Serious deceit was afoot this past Sunday morning at Holy Communion – but I assure you that it was for the best of causes. This coming Sunday is the farewell of Pastor Jeff Barrow, who has been senior pastor at Holy Communion for the past 18 years, and it’s already abundantly clear that the tears are going to be flowing in every direction- and not just from all of us in the pews, but from Jeff himself. (He may be a guy from Montana who plays basketball at the “Y” cusses at the TV when the Packers screw up, but he is also a big softy who is not afraid to cry.) In fact, in anticipation of the tears that will be shed by the bucketful, our youth group is going to be selling small packages of kleenix as a fundraiser. (There will be some kind of comforting Bible verse inserted in each package.) This has to be one of the most brilliant fundraising ideas of all time!
Anyway, there will be more than the sound of sobbing on Sunday morning. There will be a lot of singing as well, including a special request of Jeff’s wife Kate which we are going to spring on Jeff as (we hope) a complete surprise – which is why I don’t want to just blurt out the title of the song here. I know Jeff doesn’t read my blog, so it’s not that I’m afraid that he’ll read about it here, but something is keeping me from just typing out the title. So let me say that it’s by a singer whose initials are J.T. and its title could be paraphrased “Rain Down Affection of those Souls for whom you Feel Affection.” It’s a song that Jeff loves, and on Sunday it will be sung to him by our combined choirs and a very talented singer from our church, Tom Hagemann, who is featured on my CD. It will be a supremely moving and exciting moment.
Anyway, we were anxious to rehearse the song this past Sunday morning when all the participants were around- but the trick was in managing to keep Pastor Jeff far enough away from the choir room – and for a long enough time – that he wouldn’t overhear us practicing the song. But I came up with an idea <<<Insert maniacal laugher>>> in which we would divert Jeff away from the choir room area by faking some pressing church business which required his attention in the office. So that’s what we did, with two members of the church council at a semi-appointed time going up to Jeff and asking that they step into the office to talk through a couple of important questions regarding his farewell dinner. And as soon as we saw the three of them walking down the hall, that was our cue to do our quick rehearsal. And just to make doubly certain that he didn’t break away from them prematurely and blunder within hearing distance of the choir room, there were about a dozen people stationed along the hallway between the office, church lounge and choir room, ready to engage him in banter (and the louder and more time consuming the better!) until the all-clear signal was given.
Meanwhile, Tom and Kate and I and the combined youth and Sunday School choirs were in the choir room, scarcely daring to sing out at full volume for fear that this wonderful surprise might be ruined…. and I found myself feeling surprisingly giddy at the subterfuge which we were pulling off. (I think I now have a little better idea of how exciting it is for a kid who manages to sneak a cigarette out behind his parent’s shed.) And when we finished running the song (twice) without Jeff sticking his smiling face in the door, I felt the thrill of pulling off a complicated heist . . . and without a hitch!
The only thing sweeter will be the moment Sunday morning when we begin singing this song for Pastor Jeff. I suspect that those commemorative kleenix packages will be out in full force at that point!
pictured above: Tom Hagemann with some of the youngsters joining him on this surprise song for Jeff’s farewell. Tom is a fantastic singer and he sings this particular song as though it had been written for him. Needless to say, if you are reading this – you are FORBIDDEN from breathing a word of this to Jeff.