The Miracle of Cantata 2014

The IHS Choir, December 21, 2014

After yesterday's Cantata,  several people asked me:  "How in the world did such a thing come into being?"

 [It is really miraculous, considering the many participants, including numerous high school and college students.]

I appreciated the question, because it was fun to answer, and even gave me some new insights.

After we had created a couple of anthems,  Paulette and I sort of jokingly said to one another at about the same time:  "Let's write a musical. Let's write a Cantata." Neither of us can remember exactly who said what, when.

But I do remember that the seeds of the idea were planted in that way.  And I love a creative challenge.  Without telling Paulette I was doing it,  I started working on the narration and lyrics, around September 2013.   That was done within a few weeks.  When I had finished it,  I sent the entire, completed text to Paulette.

 Paulette went to work on it long before the 2013 Cantata was finished. One song at a time,  she got inspiration .  I now fully understand that each song matches the words, story content, mood of each piece.    When Paulette had created a song, I met with her to hear it.  The only input I had on the musical side of the collaboration, was sharing with her what I heard in my head as the melody for the theme piece,  "O, Lord, What's Happened to Christmas".   Otherwise,  no negotiations were needed on any other part of the musical content.   Paulette worked on the composing for six months.  By March of 2014, it was finished.  She then made a copy of the entire, completed Cantata. In early July, Paulette the cantata to Sue, hoping that it would be deemed worthy.

We didn't know what Sue would think or how she would feel.  It was rather presumptuous of us to preempt her musical selection.  Then Sue went through the entire Cantata, playing each piece, no doubt imagining and envisioning how it would all come together, and how she would lead the choir through it.  The work is musically challenging.

Finally,  Sue communicated to us that indeed the Choir would do our Cantata for Christmas!   After that, came a couple of months of rehearsing the songs, one at a time during choir practice.  Sue worked her incredible magic, as usual.

I had not experienced the entire collections of songs together, along with the narration,  until December 20th.  So moving for me! (Gerry had tears much of the time.)

Eight original songs.  At least 48-49 participants.  (I counted 48 at the Dress Rehearsal, but not everyone was there). Lots of instrumentalists, an organ, a synthesizer.  It was really incredible!

Here is what I have realized.

So, my giving the fully formed text to Paulette was a complete shock and surprise to her!

So, Paulette giving the fully formed, completed Cantata, words and music, to Sue was an unexpected shock and surprise!

All the participants offering this incredible work to the congregation was equally a surprise and delight, completely unlike anything they had ever heard.

Not at all unlike the original Christmas,  also an unexpected surprise.  God among us, fully formed, the most amazing gift of all---Jesus Christ--the perfect model for peace and goodwill among all God's people!

Merry Christmas!

Pre-Cantata Jitters

I don't know whether I am more nervous or excited.   This year's Cantata will be a really big event in my life. Paulette, my collaborator, says it is  'on the way to being her best Christmas ever.'  (There is just something thrilling about that creative process,  and watching it come alive.)  Her brother is even traveling from New Hampshire to share the experience.

Together, we have created a modern Cantata, which will be presented on the 21st.  Over a year ago,  I started with narration and words to songs---the bones. Paulette wrote the score,  the music--perhaps the muscle and blood and organs.  The choir director and the choir are bringing this new creature to life--putting skin on the bones and giving it breath and voice and movement!

 There are numerous instrumentalists involved, and soloists and duets.  I can't wait to actually experience it all happening. Paulette, who is the organist, gets to see the progress on a weekly basis,  but it will all be a surprise for me.  Oh, she played some of the songs to me along the way as she was creating them,  but I don't really remember what they sound like.  And I certainly have no concept of the cantata in its entirety.

Our Cantata is called 'O, Lord, What's Happened to Christmas?"  
Composed by Paulette Fry with Lyrics and Narration by Nancy Rehkugler.

After a couple of contemporary pieces, it moves into the traditional Christmas characters, and we hear a dramatic duet by Zechariah and Elizabeth,  solos by Joseph and Mary,  reflections by Mary.  The men from the east come in with a percussion section.

There will be approximately 39 Choir members,  8 original songs,  various narrators, assorted instruments and hopefully a really good congregation to hear it!

I plan to later add some post-Cantata reflections, after I have had time to process the whole experience.

A List-less Life

For years, I lived my life by the calendar.  The calendar would be booked several years ahead, sometimes, with conferences to attend.  With weddings at which I was scheduled to officiate. With trips I needed to take.  With graduations and a host of important life events.   Whatever was on the calendar happened.
And I would have lists, too.  I would make my to-do lists and check the things off.

Now, I find myself going into a new year without any projects, without any lists.  At first, that was a scary thought.

Having lived by a list of things to do,  a calender of things to happen,  projects to complete,  dreams to envision,  goals to accomplish,  over time,  that became a total way of life.

The other day there was nothing at all on the calendar.  I did have a rather long to-do list, though I generally don't even make those any more.   But because I did make that list,  I found myself pushing, pushing, to make sure I got it all done.   I ran about half a dozen different errands around town,  went grocery shopping,  did laundry,  etc.   By the time I needed to start making dinner,  I realized that I had not yet folded the clothes, and had stressed myself right into a headache!   I have not had a headache in years,  though I used to have frequent migraines back when I was working.

What I am discovering is that there is really a different way to live.  It is more in the moment.  I know what needs to get done in a day.  I can usually take my time.  If there is somewhere I need to go,  I do that.  I can fill up a lot of time reading on my Kindle,  or playing games on my Ipad,  or doing email on my computer.  I enjoying cooking and reading recipes.  There are a few TV shows that I enjoy.

Life can simply unfold, and will, even without a filled up calendar or a long list of things to do.
And that is a very lovely thing.

I could spend a whole hour just sitting quietly drinking my pot of coffee.   And  I do!

Now is the time to savor it all.  To reflect.  To be happy.   And indeed I am!

'I Will Lie Fallow'

I just read a fascinating article that was posted on line, written about Anne Lamott.  I am not familiar with Lamott,  but she has written 15 books, both fiction and non-fiction, essays and more.   The article I read was actually an interview, and Lamott has a very distinct and clear and fascinating "voice".   She is about to publish her 16th book.

What she has to say about where she is at this point in her life, is something that I clearly relate to at this point in my own journey.

Basically, this is where she says she is:  "I don't have anything in my mind or in my heart that I feel like pursuing".  She is about to take at least a year of sabbatical.

When it comes to the creative, writer's side of my life,  that is exactly where I am.    I have no future writing projects in my mind.

But perhaps that should not be at all surprising.  I have maintained and written a blog for the past five years.  621 essays to date.

With an average of 48 sermons a year for 20 years, plus about 10 sermons a year for five years,  I have written in excess of 1000 sermons.  (not including countless other writing endeavors).

In the past couple of years,  I have written the lyrics to three anthems,  and this year I have written the "book"  [narration and lyrics] for a Christmas Cantata, to be performed in December of this year.

In 2013, I wrote and published a novel I had been working on for a while.

In 2014,  I published a sequel because I just wasn't yet finished with the story or the characters.

At this point, I cannot identify any more great creative aspirations to which I feel called.
Therefore,   'I will lie fallow.' [Lamott]

 I will enjoy the ordinariness of my life----family, friends, church, social events, domestication,  physical activity.

I will wrap myself in a cocoon of contentment.  And fall into the rhythm of my days.