Yesterday I posted a Facebook status about the Choir rehearsal I had just come from. One of the senior pastors I worked for in Albany, Oregon, Allen "Tex" Groff replied and said in part, "I wish I was there..." His comment to my post reminded me of a wonderful experience we had in Albany one Christmas. First Assembly was a great place to work and to attend. Pastor Groff encouraged creativity in every area of the church, expecially with his staff members. I think every staff member thought he was their biggest fan. He kept a file drawer full of examples of his staff's accomplishments. The way I found out about that file drawer was when one of my original choir songs was published by Manna Music. I took a copy of the published song into one of my meetings with Pastor Groff. After he congratulated me on my accomplishment and looked over the printed copy, he opened the drawer to put the copy away, and explained to me about what was there. The great thing about working for Pastor Groff was that he had been a minister of music, and he was a wonderful musician and lead worshipper. I knew for sure that he was my biggest fan.
Well, on to the Christmas story. For the second half of this year's production we were performing the Rodger Strader musical King of Love. One of the early songs in that musical is Wonderful Name, Jesus. I had asked Pastor Groff to narrate the musical. He had rehearsed on his own and we were putting it all together at the dress rehearsal. Since he had not heard the choir and orchestra rehearse prior to the dress rehearsal, this was his "first listen." The orchestra began the introduction with a gorgeous string introduction and harp gliss. I turned towards Pastor Groff to give him his narration cue. As I raised my baton to cue him, I realized he wasn't looking at me. His face was in his hands and his shoulders were shaking. It was quite obvious that heaven had touched earth at that moment, and he had been swept into God's presence. For a few moments we all rejoiced in God's goodness and the promise of the Redeemer. When Pastor Groff was finally composed enough to say something, he apologized for stopping the rehearsal. Everyone assured him that this was a wonderful moment and there was no apology needed. We went on to finish the rehearsal and performed our musical that year four times to nearly 5,000 guests. Everyone said "this was the best one yet." (they say that every year) However, I think it might have been, because I think that every choir member, every orchestra member, and each technical crew person was touched by God's presence in a special way during that rehearsal. I will never forget this experience. Even now as I write these words, my spirit senses God's presence in a very real way. If you have iTunes loaded on your computer, you can listen to the song that touched us all. http://www.qpg.com/custom/1006077/kol04.mp3
No comments:
Post a Comment