Some highlights from my visit this weekend to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Greendale, a Milwaukee suburb. . .
SINGING WITH STRANGERS: This was a rather rare opportunity for me to visit a congregation that does my liturgy “O the Joy.” I composed the service back in 1995, and a couple of years later I presented it at a synod convention, after which several congregations in southeastern Wisconsin expressed interest in doing it themselves. St Luke’s was one of them, and this was a very exciting and uncommon opportunity for me to get my music into the hands of “strangers.” More than a dozen years later, this congregation crossed my path again when I discovered that one of my former Carthage voice students, Zach Wolf, is now the youth minister at this same church. While exchanging greetings over Facebook earlier this year, I mentioned that his church purchased my “O the Joy” service back in the late 90’s, but I had no idea whether or not they ever did it anymore. “We sure do!” Zach replied, “and our youth really love it.” That made my day, of course. Not long thereafter, an invitation came for me to visit St. Luke’s – an opportunity I enthusiastically seized!
It was weird to be seated at an unfamiliar piano in an unfamiliar sanctuary in a room full of unfamiliar people (except for Zach) playing the entirely familiar strains of “O the Joy.” But what a pleasure to be hearing my music being joyously sung by people who didn’t know me from Adam. SO cool !
MEETING STEVE: It’s not very often that I get to meet other ministers of music- and frankly, I often don’t enjoy the experience when I do. Either it will be someone who goes about their work very differently from the way I do or someone who makes me feel inferior and inept – or both! But Steve Joyal lived up to his name and was a complete joy for me to work with. He is doing terrific things at St. Luke’s and yet has this unassuming way of talking about it that makes me happy for him and his congregation- rather than jealous. And although he’s obviously someone who thinks ahead a bit more than I do, he clearly values spontaneity and going with the flow. I was delighted to meet him and work with him, and I hope that there are more collaborations in our future.
A JOYFUL NOISE: I am not making reference to any of the music making this morning, but rather to something done in a number of churches these days which is called a Noisy Offering. People in the pews are given the opportunity to give their loose change in a special offering, typically for some special benefit. We’ve begun doing them at Holy Communion this fall, and it’s usually taken by four young people who circulate through the congregation with small plastic buckets in which the change is collected. St. Luke’s does it as well, but they use three cast iron pots with handles, and people come prepared with spare change from home- and they are encouraged to fling it into the pot when it comes around- and all of that clanking really adds up to a glorious cacophony. I actually videotaped it at second service to show it to our worship and music committee, in the hopes that Holy Communion’s noisy offering can better live up to its name.
SCREEN PLAY: It’s no secret that churches across the country are installing projection screens in the front of their sanctuaries and projecting hymn and liturgical lyrics so people don’t have to sing with their noses stuck in books – and that the vast majority of people in the pews seem to love it.
I don’t. In fact, I’m pretty sure I would have a lot of trouble belonging to and worshiping in a church that did away with hymnals. I’m just one of those Old Dogs to whom New Tricks are not easily taught.
But the services at St. Luke’s this morning were my very first time enjoying the whole screen thing. Part of it is that the screen was only used for the O the Joy liturgy – while the hymnals were used for the hymns. And I do have to admit that there’s something kind of nice about singing up and out into the room versus singing into a booklet you’re holding in your hands. So maybe this Old Dog is catching on.
THE YOUNG CLARINETIST: I noticed after first service that the young man who had served as acolyte came back to the choir loft and was talking to a tenor in the choir who was also playing clarinet in the church’s instrumental ensemble. At first I thought it might be a son talking to his dad – but no, it turned out that the young man is a fifth grader who has just started playing clarinet, and he was asking for advice on how to play C-sharp. I just loved that because it reminded me that music-making in the church can be a heartwarming collaborative effort, especially when it spans the generations like that.
THE ORGANIST’S DAUGHTER: At the end of second of second service, a older woman (maybe in her seventies or early eighties) came up to me to introduce herself and to say that her father was organist at Holy Communion in Racine back in the 1920’s and early 30’s. . . which meant that he was organist back when our current church building was built. That was one of the more incredible Small-World-Isn’t- It experiences I’ve had in a long, long time.
THE THANKFUL MOM: Lots of St. Luke’s members came up to me after each service to say how much they like “O the Joy” – and every single thank you meant the world to me – but the most touching thank you came from a woman who actually teared up as she talked about the service and of how much both she and her kids have enjoyed it over the years, including her son who has just moved out to the east coast- which is probably a big reason why this woman was feeling so emotional. I wish I had done a better job in that exchange of saying something like To God be the Glory, but I was just too taken aback. But it sure is humbling to know that something I’ve composed has made such a difference in someone’s life – someone I would never have even met had I not paid this visit to St. Luke’s.
A SLICE OF HUMBLE PIE: It may have been a morning of happy music-making and heartfelt compliments, but in the interest of full disclosure I must report that one woman did not hesitate to tell me that “O the Joy” is not her favorite. I’m actually grateful to have had that little moment which felt a little like someone had just poured the proverbial bucket of cold water over my head. None of this should ever be about winning popularity contests . . . or about trying to make every person happy. Nothing could be more impossible or more beside the point – and this frank comment was a good reminder of that. And at least that comment was tempered by a compliment for my Trinity Hymn, which the St. Luke’s choir sang as their anthem.
APPRECIATING PATIENCE: My visit to St. Luke’s actually started with a Saturday morning choral workshop with about 25 singers from five different church choirs in the Milwaukee area. (Among them was Kathy Brown, former associate pastor at Holy Communion, and her husband Greg, who both sang in my choir.) It was an enthusiastic and well- balanced group and it was great to work with them. What I will always remember, however, is what it felt like Friday night when I went through the files at Holy Communion to find some anthems to bring along with me to this workshop. I wanted a variety of things but also wanted things that wouldn’t be too difficult for people to read/ decipher. But as I went through those files, I found myself confronted by SO much all-but-illegible chicken scratching. . .music that was either messy to begin with – or which became messy because of all of the corrections that had to be made. At a glance, all those confusing scores would seem to be a Monument to Musical Messiness. But much more importantly, it’s a tribute to the extraordinary patience of my choir members who have put up with my hastily hand-written scores all these years. Which is why for as much fun as I had being a special guest at St Luke’s this weekend, I am thankful for the church home to which I will return this week.
pictured above: Accompanying “O the Joy” – with the St. Luke’s church choir and instrumental ensemble seated behind me. By the way, you know it’s a great experience when the worst thing about the weekend is that the sustain pedal on the electric piano didn’t work.