The Choir is back! - Rector's Rambling for June 13, 2021

       St. Augustine of Hippo is credited with saying “he who sings prays twice”.  The act of singing, he believes, is like double-powered worship, and I like that sentiment.

When we first reopened from the pandemic complete closure we began to sing hymns, even though most places did not out of fear.  Early reports of spread in choir settings were eventually reexamined to see it had less to do with singing and more to do with lack of distancing, hugging, and the sharing of food and water bottles in a close setting.  With the exception of those weeks we were limited to 10 people per service, we have sung hymns at worship, Thanks be to God.

And I want to say that I have been very impressed with our congregational singing!  There is a challenge to singing well together when we are so spread out, and masked, but the people of St. John’s have done a great job of offering to the Lord their double-powered praise.

Unfortunately, what we haven't’ had available for our gatherings for worship has been a choir to help us!  We were able to gather a quintet for Advent, Christmas, and Easter, but the 10-person limit precluded their continuation.  And because of that, most of our professional singers have moved on to paid positions at places that allowed and encouraged it (without any spread of COVID-19).

God willing, from this week forward, we will have at least our summer choir quartets as Dr. Lewis rebuilds our choir program for the fall.  I am so grateful that this is happening!

But let’s remember this important thing – choir or no choir, singing hymns and the Mass setting at worship is for ALL of us to sing.  We have proven we can sing without the choir…let’s sing with even more gusto with them!!!!