Image: Ryan Mails
Spirit’s Comin’
On Sunday, May 16th, the St. George’s choir sang together in person for the first time in over 14 months. Since we are all now fully vaccinated, we were able to not only sing in the same room (Thank you, CDC!) but also give REAL hugs! Most of us have been singing “together” virtually through zoom rehearsals through the past year, and likely you have heard the fruits of our labor (and Ivan’s technological wizardry), but if you have ever been part of a singing group, you know nothing beats the spirit which fills the room when you are singing in person with others.
Multiply that by ten for singing with others when you have not been allowed to do so for a year.
Multiply by another ten for singing with close friends with whom you have shared births, deaths, moving of house and many other life changes remotely over the past year.
Multiply that by a hundred when the music you are singing is in preparation for Pentecost, the celebration of the holy spirit entering our hearts and sparking the birth of the church.
As I stood under the solid wood beams of my dear church, feeling a warm breeze through the stained glass windows, listening to the sparkling resonance of our beautiful grand piano and singing “There’s a spirit coming from the heavens,” words from the anthem “Spirit’s Comin” (Frombach/Raney) which we will record for Pentecost Sunday, it truly did “shine on every face.”
Our last song of the rehearsal was the Russian Orthodox piece “”Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda” — “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (composed by MIkhail Ippolitiv-Ivanov, 1859-1935). A few members of the church reopening team came in while we were rehearsing, and they must have felt like those observing on Pentecost hearing us sing in Russian! Though it was an unfamiliar tongue to all of us, I am quite sure the spirit of the text still came through as the notes rose to heaven:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul. Blessed art Thou, O Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with
loving kindness and tender mercies.”
There will be lots of new and meaningful “firsts” for us in the coming weeks. I pray you can take the time to give thanks for these blessings and bask in the spirit which comes with them.
– Melanie Kyer