Monday, December 17, 2007

Just Another Manic Sunday



Sunday morning we awoke to the doom that had been foretold: snow. Now, despite what you might hear on the weather channel (OH MY GOD, TELL ME BOB, HOW MANY LAYERS OF CLOTHES ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW? ARE YOU STAYING WARM??) it wasn't that big of a deal. When it was said and done, we had seven inches of snow. White powder-puffy snow. No sleet. No ice. Just snow.

Luckily, it was manageable snow, because, being a weekend like every other weekend lately, The Tunas had places to go and songs to sing. TeenTuna was required to be at church for psalm-duty (Baby G does not observe snow days) and then was to be picked up shortly thereafter so she could travel to symphony dress rehearsal. When dress rehearsal was completed, she was to be picked up, taken home, have food lovingly shoved down her gullet, tossed in her performance clothes and dragged back again within the hour for the performance. Post-concert was a family birthday party for the lovely niece Tuna. It sounds like insanity, but as I said, this is fairly typical fare for that batshit crazy most joyous holiday season.

Truth be told, this weekend had previously had the potential for being even crazier. A few weeks earlier TeenTuna had been asked to sing that National Anthem for the MSU Lady Spartans Basketball Game. We were going to attempt to squeeze that in (National Anthem at noon) and try to be just a wee bit late for the dress rehearsal. Sadly, that wasn't going to work, and although TeenTuna was disappointed, she understood she had a previous commitment. Her friend, Stretch, was pegged to sing the anthem instead.

We left early for church and made it down with no real troubles, due in large part to the fact that most sane people were staying indoors and not driving around. When we got to church, it had been decided that attendance would most likely be lousy and so all choirs would join together and sing what was originally slated to be the High School anthem. But a funny thing, that. Adult choristers kept showing up, and soon we had a fairly respectable roster. Those in attendance insisted that the adults sing the anthem that had been rehearsed (and rehearsed and rehearsed). But then the question came as to what to do about the High School Choir, because its members stood at two: my 13-year old daughter and my friend's 15-year old son, and one of them had to leave early for symphony dress rehearsal.

  • First it was strongly inferred that no way were the adults NOT going to sing the anthem they had rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed.
  • Next it was suggested that the high school anthem was only two-parts anyway, and since there were two people, why not?
  • Then it was reminded that somebody had to leave early, but if she could be done by 10:45, by all means, go ahead.
  • Finally it was decided that they would sing it as a duet for the prelude.

So when church started, these two teenagers sang. There weren't as many people there as usual, but the message was powerful. I thought it was very much like the way Advent should be. Not loud and bombastic. No throngs of people. The morning was cold and dark and the empty church made it a little lonely. And then there were these two voices, free and easy and clear, singing about hope and expectation for the entire world. That was church. They were church. And their song was the message.

Later that afternoon when I picked up TeenTuna from her dress rehearsal I told her how special I thought it was. Looking at her I said, "What you did this morning was WAY better than singing the National Anthem at the basketball game."

She looked and me and smiled and said, "Way, WAY better."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amen!
I think Advent means the most when there's relative quiet and a single candle in the darkness.
Giant organ extravaganzas are great in their place, and choirs of hundreds of people can be fantastic, but sometimes one (or in this case two) voice can be even more powerful.
the boy