Christmas Music

This past weekend we presented a concert titled "Emmanuel-God With Us, God For Us". Saturday the concert was attended primarily by people who do not attend our church on a regular basis, and on Sunday morning, it was basically our own church folks. We had 110 vocalists and instrumentalists involved in this year's concert. For a church that averages approximately 400 attendees, I think this is remarkable. In fact, when you consider that our String Orchestra song was played by 6 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos, plus a harp, all from our congregation, it is quite awesome. I feel both humbled and proud, (is that possible?) to work with the people that God has given our church congregation. As we were leaving after the second performance, several people said things like, "I bet you're relieved it's over...". The truth is, somewhere near the end of the last song, in the last performance, a little bit of sadness creeps into my emotions. After 4 months of rehearsing, it's a little sad to put away music you've lived with for so long. Since I begin planning and picking music in the summer, it feels like I'm putting away old friends. Today I'm putting away music stand lights, extension cords, percussion equipment, etc., because we're done, until next year. The main thing is that we had the opportunity to tell the story again, and to set an atmosphere where Emmanuel could touch the hearts and lives of people who were in our congregation during the concert with His love and hope, especially during this holiday season. We had prayed in advance for people to be invited to come who desperately needed to have an encounter with Emmanuel. Time will tell...