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Sunday, March 20, 2005

Palm Sunday...A Musical Day...

Palm Sunday has just about come and gone and Easter will soon be upon us. Yes, the backyard is still piled high with snow, though a nice slushy path has melted through the lawn to the back gate. Pretty soon we'll have to lay some stones or tiles down to get to the car without hip waders. Today was a fantastic day for music at church. We attended both early and mid-morning services as it was the choir's turn to sing again. This time we wore robes for the first time, though they were emerald green and had stoles of gold with ivory trim this time, not the old blue ones. Andrew looked mighty dapper in his, I must say. By the way, Mom.... The choir is in dire need of some new stoles....How's that sewing machine of yours workin' in retirement??? :o)

It was a pretty cool service (both, actually) in that we started it out with the choir up at the entrance to the sanctuary and the congregation lined the ramp all the way down to the lobby/narthex with everyone holding palm branches. We heard opening words from Pastor Hermodson and then proceeded, choir first, down the center of the church singing the opening hymn. I dropped Aaron off in the very last pew at the back before heading up front. We (the choir) stood up in front of the altar looking out at the congregation where we sang our two anthems at the start of the service. For Dad's edification, we sang "Ain't No Rock" and "Sing to the Lord." The first piece was pretty up tempo, kinda like something you might hear in Sister Act with some real nice chord progressions and four-part harmony for the men. The second piece was a little more traditional, though Pastor Hermodson would point out not quite "Lutheran," but enjoyable to all nonetheless. Mike Lehrer had a nice solo while we hummed in the middle of the piece. It almost sounded, though, like something the Vienna Boys' Choir would sing with a high soprano solo.

After the first service, we had our congregational meeting in the fellowship hall downstairs where we all brainstormed on what we would like and need in a new senior pastor. The call committee has only begun their work and Pastor Hermodson worked with us to identify those things we have as strengths and those we need work on and how we think a new pastor will help us achieve our goals. There are a couple of different staffing models on the table, the first being a "couple" team where one would be senior pastor full-time and the other (wife?) would be part-time and focus more on youth whereas the second would be a senior pastor and then a youth pastor from the seminary who would give at least one sermon a month. Both options would run around $90,000 to 105,000 a year total package. We just need to figure out what we want. Some interesting ideas we had were beefing up the acolyte program so kids get a better idea of what it is and why it's a privelege to serve in that capacity, etc. Also, making Trinity a place you can go to any day of the week just to "hang out," not just on Sunday's and Wednesdays. In other words, a more "open" church model where the great facility assets we have are put to good use.

After the second service, we were all downstairs putting our robes away when the guy that runs the Ford dealership in town, a bass, mentioned he had complimented me to Ormand and some of the other guys in that he has grown to like standing next to me because I "nail all the notes DEAD ON..." The choir director also complimented the choir as a whole that we "really sound good." Not to downplay previous choirs, but we really did sound every bit as good as we did back in Trinity's glory days.

In other "non-church" news, the boys had one of the most recreational weekends if not thee most hours spent the entire winter with the Widerski boys down the street. Yesterday alone they spent a good 10 hours or possibly more playing nonstop with them. Much of the time was spent over there and outside so Andrew had some peace and quiet to watch a "grown-up" movie. To give you an idea of how much fun they have, when I woke up, Aaron was already gone to his buddy's house, having woken up early. Daniel wasn't far behind either. Today was somewhat of a repeat, but they played from around noon until after dark at 7:00 p.m. I told the mother of the Widerski boys that it was "too bad our kids don't get along with one another" and on Friday when Aaron was begging inside their house to stay and play Playstation a little longer, I jokingly commented, "It's not like you're never over here," which Mrs. Widerski had a good chuckle over.

That's all for tonight's blog installment. Good night everyone! :o)

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