cantata

I am a part of the BEST cantata I have ever been involved with this year. It is at LL and it has been the most humbling, and beautiful experience for me this Christmas season. Suffice it to say, when I joined there was a sense of "they need me". Who else would carry the altos" Ha! I can be so full of myself, most of the time. and as in most cases I was missing the point and WRONG. Last night was our first performance of three (yep three). I questioned this decision from day one, why three? I felt like we were trying to be something we are not by setting up a whole dinner theater vibe and doing the cantata all weekend. But before the performance we gathered in the back to pray, talk about family and friends who may be coming, and summing up the season as far as at meant to each cantata member. Everyone was so excited, and I finally understood the whole thing. They were proud, and they felt special, they had JOY and they wanted people to see it. That was reason enough. But the performance was the clencher. I had to fight tears as each person spoke. About 6 or 7 people do monologues. One has cerebral palsy, one has a sever stuttering problem, one is learning to read. And the rest of us? we were who we were, with nothing to prove just people who love God and his Son's birth. and you know what? God was there. He was there. In our words, in our flat and sharp notes, and beautifully imperfect harmonies, and above all in the spirit of each person who gave all they had. I would take being a part of this group of people over any extravagant living christmas tree, with animals, and perfection any day. As it turns out I have been sick with a cough, that has been a gift in itself. By not being able to sing, I have been able to look past my choir book, past trying to perfect the notes to see what is really happening there. I am so thankful I got sick. Not that anyone believes that I can sing either : )