Summer usually brings a change of pace to Tabernacle and this one certainly did! Sterling was on sabbatical so Dan, Kristen, the congregation and I were in charge. We had a great summer.
Several of the Sanctuary Choir members started the “We Sing What We Want” Choir and we spent the summer singing favorite anthems that reminded us of our spiritual home. Sharing the stories of how we came to love the anthems we chose to share allowed the choir members to get to know one another on a deeper level. Many thanks are due to Ron Simmons and Terry Witt for encouraging this choir—all I had to do was play!
Ron, Terry and Susan Braden were also responsible for the highly successful “Open Mike” night events. We shared original songs, magic tricks, stories, poems, piano solos and lots of Broadway songs. It was great fun to discover people’s talents. Do you know we have a member who is a dulcimer player????
July 14-18 Kristen Koger and I took Waysnah, Monica, Christina, Ja Sang Mai, Sang Lung, Doi Bu, Way Doh, K’Paw, Kekoa and Kanoa to Music and Worship Arts Camp at Eagle Eryie. The Virginia Baptist Mission Board sponsors this camp. Activities at Camp include singing, drama, art, orchestra and a lot of swimming! We all had a great time and are looking forward to next summer!
September brought Sterling’s return and the return of regular church activities. Sanctuary Choir is back and the Wednesday evening children’s activities include choir. We are busy preparing for the weekly worship services and for Christmas concerts and programs. The Sanctuary Choir is working on “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi and several other anthems that are based on the “Gloria” text. We will be singing with a string quartet again this Christmas! The children have been working on songs based around the Narrative Lectionary passages and are now beginning to work on their Christmas Pageant. This year Marty Watkin has written the pageant. If you are interested in participating in either of these activities it is time to join the group for rehearsals!
The Music and Worship Ministry is looking forward to the last quarter of the year. Advent and Christmas is always the time when music really gets to shine!
Judy
