Small town, small churches, lots of reasons to cooperate. For many years as an older teen and into adulthood, the four churches in our community plus one next town over (and people who maybe didn't even go to church) formed a community choir. We always had one person who could play the piano well enough to learn new and/or difficult music, and pound out the notes for the gang to learn their respective parts. We usually had a person who was either good enough or could be roped into leading this motley crew. And there were usually about five of us who could read music. The rest learned by hearing the notes often enough, and together we had lots of fun. Some years we attempted something out of the ordinary, other times, a familiar selection of carols.
Part of the fun was singing in each others' churches sometime in December. There were times that we hit three churches in one morning. We were incredibly ecumenical in a time when that was rather unusual. The churches ran the gamut from Catholic to Anglican to United to Lutheran to Pentecostal.
Then we would perhaps have a concert for the community in the local community hall.
And we would often haul ourselves through blizzards to the senior citizens lodges in the area. It always seemed to be blizzard season just before Christmas. But we would bring our version of cheer to add to the entertainment the seniors would 'enjoy' during December. And lots of home baking to finish off the evening.
We often did the same kind of thing for Easter.
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4 comments:
I have atheist friends that participate in Church groups simply so they can be in choir. It seems church is mainly a social function for many -- social functions are good.
I think for us the choir was both community/social, and 'religious'--and I expect the social aspects were the stronger ones.
I agree with you totally, Sabio--a significant part of the church experience is social, and that is a good thing. (Not the only part, in my view, but a very important part.)
We agree !
How well I remember! The memories just flood back as I think about all the years of tagging along with, then participating myself. Being one of three teenage girls among a group of adults was a neat experience. There was always a sense of belonging. And to this day, I rarely need to look at any words to any Christmas carols, I memorized them and they stick with me. And maybe there is a little bit of pride in knowing all four of Joy to the World.
~Sis Dearest
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