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Getting Reacquainted
Geo and I have been attending a very small church here in Culpeper, a church that is part of the Churches of Christ/Christian (instrumental), which is the fellowship we attended at home. The church in Springfield qualifies as a "megachurch"--large congregation, lots of programming for people of all ages. This small church is something of a culture adjustment in comparison.
The church has no official music minister or worship leader, and no one to play the piano. So when they discovered that I can play, they asked me if I'd be willing to take on that particular aspect of the service. I agreed, but explained that I haven't played in well over 10 years, and when I did play, it was more for personal enjoyment or for recitals; I'm not really comfortable as an accompanist. But I've been playing for the past 3 weeks.
It's actually been great fun playing the piano again. I now have a reason to play, to practice, to prepare music. Rather than just sitting down and trying music, deciding it's too hard, and giving up. And since I'm the one playing the music, I've been given the opportunity to choose the music for next week.
The hymnals that the church is currently using are 40 years old. That means that there are a lot of really great songs that aren't in these, and that the arrangements seem, in some instances, very dated. So I pulled out the hymnal I salvaged when the church at home (in Ohio) got rid of the hymnals before moving to the new building and going totally to video projection. I now wish I'd saved more than just the one, as they would have been great for this congregation, to update their musical repertoire. Someone also left on the piano an even more recent edition of the hymnal, which has songs that I didn't know were even in hymnals, because we sang them from video projection.
So now I'm very excited about the prospect of updating the congregation's musical selection, and I'm wondering if this is God's way of telling me that this is the church we're supposed to plant ourselves in. I miss singing on Sunday mornings (playing and singing is not something I can do in front of people), but playing the piano definitely gives me a way to get involved in the church, and something to get excited about.
We haven't officially joined the congregation, so I hesitate to make suggestions unless asked. But having been baptized into Christ, thus making me a member of His Church, I'm starting to feel more comfortable about taking a more active role in the services and Sunday school class itself.
We will probably join officially at some point in the future. But it will feel very strange not to be "official" members of the church back home.
The church has no official music minister or worship leader, and no one to play the piano. So when they discovered that I can play, they asked me if I'd be willing to take on that particular aspect of the service. I agreed, but explained that I haven't played in well over 10 years, and when I did play, it was more for personal enjoyment or for recitals; I'm not really comfortable as an accompanist. But I've been playing for the past 3 weeks.
It's actually been great fun playing the piano again. I now have a reason to play, to practice, to prepare music. Rather than just sitting down and trying music, deciding it's too hard, and giving up. And since I'm the one playing the music, I've been given the opportunity to choose the music for next week.
The hymnals that the church is currently using are 40 years old. That means that there are a lot of really great songs that aren't in these, and that the arrangements seem, in some instances, very dated. So I pulled out the hymnal I salvaged when the church at home (in Ohio) got rid of the hymnals before moving to the new building and going totally to video projection. I now wish I'd saved more than just the one, as they would have been great for this congregation, to update their musical repertoire. Someone also left on the piano an even more recent edition of the hymnal, which has songs that I didn't know were even in hymnals, because we sang them from video projection.
So now I'm very excited about the prospect of updating the congregation's musical selection, and I'm wondering if this is God's way of telling me that this is the church we're supposed to plant ourselves in. I miss singing on Sunday mornings (playing and singing is not something I can do in front of people), but playing the piano definitely gives me a way to get involved in the church, and something to get excited about.
We haven't officially joined the congregation, so I hesitate to make suggestions unless asked. But having been baptized into Christ, thus making me a member of His Church, I'm starting to feel more comfortable about taking a more active role in the services and Sunday school class itself.
We will probably join officially at some point in the future. But it will feel very strange not to be "official" members of the church back home.
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Right now I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. I don't want to overstep my bounds by suggesting they purchase new hymnals when they don't even have a regular preaching minister. Still, I'd love to pull their music into the '80s or '90s.