Today is the last Sunday I will attend church at Community of the Savior. Summer is drawing to a close (even though it does not officially end until well into September), and I will return to my position at the United Methodist Church. I have been sending out information about rehearsals starting and repertoire we will be working on. The pastor has sent a wonderful detailed list of hymns for the next 3 months of Sundays, along with his topics and focus.
What a wonderful assist and leg up in my planning! Now if I could just catch up with him! I have met with the accompanist and we are working on finding ways to make the hymns more inviting and engaging. While her piano style is amazing and gifted, it is nice to change things up a bit now and again. She has a number of students who also play other instruments who might be willing to play along from time to time.
Besides that, a few new people have expressed interest in singing in the choir and will be joining us this year, and some of the choir members who were battling illness last year are well enough to rejoin. It is a shot in the arm to know that the chairs will not only be full, but we will add a few! I work with the music librarian to identify anthems that are SAB or 2-part for those important first few pieces. While they still need to be on topic, I don't want to assign something overly challenging until we have had time to ease back into our work.
It feels good to look down the calendar and have a good idea what we will be doing when, and how to prepare for what is coming. I like to work at least 5 weeks out for service music, and seasonally, start preparing for Advent in August.
As I reflect about this preparation, I realize that not all my transitions come this gracefully. Sometimes I have to make a switch on a moment's notice with no time to prepare in advance. Sometimes you go into a new venture without the necessary tools at all. Even with the weather, some years the transitions are gradual and other years it just clunks from one season to the next overnight without warning.
I pray that for all the transitions of my life, I will appreciate having plenty of time to prepare, and for those times when I don't even see the change coming, the grace and sustenance of God.
What a wonderful assist and leg up in my planning! Now if I could just catch up with him! I have met with the accompanist and we are working on finding ways to make the hymns more inviting and engaging. While her piano style is amazing and gifted, it is nice to change things up a bit now and again. She has a number of students who also play other instruments who might be willing to play along from time to time.
Besides that, a few new people have expressed interest in singing in the choir and will be joining us this year, and some of the choir members who were battling illness last year are well enough to rejoin. It is a shot in the arm to know that the chairs will not only be full, but we will add a few! I work with the music librarian to identify anthems that are SAB or 2-part for those important first few pieces. While they still need to be on topic, I don't want to assign something overly challenging until we have had time to ease back into our work.
It feels good to look down the calendar and have a good idea what we will be doing when, and how to prepare for what is coming. I like to work at least 5 weeks out for service music, and seasonally, start preparing for Advent in August.
As I reflect about this preparation, I realize that not all my transitions come this gracefully. Sometimes I have to make a switch on a moment's notice with no time to prepare in advance. Sometimes you go into a new venture without the necessary tools at all. Even with the weather, some years the transitions are gradual and other years it just clunks from one season to the next overnight without warning.
I pray that for all the transitions of my life, I will appreciate having plenty of time to prepare, and for those times when I don't even see the change coming, the grace and sustenance of God.
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