Time to sing the songs of the season.
It's so easy to love Christmas music. Just the memories those chords and notes conjure make it easy, memories of childhood dreams, of snow falling and fires warming the room. I speak for myself, of course. Looking back, I had wonderful Christmases, though others may not have. I know I experienced tough times growing up...everyone does, and everyone should. It's the way life was intended. We should never life a life without pain...it makes it impossible to experience joy.
Joy to the World
For years, heck, for decades I belonged to a congregation that took their annual ward musical Christmas program to heights seldom seen (or heard...). We had world-class (and I mean, world-class...) musicians participate. We began practicing the music months in advance. We had piano, organ, strings, bells, even harp--multiple harp--accompaniment. We had solos, duets, small quartets. They were an event, something people penciled in like many do when attending a Hallelujah Sing-In.
Handel's Hallelujah
We would practice the songs week after week. We'd gather in homes and at church...even having an incredible breakfast at the church the Saturday before the Christmas service. Those programs--like the Christmases of my youth--are now only memories, ghosts of the past, sounds lost to time. Now, part of my church calling is to help organize the upcoming Christmas program in our ward. It won't be as grand, nor will it include talent found in our previous neighborhood. But, does that matter? Do we need the same preparation, the same degree of difficulty to find success? The answer is, no. No we do not. Because it's not those things that make the program special. It's a group of imperfect people gathering together and sharing their talents to make the holiday special for themselves and others.
Angles We Have Heard on High
When the last chord rings through the space and the prayer ends, we all go home. We hopefully join loved ones on a day of rest, a day set apart to reflect, to consider, to dwell on higher causes. And when the evening comes, those who participated and those who experienced the program will look back on their day with relief and satisfaction in the hopes that they did some good in the world.
Silent Night
We've got ten weeks until Christmas Eve. Time to break out the music.
No comments:
Post a Comment