Dear friends,
Thank you all for taking us to the mountaintop on Sunday for a once-in-a-lifetime-kind of experience. Your passionate and spirited commitment to the process and to the project was inspirational to me and to the many who came to share in our special day. I could see and feel you each pouring your heart and soul into the performance. I was sweating by the end of the "Kyrie" from your sheer energy and connectedness (and, by the way, I don't remember ever sweating in a performance before...unless it was hot in the church, I mean!). I realized I stopped breathing for a while near the end of the Lacrymosa and had to bring myself back to earth. Thank you for bringing and being such light to my life! I am overwhelmed with gratitude today for each of you, for Jeremy, for the soloists, for the instrumentalists, and for each person who made FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT on April 3, 2011 a singular event in the history of the world. Thank you for being a gift to treasure!
The exciting thing about a liturgical choir, though, is that once we culminate one thing-- even an incredibly, extraordinary one thing, we commence the next...and so it is. We will gather this first Wednesday in April to begin our preparations for the journey from Holy Week to Easter. I look forward to sharing some new (and some much-beloved!) music together. As a reminder, the women of the choir will sing worship this Sunday, gathering at 9:30 in the choir to prepare their pieces. Thanks to the men for a beautiful morning yesterday!
Also this week, we have the opportunity to hear our own Jeni Houser perform her masters recital on Friday evening, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. at UNL's Kimball Recital Hall. Don't miss this unique opportunity to enjoy and celebrate Jeni's presence in our community. She has been a bright light among us these last few years, and she knows she will always have a chair with a post-it note anytime she would stop by to visit once she moves this summer! : )
Finally, if you would like to gather together to hear a recording of our performance from Sunday, we will play Mozart this Wednesday in the choir room beginning around 6:30, and we will play the Ruth Watson Henderson piece next Wednesday at the same time. I will be honest that the recordings are glorious-- and make me feel even more confident about what we achieved 'in the moment' on Sunday.
We hope to see Russ and John and Emily and Michelle and Stephen and Sadie and and Lori and Karin and Linda and Dennis and Julie, and Joan and Jon and Paula and Bryce and Seth back in the choir this week. We look forward to welcoming Penny and Ayndrea to the choir this week as well! Thanks be to God that our family grows!
Grace and peace, and many thanks for all you are and all you do!
TT
