Choral Chaos

The sanctuary renovations are complete! This Sunday we will worship in our new space. Tonight I came to choir rehearsal early in order to set up the platform and get the chime tables in place. The pastor was there helping to jockey the piano and digital keyboard into a workable position. So were the people who are learning to run the new technology. The company trainer had strapped on a microphone and his voice boomed and echoed in the room, drowning out all thoughts and making conversation near impossible.

Lights came on and went out, first blinding us, then plunging us into darkness. Monitors were positioned and brought up live. Volumes bounced from a whisper to floor reverberating sonic levels. People huddled over the board and the pc in the new tech space, then walked to different parts of the sanctuary to check things out.

In the midst of this chaos, the pianist and I were trying to set up our duet for Sunday, I on the digital keyboard and she on the grand piano. I had preselected settings, but I needed to know if they were balanced properly with the piano. I could hear nothing! The people in the sound booth said they were controlling the volume and that it was fine, but not so if I couldn't hear anything of what I was playing!

Choir rehearsal didn't go much better. Between the loud instruction at the tech booth and people fluttering about, I couldn't hear myself think much less get the choir to hear any instruction. Even the pianist tried to convince the tech person that we needed quiet so we could work on our music.

Isn't that just like life? Sometimes it feels like everything around you is loud and demanding. Nothing seems to be working together and there is a lot of commotion. You are trying to get things done, but keep getting distracted by other activities.

The good thing is that, just as in life, eventually the other activity wound down and the people left and we found ourselves alone in a sea of quietness. It was wonderful. We worked through both Sunday's anthem and parts of the upcoming cantata, had our devotional, and left feeling accomplished and prepared.

Now if I can just get my life to follow suit!