Sing ye joyfully unto the Lord!

Reasons I LOVE Worship and Music Conferences:

• Today, we tested all the assisted listening devices. They asked me to talk into the pulpit mic for an extended period of time because I occasionally recite show tunes for mic checks, which is makes the mic check a more enjoyable experience. (One of my upper-level bosses actually remembered this about me from last summer, that I did "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General" for a candlelight check. I told her that I can do the periodic table of the elements to that tune, and she requested that for candlelight that I worked this past Friday.) Today I did "Trouble" from The Music Man. And then the organist applauded me and told me he almost joined in on the chorus. And then sang the tenor line.
• The Opening Voluntary was the Widor Toccata, aka my favorite organ piece ever that I'm obsessed with and posted on this blog after Tongues opened. When he started playing it, I squealed. Literally. In the booth. And then jammed. Physically. And got very strange looks from my fellow crew members... as I am the only one who loves organ music. (Also... with the new subwoofers we have... WOAH. Eric commented that he was afraid that we were going to fall through the floor, the booth was shaking so much.)
• I heard the organist practicing the Widor Toccata while I was hammocking. Thus... I was in a hammock, listening to the Widor Toccata. I don't know if life gets any better.
• The paraments are GORGEOUS.
• There's a workshop called "Sacred Space and the Tactile Senses".
• There's a woman here doing dramatic interpretations/memorized readings of the scriptures, much along the lines of what my mother and I worked to do at Bon Air a couple summers ago. She saw me, complimented my hat, and then said, "You're a theater person, aren't you?" When I nodded, she said, "We can spot each other a mile away." Later, as her husband was looking for AV Crew, she said, "Here, come talk to Hilary and Colleen with the theater hat!"
• It's a dance year, so there are liturgical dancers everywhere. Rarely have I ever talked about my relationship to liturgical dance. I mentioned it briefly in the blog last summer. It's a huge part of me, my relationship with God, the path I'm on now in my spiritual life, how I've developed as a person. I don't know many others with the same kind of relationship I have to dance... I know many people who were in dance classes since they were little and that has shaped them and their lives in beautiful and particular ways... but I will rarely even talk about dance with them because our experiences are the MOST different as to what dance even IS. Neither experience is better or worse, they're just different. Opposite, even. So I don't claim to be "a dancer" in the same way as people who were taking ballet when they were 4 do, because I'm not, and try to get me to do the same technique and learn the same choreography and that will become obvious. But there is a very sacred and intimate place where I am a dancer. In the way that I've danced in church, in the way that I'd leap around in the field by the playground in my neighborhood when I was in elementary school, in the way that I'd spend hours upon hours dancing when my parents were off at choir rehearsal... and in a way that no one has ever seen me dance, act, or behave at PHTS. It is significant to me that my first dance teacher, who I had a huge group class with for a few days at Lake Junaluska when I was 10 and did not see, did not hear from, did not contact (why would I anyway?), saw me 8 years later and didn't recognize me physically (duh, 10 to 18 is a major period of physical change), but saw me walking and said to herself, "I know her. She knows what I'm talking about. She's got what I got." By the end of that week, she nicknamed me her Jr. (and she is actually a secret reason I'm going to Ghana). It is also significant to me that her philosophy on dance is nearly identical to PHTS' philosophy on teaching. Watching these dancers bring the messages to bodily life is very moving.
• This is the most beautiful congregational singing you will ever hear, because it's a congregation of almost entirely singers.
• The liturgy and integration of music into the service is incredible. Art, as well. BANNERS. Oh my goodness the banners flying over the congregation in baptismal remembrance today!
• I LOVE sacred choral music. I was brought up on it. I took a sneak peak at the upcoming worship services, there are choral refrains I know and love, anthems I've sung, and always new things to be introduced. I was a Worship and Music conferee. This is MY language. This is what I was fed as a small child, running around the church, playing underneath the pews as the choir practiced. Most of summer staff, their language is Youth conferences. They're used to energizers and praise songs. I was born into a world of doxologies and John Rutter.

But reason number one that I love THIS particular Worship and Music conference? The theme is about Living the Sacramental life. Which means....

THEY ARE CELEBRATING COMMUNION EVERY DAY.

I REPEAT.

EVERY DAY.

BREAD AND WINE (well, grape juice) AND LITURGY AND THE INCREDIBLE BEAUTIFUL SACRAMENT THAT I POSTED MY LOVE FOR IN A BLOG POST THAT MY PARENTS KEEP QUOTING...

EVERY.

DAY.

OF.

THE.

CONFERENCE.

I work mornings (which is when their worship is) twice a week. They don't send communion up to the booth, so I won't get to take communion on those mornings. But I KNOW I'll be able to take communion at least THREE DAYS OF THE WEEK. FOR TWO WEEKS. And depending on what I'm working next Sunday, I may get to attend that service and take communion AGAIN.

SIX OR SEVEN COMMUNIONS IN THE SPAN OF TWO WEEKS.

I HAVE NEVER USED THIS MUCH CAPSLOCK IN MY LIFE.

I LOVE YOU WORSHIP AND MUSIC!