I serve a two point Pastoral Charge and one of the congregations only has a musician twice a month, the other weeks we rely or CDs that the United Church produced of some of the music in our hymnbook. Some weeks, I have to choose different hymns for the different congregations. For those of you who know me, you will know that the music has to be consistent with the overall message and theme of the week, so this is a challenge.

I really wanted the opening sung meditation to be O God We Call, as it fit perfectly with our Lenten theme of Yearning… but it wasn’t on the CDs. After searching fruitlessly for another meditative piece on that theme, I decided that I would play it myself and teach it to the congregation. Now, while I sing with alto in a community choir and like to sit in the middle so that I have strong voices all around me. So, this is going to be a real stretch for me.

I sat at the piano in the sanctuary and played and sang and played and sang and played and sang… and some of the time I was in tune… I will be making a joyful noise with my voice on Sunday!