Dear Plymouth Choir friends,
What an absolute joy it is to be in Lincoln finally-- after several months of anticipation and excitement. While I do not officially join in ministry with you until August, I look forward to being in your neighborhood the next several weeks as Brent and I settle into our new life in Lincoln. We are so thankful to the search committee for calling us here, and I feel certain that God has amazing plans for our ministry together at First Plymouth. While I already miss our remarkable church family from Birmingham, Michigan, I look forward to serving with each of you and with the entire congregation. A particular blessing is the opportunity we all have here to work with Jeremy Bankson, a talented, genuine, humble, church musician. Jeremy and I have already collaborated fairly extensively to make plans for this coming season, and I have so appreciated his graciousness helping me to learn more about all the wonderful things you do. You all are part of a choir and congregation with a truly rich heritage and a vibrant and inspired present state. I am blessed that I have been called to serve such a healthy community. I do not have to come in to reinvent the wheel or to strategize for a renaissance or to heal significant wounds or to begin something anew. Having said that, because of who I am and what I feel God calls me to be and do, I will probably bring some new ideas and insight-- some which you may embrace and some which you may challenge. All I ask is that we allow these possibility-filled promises to guide the beginning of our work together:
1. The new guy may have some new ideas. Because they are new does not mean they are bad. Let's trust and try before we judge.
2. We have some particular traditions that we love. Because we have a new leader, we will graciously invite him to embrace them.
3. We are all servant musicians. The music ministry of First Plymouth is not about its director. The leader is here to help the music ministry of First Plymouth become what it feels called to be. The choir is not a showcase for us. It is a community in which we unite to serve.
4. We do not sing for our director. We serve alongside our leaders to create music and to build relationships that glorify God and that help others to experience God.
5. Lasting progress and success do not happen suddenly. We will have patience, trusting that healthy processes and relationships are more important over time than any individual product.
6. Talent is a gift from God. Discipline is our gift to God. Practice and preparation are more important than 'performance.' Great singers alone do not make a great choir-- we faithfully need to be together to find our collective voice.
7. We are good just how we are, but there is a chance that we can grow. Our past was wonderful, but, if we trust God, our future can be an even richer wonderful!
8. Your unique voice is a gift. Your willingness to share it in the choir is a blessing!
To begin our season, I would like to invite you to two special and new events:
SUMMER SING!-- On Wednesday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m., everyone in the community is invited to join us for a SUMMER SING of the Brahms' GERMAN REQUIEM. The idea of a SUMMER SING is to get people together to sing great choral masterworks during the usual months of choral hibernation. There are no rehearsals, there are no long-range commitments involved for these events. We simply assemble at 7:00 p.m., practice some of the 'hotspots' for an hour, then sing through the entire work-- not for an audience, but for the joy of singing together! Since we will later prepare this piece for an Abendmusik program in April, this offers us all a glimpse of the treasures that Brahms has in store for us to discover! Invite your friends and family to join us for the fun!
PLYMOUTH CHOIR RETREAT: Saturday, August 29 from 10:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m. (Location TBA)
We will spend the day together to have a particular time set aside to get a head start learning our repertoire for the fall, to get to know more about one another, to begin to determine our collective goals for this season, and to spend some time in worship and reflection. If you would like to help with organization or programming for this event, please let me know at your convenience.
And some more simple scheduling information:
Our first rehearsal for the Plymouth Choir will be Wednesday, August 26, and our first Sunday to sing in worship will be Sunday, September 13. A more specific schedule will be published shortly.
To enable more participation for the Christmas Concert, LET EVERY HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM, our rehearsals for Abendmusik Festival Choir will begin in November. A more specific schedule will be published shortly.
Know that I look forward to learning more about each of you. Know that I look forward to broadening your experience as church musicians and as choral artists. Know that I look forward to sharing the joys and concerns of your lives. Know that I look forward to hearing about why you love First Plymouth. Know that I look forward to helping us create new reasons to love First Plymouth! Know that I am grateful that God has brought us together to share this holy ground.
Grace and peace.
TT
