Elsa came
home from church today positively twittering - the young people's choral group
had sung one of my favorite songs, "Amazing Grace," immediately after
the final hymn and she said it had an especially effective arrangement.
We
listened to Tom's talk together, occasionally rewinding so I could hear a
certain part over again, sometimes pausing to discuss a particular point.
We came
to the closing of the WORD and the final hymn, waiting for the first words,
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..." only there was no sound. The person recording the service stopped
after the last hymn. I was so
disappointed, I felt like getting down on the floor and kicking and screaming
. The person also had apparently not
recorded any of the opening music and the recording starts after Tom was
already into his talk. Why leave out any of the music? Music, especially church music, lifts me up
as nothing else can. It takes me outside
of myself.
I
remember a time about twenty or so years ago, when I was on my way to or from a
visit to Australia and stayed for a few days with Marcelite Kline, Tom's
mother, who lived in Pasadena. She took
me to a Samoan church to hear the beautiful music, which the congregation sang without
benefit of books because they knew it so well.
She explained that most of the congregants were domestic help in wealthy
homes.
Marcelite
had not mentioned how beautifully everyone
dressed - this was their time to give thanks to the Lord and they wanted
to do it in style.
The sight
and the congregation’s singing was glorious, but nothing could have prepared me
for hearing "Amazing Grace" sung by their choir - in Samoan.
Could it
really have been twenty years ago? Seems
the blink of an eye.
Nite-nite
and God bless ~ Mom/Gocky, Grammie, Grandma L./Nan/Aunt Kay/Kay
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