A Seed Pushed Through the Soil This Morning

I remember hearing Dad announce at the dinner table, “The first radishes are up.” We weren’t always impressed, but it was always good news. He being the one who’d planted, was the first to notice.

I remember walking with him out in the garden to see the new little seedlings poking through the soil.  “Really?  That’s it?”  The carrots were the worst – more like a row of green fuzz than miniature carrot sticks.  I saw tiny little sprigs of helpless green.  Dad saw a future harvest.  Sometimes I wonder if he could almost taste late-summer watermelon when he saw a tiny pair of  green leaves in the Spring.

A seedling poked through Gering soil this morning.  If you were in church you saw and heard it.  Calvary Memorial’s worship orchestra played for the first time today.  While more ensemble-sized than a full-sized orchestra, our beginning was by talented musicians, was balanced, and it was in tune!

I appreciate those who’ve caught the vision for this organization already, enough to play with the group its very first time.  We will be nurturing this organization and smile as it grows and develops. I marked December 13th on my calendar:  CMC Orchestra,  first hearing.

I am a lot like my dad, aren’t I?  Just as he smiled at thought of harvest when he saw those green sprigs push through the soil, in my head I can see —and hear— the mature organization we’ll come to know as our orchestra.  As previous harvests compelled Dad to water, feed and pull weeds, my experience with church orchestras gives me hope and urges me on.  There’s nothing like the color and expressive interpretation available with full orchestration:

• I can feel the goosebumps from hearing French horns wail on Easter anthems.
• I can hear an oboe echoing “do you hear what I hear?” as we sing.
• I can hear the authoritative cadence and see the congregation stand with pride as Old Glory is marched down the aisle to be posted at the beginning of our patriotic service and bolster our determination on “Lift High the Lord, Our Banner.”
• I smile at the thought of three or four trumpets in the balcony playing the fanfare at the beginning of “God of Our Fathers”.
• I can hear a woodwind quintet or brass quartet playing in the foyer as people arrive.
• I can hear the saxophone solo in the middle of “Come, Now is the Time to Worship”.
• I can hear the strings making it hard for us to sing around the lumps in our throats as they accompany us in “Were You There?”. I can feel them lift our spirits to the next level during  “It Is Well With my Soul”.

I can hear it.  Can you?

If you attend Calvary Memorial and have an instrument on the shelf or under the bed somewhere I hope you’ll dust it off and sign on right after Christmas.  There’s plenty of room, and we’re starting simple so you can join us right away.

Yep, a seed poked through the soil in Gering today – a couple weeks before Christmas.  I’m praying it’s the beginning of the vibrant worship orchestra that will call Calvary Memorial  “home”.