At the seminary, every day, Monday through Friday, at 10:00 a.m., students and faculty would gather for worship in the chapel. Depending on the experience, we would ask one another throughout the day, “Did you go to chapel?” “What’d you think of chapel?” And on this particular day, Tracey came up to me after the service in tears. The newly formed gospel choir, of which I was a part, sang for the first time. She was moved.
We were a mix of people who grew up singing gospel music and people like me who just loved it. We were Baptist and Presbyterian and Catholic and Lutheran, and I can’t remember what else. We were international. I remember, in particular, two tall German students, both men, who were stiff as boards and also gentle and funny. We wore black bottoms and white tops.
After learning the music in parts, we added swaying and clapping. This was hard. I could sway easily: that I learned as an exchange student to Chile where I learned merengue and cumbia. But clapping?! That was challenging. It seems ridiculous now, but it’s true. At that first chapel service, I could only snap, and this brought Tracey to tears.
“It was so beautiful. The music. The diversity. You snapping. It was just beautiful.”
Later in the year, when we had a concert—and by that time, we could all sway and clap and sing, some more awkwardly than others—a Ph.D. student, a black Baptist with a gorgeous bass voice who came in as a special guest to sing, announced to the congregation gathered, “This right here is a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. This is a foretaste of what Heaven will look like.”
Now, present day, I debated whether to sing with the choir for the gospel service because I love the music, but my schedule prohibited the extra commitment. I’m glad I didn’t. I craft the services, the words that are spoken, but the music is always a gift and sometimes a boon to my soul. It is Wednesday, April 24, and I am still flying high from Sunday.
Thank you, choir! Thank you, Dave! Thank you, Grace Presbyterian Church! I got to be part of this Spirit-filled tradition, and I will cherish the memory forever and ever, hallelu, hallelujah!
© 2024 by Pastor Robin Miller Currás