Singing Along the Journey

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don’t know that they did, but they did…a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best — be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus [...]

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me [...]

…well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to [...]

Yesterday, we had a visitor at Calvary.  Oh, actually, I’m certain that we had more than one visitor, particularly since it was a holiday weekend, but we had one visitor who sat with me and talked to me and frankly, left me in a complete state of awe. We had a visitor from Beijing, China.  [...]

Okay, I know that I am supposed to honor God’s creation and find the good in all its magnificence, but, really….KUDZU?  Must I really? You see, I am a city gardner.  I have, maybe a 4 ft x 10 ft garden in which to grow my few flowers.  If our continuing 98 degree plus heat [...]

I have to keep this short today, because, well, I have to spend the morning looking for work. No, I haven’t suffered some sudden alteration in status, I haven’t lost my church gig, nothing has changed — frankly, this  is the way most musicians spend over 75% of their time, at least those of us who [...]

Yes, those are the words Pastor Amy said on May 23, 2010, during the Pentecost service at Calvary Baptist Church.  I had heard her say them before:  she said them out loud at our last quarterly business meeting, when the congregation affirmed unanimously the recommendation of the licensing committee; and she said them to me [...]

That’s what I kept telling myself as I crawled onto the bench of the tiny electric organ in the chapel at Thomas House a week ago Wednesday.   Not a digital piano with an organ setting, but a real, live  (well, mostly live) organ with pedals and stops and everything.  I was about to “stretch” myself [...]