in London at Centennial Hall. On Novermber 8 the concert happens in Toronto at York Minster Park Baptist Church.
A few of the differences will be: the childrens choirs will be different for each city, and I believe the pianists will be different as well. We were told a few weeks ago that Ruth Watson Henderson herself will be one of the pianists for the Toronto date.
I think these will be very hot concerts - 200 voices, amazing music, orchestra, hmmm yes. I'd never heard all of Carmina Burana before I entered the ensemble and it is one crazy b!tch goddess of a piece of music - the rhythm is crazy at times, it's sung in medieval Latin and German. There are even some yiddish words thrown in for good measure. The translations of the lyrics are pretty crazy too. Some highlights:
"If the world were all mine from the sea up to the Rhine, this I would willingly forgo to have the queen of England lie in my arms."
"Some gamble, some drink, some live without discretion. From those who spend their time in gambling, some are stripped bare, some win clothes, some are dressed in sacks; there no-one fears death, but for the wine they throw dice."
"May God grant, may the gods grant, what I have set myself to do, and that is, to unlock the bonds of her virginity."
Voices of Earth draws its lyrics from the Canticles of the Sun and poetry by Archibald Lampman. One of my favourite parts of singing it is the way the two choirs are written. There are many times when one choir is kind of singing the back up vox for the other choir. Sometimes this means that the lyrics get a little skewed. At one point our choir gets to sing "oo-ooooooo grass." And at another "a pool, a pooool, cool." Or another favourite "with joy for Captain fancy at the helm." I want to meet Capt. Fancy.
The V.O.E (as I've taken to calling it in my head because I don't have anyone to talk to such choral matters about) is something you'll want to take in for a variety of reasons
- it's Canadian - the composer and the poetry (Archie L is from Morpeth, ON)
- it's rarely performed due to the whole 2 choir, plus childrens choir, plus orchestra/double piano thing
- you can't just go out and buy a cd of it - there are no commercial recordings available
- it was written in 1991 - which means you can't be sick of it yet
- it is a big challenge to sing - from the unfamiliarity with it, to the fact that it changes time signatures about 1,538 times, or the insane rhythms, or maybe the sharp text painting
Oh, yeah, siiiiigh and one last reason why you may want to come to this concert.... double sigh... this, cough, will... ugh... be (I can do this), my first, siiiiiiiiiigh, concert as... deep breath... a soprano (of the 2nd variety). There, I said it. So you'd better come.
(ps - if you call for tix in London, mention my name - i'm required to sell a certain number)
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Today Was Kind Of Hard
There was a woman named Betty who had been in Chorus London for over 20 years. She 'retired' from the choir a few years ago. She passed away a couple of weeks ago after a battle with cancer. One of her wishes was that the choir would sing at her memorial.
The memorial was this morning. We were to sing Rutter's "The Lord Bless You And Keep You" and do parts on the 2 hymns that were sung. Easy right?
Wrong.
It may have been a little soon for me to do another funeral - and this one contained one of the hymns that we sang at Grandma Stewart's funeral and 2 of the Psalms, including the one I read. So I had all of that hitting me. The service was also in a funeral home chapel and the last time I was in one of those was after my friend Crystal was killed. So I had bits of that swirling around too.
I started to cry during one of the prayers and I'm sure there were a few people wondering how exactly I had been so touched at a memorial service for someone I had never met. But yeah, it put me in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day and really emphasized to me how much I miss my Grandma.
The memorial was this morning. We were to sing Rutter's "The Lord Bless You And Keep You" and do parts on the 2 hymns that were sung. Easy right?
Wrong.
It may have been a little soon for me to do another funeral - and this one contained one of the hymns that we sang at Grandma Stewart's funeral and 2 of the Psalms, including the one I read. So I had all of that hitting me. The service was also in a funeral home chapel and the last time I was in one of those was after my friend Crystal was killed. So I had bits of that swirling around too.
I started to cry during one of the prayers and I'm sure there were a few people wondering how exactly I had been so touched at a memorial service for someone I had never met. But yeah, it put me in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day and really emphasized to me how much I miss my Grandma.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Waking Up To A Dead Tongue
Chorus London has an upcoming concert and we will be performing Orff's Carmina Burana. This is pretty exciting as its one of those pieces that you should just sing in your lifetime.
Carmina Burana is in a mix of Latin, German and a few yiddish words, all of a medieval persuasion. Our rehearsals are for 2.5 hours once a week and I have the piece on my computer. The leaves me with bits of the work floating around my head. Thusly I have been waking up random Latin phrases from the piece running loudly through my brain.
This is not a new phenominon for me, it happened all the time in my days as an RUC concert choir memeber. All the time. But, when these phrases went looping through my head I could easily walk through the halls of the school, sing them and have the phrase continued by some pour sap who was suffering from the same fate. I think I liked having the company in that "misery."
Now I'm sure that other Chorus London members are having the same thing happen to them. But I only see them once a week and they are all (well mostly) real adults and I don't think they would react well if I walked into our rehearsal hall and looked at one of them and started bellowing "NAZAZA! NAZAZA! NAZAZA!"
I miss interacting on a daily basis with other choir members and hashing out our Latin, German, Rutter-an, Handel-ian, etc tune cooties together.
Carmina Burana is in a mix of Latin, German and a few yiddish words, all of a medieval persuasion. Our rehearsals are for 2.5 hours once a week and I have the piece on my computer. The leaves me with bits of the work floating around my head. Thusly I have been waking up random Latin phrases from the piece running loudly through my brain.
This is not a new phenominon for me, it happened all the time in my days as an RUC concert choir memeber. All the time. But, when these phrases went looping through my head I could easily walk through the halls of the school, sing them and have the phrase continued by some pour sap who was suffering from the same fate. I think I liked having the company in that "misery."
Now I'm sure that other Chorus London members are having the same thing happen to them. But I only see them once a week and they are all (well mostly) real adults and I don't think they would react well if I walked into our rehearsal hall and looked at one of them and started bellowing "NAZAZA! NAZAZA! NAZAZA!"
I miss interacting on a daily basis with other choir members and hashing out our Latin, German, Rutter-an, Handel-ian, etc tune cooties together.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
The Process
Hi.
This is the first big family death for me. I reached 27 years of age with 4 grandparents. That's pretty stellar. But of all the grandparents to go first, it just had to be Grandma Stewart? She was my second mother. This is hard.
Family have been trickling into town in the same manor that baked goods and casseroles have. (I should really chart that) I picked John up from the airport last night. It feels right that the 4 of us are here now. The rest of our family from British Colombia will be here by Friday night. We have found places for them all to stay.
I think my Dad is in shock - he told my Mom to buy new mattresses for the beds that John and I have here. If you've ever slept in the cocoon - it will be no more. My back and my neck are ecstatic about this.
Yesterday was the meeting to decide everything about the funeral. If you're interested in coming its this Saturday at 11am at Carman United Church, just north of Brighton. There is lunch after. (just leave me a message if you want directions) It took almost 3 hours to get things figured out. There are so many details and I don't even realize half of them, I'm just a grandkid. I can only imagine what is swirling around the heads of my Dad and his 4 siblings.
And my Grandpa. I ache for him. Grandma was his worldview. She was his lens. I don't know how he will see. At 94 can you do a paradigm shift?
I am thankful for the support I have been getting personally - the emails, the facebook messages, the text messages, etc. I am really thankful for the group that is coming up to sing at the service. That just reads love. I will also be glad to see some friends, some faces that know me. As glad as I am to be around extended family, these peeps from the Hamilton area have spent more time with me and know how I operate. They are a part of my extended family too and I am so grateful to have their support, and in such a beautiful way.
You'll probably get some more disjointed paragraphs as times moves on.
Thank you.
This is the first big family death for me. I reached 27 years of age with 4 grandparents. That's pretty stellar. But of all the grandparents to go first, it just had to be Grandma Stewart? She was my second mother. This is hard.
Family have been trickling into town in the same manor that baked goods and casseroles have. (I should really chart that) I picked John up from the airport last night. It feels right that the 4 of us are here now. The rest of our family from British Colombia will be here by Friday night. We have found places for them all to stay.
I think my Dad is in shock - he told my Mom to buy new mattresses for the beds that John and I have here. If you've ever slept in the cocoon - it will be no more. My back and my neck are ecstatic about this.
Yesterday was the meeting to decide everything about the funeral. If you're interested in coming its this Saturday at 11am at Carman United Church, just north of Brighton. There is lunch after. (just leave me a message if you want directions) It took almost 3 hours to get things figured out. There are so many details and I don't even realize half of them, I'm just a grandkid. I can only imagine what is swirling around the heads of my Dad and his 4 siblings.
And my Grandpa. I ache for him. Grandma was his worldview. She was his lens. I don't know how he will see. At 94 can you do a paradigm shift?
I am thankful for the support I have been getting personally - the emails, the facebook messages, the text messages, etc. I am really thankful for the group that is coming up to sing at the service. That just reads love. I will also be glad to see some friends, some faces that know me. As glad as I am to be around extended family, these peeps from the Hamilton area have spent more time with me and know how I operate. They are a part of my extended family too and I am so grateful to have their support, and in such a beautiful way.
You'll probably get some more disjointed paragraphs as times moves on.
Thank you.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Plaque Build Up (But Without The Gingivitis)
I'm not sure if I actually owned any plaques before, save for the one that you put your little 4-H bar thingers on. But by the end of this week I had two presented to me.
On Wednesday at closing convocation myself and this guy (Mark DeVos)...
...won the Student Life Award(s)
You may not be from the RUC community. And therefore you would have no idea what I'm talking about. The following is from the Redeemer daily newsletter - The Student Life Award is given annually to one female and one male student who exemplify the following: A Christian commitment expressed in all areas of university life; academic diligence (not necessarily resulting in high grades); involvement in extra-curricular activities such as choir, theatre, yearbook, the Minstrel, Student Senate and athletics; a concerned individual who cares about and influences campus culture; and a person who is respected by peers, faculty, and staff. Individual students, staff and faculty can make nominations for this award.
It was pretty dang cool to be the recipient of this award and to share the stage with Mark, 'cause he is one very awesome young man. We got a standing ovation. It was such a neat sensation to stand there on the stage and look around at the faces that you knew you had a connection with, be it staff, faculty or student. Needless to say, that was a big boost to my week and to my healing process.
You'll recall the last post talking about my last concert as a concert choir member happening on Friday. It went really well, and I know many prayers were sustaining me through that night. I especially know that because I could breath the best I have in weeks, on Friday night. I went to sing in church this morning and I felt like I was singing and jogging - it was that hard to get enough air. But the concert went really well, the solo-y thing went really well, and yeah, great music was sung in German, Latin and English.
After the concert, back in the choir room, I was presented with this -
It reads: Presented to Laura Stewart In recognition of her record number of years of involvement in, and dedication to the Redeemer University Concert Choir - 2008. I had no idea it was coming and I have to thank Kevin and John for making that happen and making me smile. Oh 6 years in concert choir. Obviously both plaques will be hung with my diploma (the one I'll be getting in 6 weeks).
Here's a shot at the Egg & I (had breakfast with Ma and Pa there on Saturday morn) with the booty -
I kinda just look at both plaques and think - wow, look at the work God has done. Look at the young punk who entered Redeemer and the concert choir 7 years ago and is leaving a young(ish) woman. Look at the journey He has lead me through. These plaques are an indicator that God is good, He is good indeed.
On Wednesday at closing convocation myself and this guy (Mark DeVos)...
...won the Student Life Award(s)
You may not be from the RUC community. And therefore you would have no idea what I'm talking about. The following is from the Redeemer daily newsletter - The Student Life Award is given annually to one female and one male student who exemplify the following: A Christian commitment expressed in all areas of university life; academic diligence (not necessarily resulting in high grades); involvement in extra-curricular activities such as choir, theatre, yearbook, the Minstrel, Student Senate and athletics; a concerned individual who cares about and influences campus culture; and a person who is respected by peers, faculty, and staff. Individual students, staff and faculty can make nominations for this award.
It was pretty dang cool to be the recipient of this award and to share the stage with Mark, 'cause he is one very awesome young man. We got a standing ovation. It was such a neat sensation to stand there on the stage and look around at the faces that you knew you had a connection with, be it staff, faculty or student. Needless to say, that was a big boost to my week and to my healing process.
You'll recall the last post talking about my last concert as a concert choir member happening on Friday. It went really well, and I know many prayers were sustaining me through that night. I especially know that because I could breath the best I have in weeks, on Friday night. I went to sing in church this morning and I felt like I was singing and jogging - it was that hard to get enough air. But the concert went really well, the solo-y thing went really well, and yeah, great music was sung in German, Latin and English.
After the concert, back in the choir room, I was presented with this -
It reads: Presented to Laura Stewart In recognition of her record number of years of involvement in, and dedication to the Redeemer University Concert Choir - 2008. I had no idea it was coming and I have to thank Kevin and John for making that happen and making me smile. Oh 6 years in concert choir. Obviously both plaques will be hung with my diploma (the one I'll be getting in 6 weeks).
Here's a shot at the Egg & I (had breakfast with Ma and Pa there on Saturday morn) with the booty -
I kinda just look at both plaques and think - wow, look at the work God has done. Look at the young punk who entered Redeemer and the concert choir 7 years ago and is leaving a young(ish) woman. Look at the journey He has lead me through. These plaques are an indicator that God is good, He is good indeed.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Slowly
I began to make my return to life this week. It was/is exhausting. I had to pick and choose what I had the energy for. And when I wasn't expending energy I was lying down somewhere. For the most part I'm getting much better. I can breath out of my nose 90% of the time. Most coughing is for maintenance (unless I get riled up - which you know, never happens to me as I am very calm and am rarely excitable).
I went back to singing this week. Which may admittedly might have been a bit early. But tonight is my final choir concert as an undergrad and I am in a quartet for a motet and well, as I have said a few times this week - that I will be cold, dead and in the ground before I don't sing in the concert. You don't become the longest standing concert choir member ever by letting a little pneumonia get to you. Heck no. The singing hasn't been too bad. My voice sounds bad afterwards - which I'm guessing is just pure fatigue, but I can sing, and sing pretty well. It is still hard to breath - so I've had to break things up a little more than usual. Ha ha, I went to my voice lesson yesterday and tried an aria that I have to sing at the recital on Monday - holding the sustained notes and trying to get enough air in for them made me dizzy! It was crazy.
Rest assured that I know I am crazy to do what I'm going to do over the next 24hrs. I know I'll regret parts of it as I spend the rest of the weekend in bed. But I know I would regret so much more not singing in this concert (the line up is SO good and so are the singers!). My parents are currently on their way here. So I will have lunch with them and hang for a bit. Then they will do a couple things they need to take care of - I will lay down for a bit and then make myself pretty for the concert. We have a call time of 5:30, but since I am crazy and responsible, I will be there at 5. We have a rehearsal for an hour and then half an hour break (where I will find a couch to crash on) and then we get robed and do final preps. The concert will be a couple of hours with intermission. And then I'm gonna rely on the Holy Spirit to keep giving me energy so that I can celebrate afterwards with both family and friends. Finally Saturday morning my parents and I will keep our tradition of going to the Egg & I and doing a bit of shopping. Apres ca, I will crash.
So you can see that I've healed enough to be able to push. I take that as a victory. Last week I couldn't push. And really, I don't have anything scheduled after my parents leave on Saturday until Monday's voice recital. I'm golden. Right?
I went back to singing this week. Which may admittedly might have been a bit early. But tonight is my final choir concert as an undergrad and I am in a quartet for a motet and well, as I have said a few times this week - that I will be cold, dead and in the ground before I don't sing in the concert. You don't become the longest standing concert choir member ever by letting a little pneumonia get to you. Heck no. The singing hasn't been too bad. My voice sounds bad afterwards - which I'm guessing is just pure fatigue, but I can sing, and sing pretty well. It is still hard to breath - so I've had to break things up a little more than usual. Ha ha, I went to my voice lesson yesterday and tried an aria that I have to sing at the recital on Monday - holding the sustained notes and trying to get enough air in for them made me dizzy! It was crazy.
Rest assured that I know I am crazy to do what I'm going to do over the next 24hrs. I know I'll regret parts of it as I spend the rest of the weekend in bed. But I know I would regret so much more not singing in this concert (the line up is SO good and so are the singers!). My parents are currently on their way here. So I will have lunch with them and hang for a bit. Then they will do a couple things they need to take care of - I will lay down for a bit and then make myself pretty for the concert. We have a call time of 5:30, but since I am crazy and responsible, I will be there at 5. We have a rehearsal for an hour and then half an hour break (where I will find a couch to crash on) and then we get robed and do final preps. The concert will be a couple of hours with intermission. And then I'm gonna rely on the Holy Spirit to keep giving me energy so that I can celebrate afterwards with both family and friends. Finally Saturday morning my parents and I will keep our tradition of going to the Egg & I and doing a bit of shopping. Apres ca, I will crash.
So you can see that I've healed enough to be able to push. I take that as a victory. Last week I couldn't push. And really, I don't have anything scheduled after my parents leave on Saturday until Monday's voice recital. I'm golden. Right?
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Terrifying Memories of High School
If you knew me in high school, and there are a few of you lovely readers out there that did, you'll remember my terrible, life interrupting, worry causing, doctor baffling migraines. When I left for University my neurologist said that he hoped for my sake that hormone changes in my early 20s would help me to grow out of them. I had a couple of doozies in my first year here in Hamilton, and then went on "the pill" and things evened out. I have still got some pretty terrible headaches, but nothing like the days of old. Until this week...
Oh holy shit. Yeah, I'm gonna leave the word shit up here, that's how bad it was. (Potential ministry employers beware, sometimes I say the word shit - I like to shift the blame for that to the Dutch)
I haven't been on the pill since September due to financial constraints. This past Monday I was at the ophthalmologist. She put some crazy drops in my eyes that made my pupils go crazy for a long time. This was happening while I had a crazy day filled meetings, a lot of painting and work for the mainstage set, not enough eating, not enough drinking (of water, Dad), not enough sleeping and general stress of mainstage crunch time and a CITB week.
By Monday night I had a pretty decent headache going, nothing that wasn't explainable or handleable. Tuesday morning I woke up and my neck and shoulders were just killing me. I figured I'd slept pretty tensely and that I would get over the neck stuff as the day went on. But instead it got to the previous day's headache and made things worse. By mid-afternoon I was starting to get a bit of a hurt on. I was relaxing with my friend Jacki who gave me a bit of a neck massage and I had hoped that would help things out. We went to choir and maybe singing, or maybe having sopranos singing in the row behind, made things worse. The pain escalated, and I ended up having to excuse myself part way through the rehearsal to go hurl. I went straight home after rehearsal to bust out the codeine and rest before Church in the Box rehearsal (and yearbook picture night!). The pain continued to get worse and I knew that I couldn't lead my rehearsal. Jacki's calm voice prevailed in also convincing me that it wasn't a good idea for me to drive either. I arranged for my lovely assistant leader Rachel to run our rehearsal and Jacki brought me in for the picture, took me back home and made sure that my ice pack and I were snuggly tucked into bed. I hoped for a full night's sleep, no more puking (pipe dream) and the ability to bounce back for Wednesday.
I spent the entirety of Wednesday in bed, getting up only to go to the bathroom or quickly get food.
By the end of Wednesday I thought I was feeling a bit better, had a much nicer over night and woke up on Thursday feeling considerably more human. Chelsea came over for a little visit. We talked for a while, and then I needed to rest and she needed to research. My head was beginning to hurt more and more and I hoped the rest would take care of that. That maybe I had just had my eyes open for too long and was excited at seeing another human who cared for me. I didn't fall asleep, but did rest, but at the end of the rest I did not feel better, I tried for more rest. Still no good. I cancelled my voice lesson.
Chelsea and I had a chiropractic appointment that she drove us to. Tony got some fantastic movement on my upper cervical spine (i think that's what he said, i was a little out of it) that was pretty locked up. He was concerned as he hadn't really seen me so much not like myself (Gayle and Mira, you should give him some lessons). Chels started to drive me home and I knew I wouldn't be able to do choir.
If you know me know, you know that I am not feeling any kind of good if I miss a CITB rehearsal the week of a service and a choir rehearsal when I know that there are already 3 altos missing from that rehearsal.
I get back to my apartment, get back into my bed, and get back to the codeine. I try to sleep with no luck. The pain is continuing to get worse. Later in the evening I alert Chelsea to my possible need to go the ER for help and ask her to be ready. She and Tashley make provisions for that. I try for more sleep, still nothing. The pain is getting crazy. Normally I listen to The Simpsons or well known movies on my laptop to help pass the hours. I didn't want to hear anything, the lappy was closed. My eye cover was on, while I was laying in a dark room already - the cracks of light coming in from the streets were even bothering me. And then I really began to notice that I was itchy. The Tylenol 3s had made me tingly and itchy, head to toe. I mentioned this to Jacki (who had called to check in) and she was concerned about an allergic reaction. Maybe so was I, but their pain killing abilities were the only thing holding me together.
Jacki and I tried to call Telehealth (yes Dad) to ask them about this itch thing and maybe this pain thing. It wasn't going to work and Jacki pleaded with me to just go to the hospital (when recounting this to my Mom, she wondered why I was so stubborn and just didn't go earlier - the triage nurse in the ER wondered why I didn't come in on Tuesday). So I called Chelsea and withing 15 minutes she, Tashley and I were on our way to Mac.
We had a relatively short wait of 3ish hours in the waiting room at the ER. Most of that was agony due to so much bright lights, so many uncomfortable chairs and so many loud, sick children (but loud, sick children need the most attention). Oh yeah, and there were some vocal parents wondering (very loudly to anyone who could hear - which was everyone) why their children were not already seeing a doctor and there was some very cracked out children's television programming (which I wasn't watching, but could hear the giggles of Chels and Tashley as they watched).
Around 5:30am I got into the ER and fairly quickly got to see a doctor. They had put me in a room by myself, which was nice as the lights could be turned off. The doctor gave me a through looking over, determined that I was not an addict and that I didn't have any obvious underlying neurological problems (neurological is different than mental, people!) and prescribed me a shot of Toradol. Not too long after that, one of Becca Scholtens' sisters in law came and gave me said shot. I had to wait a bit to make sure that I didn't have any reaction to the shot and then I was allowed to go. By 7:30am I was back in my apartment again.
Sleep felt like a victory as I had not seen it for 24hrs. I slept for almost 5 hours. When I woke up I felt like a new woman for about 2 hours and then needed to rest again. Of course yesterday night was the Redeemer Spring Banquet, and my friends had convinced me to go. I had made arrangements to have friends help me with hair and make-up and everything. Sigh. I decided while I was still feeling invincible that I should go for just the dinner. Jacki convinced me that driving may not be the best idea. So I arranged for Amy and Jon to pick me up and Jacki said she would bring me back.
I went back to sleep, and then got up and got ready. The getting ready part should have been my first clue to the fact that it may not have been the wisest idea to go. As it pooped me out to the point where I had to lay down for half an hour before my ride came. When we got there I felt pretty light headed and spacey, and Amy and Jon said they actually waited for me to finish a conversation with someone because there were afraid I wouldn't be able to get to our table by myself. It sucked to be at a banquet and feeling the way I was. Where I would ordinarily be flitting around talking to everyone, my instincts were to stay sitting (actually, I wanted to be laying back down). Garner was playing nice dinner music (which was the first music I had heard in days), but it seemed so loud, and there were so many people and so much light.
The pain was getting worse as the evening went on. My stomach started to churn as I put food in it. I finally finished eating, Jacki finished eating and she brought me back here. I went straight to bed.
I woke up in pain again this morning. And have had to write this post in shifts. My eyes can't handle the reading, and I'm still really exhausted and hurty. Mom said it will take me another 3 or 4 days to get over this. Especially with CITB tomorrow.
I just thought I'd update you, in true, too many details Laura style.
(this got written in shifts - sorry for lack of editing or continuity)
Oh holy shit. Yeah, I'm gonna leave the word shit up here, that's how bad it was. (Potential ministry employers beware, sometimes I say the word shit - I like to shift the blame for that to the Dutch)
I haven't been on the pill since September due to financial constraints. This past Monday I was at the ophthalmologist. She put some crazy drops in my eyes that made my pupils go crazy for a long time. This was happening while I had a crazy day filled meetings, a lot of painting and work for the mainstage set, not enough eating, not enough drinking (of water, Dad), not enough sleeping and general stress of mainstage crunch time and a CITB week.
By Monday night I had a pretty decent headache going, nothing that wasn't explainable or handleable. Tuesday morning I woke up and my neck and shoulders were just killing me. I figured I'd slept pretty tensely and that I would get over the neck stuff as the day went on. But instead it got to the previous day's headache and made things worse. By mid-afternoon I was starting to get a bit of a hurt on. I was relaxing with my friend Jacki who gave me a bit of a neck massage and I had hoped that would help things out. We went to choir and maybe singing, or maybe having sopranos singing in the row behind, made things worse. The pain escalated, and I ended up having to excuse myself part way through the rehearsal to go hurl. I went straight home after rehearsal to bust out the codeine and rest before Church in the Box rehearsal (and yearbook picture night!). The pain continued to get worse and I knew that I couldn't lead my rehearsal. Jacki's calm voice prevailed in also convincing me that it wasn't a good idea for me to drive either. I arranged for my lovely assistant leader Rachel to run our rehearsal and Jacki brought me in for the picture, took me back home and made sure that my ice pack and I were snuggly tucked into bed. I hoped for a full night's sleep, no more puking (pipe dream) and the ability to bounce back for Wednesday.
I spent the entirety of Wednesday in bed, getting up only to go to the bathroom or quickly get food.
By the end of Wednesday I thought I was feeling a bit better, had a much nicer over night and woke up on Thursday feeling considerably more human. Chelsea came over for a little visit. We talked for a while, and then I needed to rest and she needed to research. My head was beginning to hurt more and more and I hoped the rest would take care of that. That maybe I had just had my eyes open for too long and was excited at seeing another human who cared for me. I didn't fall asleep, but did rest, but at the end of the rest I did not feel better, I tried for more rest. Still no good. I cancelled my voice lesson.
Chelsea and I had a chiropractic appointment that she drove us to. Tony got some fantastic movement on my upper cervical spine (i think that's what he said, i was a little out of it) that was pretty locked up. He was concerned as he hadn't really seen me so much not like myself (Gayle and Mira, you should give him some lessons). Chels started to drive me home and I knew I wouldn't be able to do choir.
If you know me know, you know that I am not feeling any kind of good if I miss a CITB rehearsal the week of a service and a choir rehearsal when I know that there are already 3 altos missing from that rehearsal.
I get back to my apartment, get back into my bed, and get back to the codeine. I try to sleep with no luck. The pain is continuing to get worse. Later in the evening I alert Chelsea to my possible need to go the ER for help and ask her to be ready. She and Tashley make provisions for that. I try for more sleep, still nothing. The pain is getting crazy. Normally I listen to The Simpsons or well known movies on my laptop to help pass the hours. I didn't want to hear anything, the lappy was closed. My eye cover was on, while I was laying in a dark room already - the cracks of light coming in from the streets were even bothering me. And then I really began to notice that I was itchy. The Tylenol 3s had made me tingly and itchy, head to toe. I mentioned this to Jacki (who had called to check in) and she was concerned about an allergic reaction. Maybe so was I, but their pain killing abilities were the only thing holding me together.
Jacki and I tried to call Telehealth (yes Dad) to ask them about this itch thing and maybe this pain thing. It wasn't going to work and Jacki pleaded with me to just go to the hospital (when recounting this to my Mom, she wondered why I was so stubborn and just didn't go earlier - the triage nurse in the ER wondered why I didn't come in on Tuesday). So I called Chelsea and withing 15 minutes she, Tashley and I were on our way to Mac.
We had a relatively short wait of 3ish hours in the waiting room at the ER. Most of that was agony due to so much bright lights, so many uncomfortable chairs and so many loud, sick children (but loud, sick children need the most attention). Oh yeah, and there were some vocal parents wondering (very loudly to anyone who could hear - which was everyone) why their children were not already seeing a doctor and there was some very cracked out children's television programming (which I wasn't watching, but could hear the giggles of Chels and Tashley as they watched).
Around 5:30am I got into the ER and fairly quickly got to see a doctor. They had put me in a room by myself, which was nice as the lights could be turned off. The doctor gave me a through looking over, determined that I was not an addict and that I didn't have any obvious underlying neurological problems (neurological is different than mental, people!) and prescribed me a shot of Toradol. Not too long after that, one of Becca Scholtens' sisters in law came and gave me said shot. I had to wait a bit to make sure that I didn't have any reaction to the shot and then I was allowed to go. By 7:30am I was back in my apartment again.
Sleep felt like a victory as I had not seen it for 24hrs. I slept for almost 5 hours. When I woke up I felt like a new woman for about 2 hours and then needed to rest again. Of course yesterday night was the Redeemer Spring Banquet, and my friends had convinced me to go. I had made arrangements to have friends help me with hair and make-up and everything. Sigh. I decided while I was still feeling invincible that I should go for just the dinner. Jacki convinced me that driving may not be the best idea. So I arranged for Amy and Jon to pick me up and Jacki said she would bring me back.
I went back to sleep, and then got up and got ready. The getting ready part should have been my first clue to the fact that it may not have been the wisest idea to go. As it pooped me out to the point where I had to lay down for half an hour before my ride came. When we got there I felt pretty light headed and spacey, and Amy and Jon said they actually waited for me to finish a conversation with someone because there were afraid I wouldn't be able to get to our table by myself. It sucked to be at a banquet and feeling the way I was. Where I would ordinarily be flitting around talking to everyone, my instincts were to stay sitting (actually, I wanted to be laying back down). Garner was playing nice dinner music (which was the first music I had heard in days), but it seemed so loud, and there were so many people and so much light.
The pain was getting worse as the evening went on. My stomach started to churn as I put food in it. I finally finished eating, Jacki finished eating and she brought me back here. I went straight to bed.
I woke up in pain again this morning. And have had to write this post in shifts. My eyes can't handle the reading, and I'm still really exhausted and hurty. Mom said it will take me another 3 or 4 days to get over this. Especially with CITB tomorrow.
I just thought I'd update you, in true, too many details Laura style.
(this got written in shifts - sorry for lack of editing or continuity)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tur
The choir during the welcome at St. Andrew's Presbyterian, Belleville
Chevron (a nickname i just decided to give her) getting acquainted with the piano at Bethel CRC, Brockville
The sultry, smokey voiced Stronks and I in Quebec City
John, Rachel, Kevin and I at my parents' after the Belleville concert
My first day of school, no wait, my last day of tour
Chevron (a nickname i just decided to give her) getting acquainted with the piano at Bethel CRC, Brockville
The sultry, smokey voiced Stronks and I in Quebec City
John, Rachel, Kevin and I at my parents' after the Belleville concert
My first day of school, no wait, my last day of tour
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I'm Sure It Would Be Unholy
I'm in a hotel in Cornwall right now. Its nice. And we don't have to have wheels rolling until 10am. Mmmmm.
I just wanted to share a little funny thing from yesterday's drive from Hamilton to Cornwall - on a coach bus with 35ish people on it.
So we do a thing where more senior-ish students interview rookie choir members so that the entire choir can get to know them. Its pretty tender and usually very hilarious. It often happens closer to the end of tour because we have the most bus time then. But our biggest chunks of bus time happen to be now, so we're doing them now.
One of the questions asked to the freshmen was: if you could combine any two animals and make a superbeast, what would they be and what would you call it? As you can imagine this got some pretty funny and really strange answers from interviews already revealed. A little later after 5 of the interviews had been read over the bus mic, one of our resident hilarious sopranos, Janine came up and said that she had something really important to say to everyone.
She got on the mic and said that one of the first year sopranos had been further discussing the superbeast question - and they wondered what kind of a superbeast would be made by combining Dr T and myself.
cough.
I just wanted to share a little funny thing from yesterday's drive from Hamilton to Cornwall - on a coach bus with 35ish people on it.
So we do a thing where more senior-ish students interview rookie choir members so that the entire choir can get to know them. Its pretty tender and usually very hilarious. It often happens closer to the end of tour because we have the most bus time then. But our biggest chunks of bus time happen to be now, so we're doing them now.
One of the questions asked to the freshmen was: if you could combine any two animals and make a superbeast, what would they be and what would you call it? As you can imagine this got some pretty funny and really strange answers from interviews already revealed. A little later after 5 of the interviews had been read over the bus mic, one of our resident hilarious sopranos, Janine came up and said that she had something really important to say to everyone.
She got on the mic and said that one of the first year sopranos had been further discussing the superbeast question - and they wondered what kind of a superbeast would be made by combining Dr T and myself.
cough.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Choir Tour
Its that time of year again..... Choir Tour Time!!
I thought that you might like to come to a concert or two. Thusly I will post when and where said concerts are (side note, i don't know the actual locations of all of these churches, you're on your own there). Awww.
We will be singing a blend of pieces from the upcoming 25 Anthems for 25 Years concert and our Christmas concert. Some pieces may include: the first movement from Handel's Coronation Anthem #2 - The King Shall Rejoice, For God Commanded Angels To Watch Over You by Felix Mendelssohn (and sometimes Brahms), Antonio Lotti's Crucifixus, C.V Standford's Beati Quorum Via, the Robert's spiritual He Has The Power!, a Dale Grotenhuis favourite Blessed Be the Name of the Lord and much, much more!
Saturday, February 16
Quebec City, PQ
Saint Charles Garnier Church
8pm
Sunday, February 17
Quebec City, PQ
Saint Charles Garnier Church
part of the morning service, 9:30am
Montreal, PQ
Knox-Crescent-Kensington & First Presbyterian Church
6225 Godfrey Avenue Montreal
7:30pm
Monday, February 18
Brockville, ON
Bethel Christian Reformed Church
117 Windsor Drive Brockville
7:30pm
Addison, ON
Heritage Community School
7463 County Rd Addison
9:30am
Tuesday, February 19
Belleville, ON
St. Andrew's Presbyterian
Corner of Church St.& Pinnacle,Belleville
7:30pm
Wednesday, February 20
Barrie, ON
Trinity Anglican Church
7:30pm
I thought that you might like to come to a concert or two. Thusly I will post when and where said concerts are (side note, i don't know the actual locations of all of these churches, you're on your own there). Awww.
We will be singing a blend of pieces from the upcoming 25 Anthems for 25 Years concert and our Christmas concert. Some pieces may include: the first movement from Handel's Coronation Anthem #2 - The King Shall Rejoice, For God Commanded Angels To Watch Over You by Felix Mendelssohn (and sometimes Brahms), Antonio Lotti's Crucifixus, C.V Standford's Beati Quorum Via, the Robert's spiritual He Has The Power!, a Dale Grotenhuis favourite Blessed Be the Name of the Lord and much, much more!
Saturday, February 16
Quebec City, PQ
Saint Charles Garnier Church
8pm
Sunday, February 17
Quebec City, PQ
Saint Charles Garnier Church
part of the morning service, 9:30am
Montreal, PQ
Knox-Crescent-Kensington & First Presbyterian Church
7:30pm
Monday, February 18
Brockville, ON
Bethel Christian Reformed Church
7:30pm
Addison, ON
Heritage Community School
9:30am
Tuesday, February 19
Belleville, ON
St. Andrew's Presbyterian
Corner of Church St.& Pinnacle,
7:30pm
Wednesday, February 20
Barrie, ON
Trinity Anglican Church
7:30pm
Friday, November 30, 2007
Just In Case...
Just in case you thought you might be bored next weekend:
Friday, December 7 - Redeemer Concert Choir and Sinfonia - Christmas concert - 8pm in the auditorium
Saturday, December 8 - Chelsea Schinkel's senior art exhibit Marked Places - 7/8pm in the art gallery
Sunday, December 9 - Church in the Box, featuring responses from John Terpstra, Dr. D. Bowen, Dr. D. Zietsma, Jeanette Lodewyks, and Micah Van Dijk
Friday, December 7 - Redeemer Concert Choir and Sinfonia - Christmas concert - 8pm in the auditorium
Saturday, December 8 - Chelsea Schinkel's senior art exhibit Marked Places - 7/8pm in the art gallery
Sunday, December 9 - Church in the Box, featuring responses from John Terpstra, Dr. D. Bowen, Dr. D. Zietsma, Jeanette Lodewyks, and Micah Van Dijk
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
And Once Again Legalism Has Spoiled A Good Thing
For the past 4 years the Concert Choir has sung at the Warplane Heritage Museum Remembrance Day service. Its always powerful. Its always touching. We are the first choir to have been asked to sing in consecutive years. It is a great honour to be asked to sing at it. And it is a small thing we can do to honour veterans and current service personnel.
This year November 11th falls on a Sunday. That's right, up/op/ob Sondag. And because of the 'uncomfortableness' of some people both in and out of the choir with the choir (or more, certain individuals) singing in the morning, on a Sunday, we are not singing in the service this year.
That paragraph may have just opened a conservative reformed can of worms that is about to indignantly crawl all over me - but let me say this first - it is not about a willingness to keep the Sabbath holy, it is not about a lack of willingness to be away from home churches. For me it is about a lack of flexibility for this particular day.
I'm just gonna throw this out there - our military veterans did not have comfortable options about how they were going to spend their Sunday. So I just wonder if we can't step out of the norm and honour them with something that makes us a little uncomfortable.
Let the very well worded lambasting of me begin...
This year November 11th falls on a Sunday. That's right, up/op/ob Sondag. And because of the 'uncomfortableness' of some people both in and out of the choir with the choir (or more, certain individuals) singing in the morning, on a Sunday, we are not singing in the service this year.
That paragraph may have just opened a conservative reformed can of worms that is about to indignantly crawl all over me - but let me say this first - it is not about a willingness to keep the Sabbath holy, it is not about a lack of willingness to be away from home churches. For me it is about a lack of flexibility for this particular day.
I'm just gonna throw this out there - our military veterans did not have comfortable options about how they were going to spend their Sunday. So I just wonder if we can't step out of the norm and honour them with something that makes us a little uncomfortable.
Let the very well worded lambasting of me begin...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)