Small Amounts of Excitement
Oh goodness. My job is always packed busy on Sunday mornings. Regular church patrons sitting comfortably in the pews just don't realize all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the services each week.
My day began around 7:30. I made the rounds through the childrens' Sunday School halls and pre-school and infant classrooms. I have to set the chairs down, prop the doors, hit the lights, and switch the signs. The beeper tables are normally set out by the time I arrive, but I have to pass by and make sure. Crowds are extremely rare that early in the morning, but it puts the parents at ease to know there's always someone passing through with an eye on things. So I'll kind of rove between hallways during our 8:00 worship service, and at 8:40, I'll head to the choir room to warm up with the Sanctuary Choir. I'm thankful that Annie Ruth still lets me sing with them despite my other duties as a children's intern. It's hard to believe that I've been singing with the choir for over three years now. Please pray for our director, Randy Kirby. He had sinus surgery this week, but he's doing a lot better now.
So I sang in the 9:00 service (our anthem was "O How He Loves You and Me," guest directed by Tom Taylor). I had to duck out early to prepare for the 10:15 hour. Normally, I'd help with a pre-school or infant class during that time. Something different today. Our organist, Ken Varner, asked me to teach Kim Shaw's Sunday School class because she had to lead the CAC kids in the Call to Worship, and then he needed her for another musical. I agreed to do it and asked Anna Kate if she would help me since she's had the most experience with 1st - 2nd grade kids (and also because we were looking at possibly 20 kids total). She gladly accepted. The lesson went great; far better than I expected. About the only thing that went awry was that our DVD player refused to play a DVD on John the Baptist I'd borrowed. Technology wows me one week and lets me down the next. Go figure.
I spent the first part of the 11:30 hour making the rounds once again through the hallways. Now I have to close everything back down in the kids' rooms: stack chairs on tables, put up fences, lights out, change the signs, etc. But I did make it back to the Sanctuary in time for Communion. It was particularly special today. Instead of the ushers going around with the bread and cup, we gathered pew by pew at different tables assembled at the front and back. I like "open" communion. It somehow feels more alive that way. After that was over, we showed our VBS skit with Annie Ruth and Terri Tanner. As usual, they did a marvelous job. Fantastic chemistry, these two veterans have. Some points in the dialogue almost made me wonder why I bothered to write the skit. All I really had to do was shoot them the basic idea, and they would've run with it. Hey, that's how good they are.
Tonight was fun! The CAC kids presented their Down by the Creekbank program for their parents. Wow, they were awesome. There's so much raw talent among them. We had some truly amazing soloists; those who knew how to amplify their pitch, and those who could nail their notes with ease. Undoubtably, Will Shaw was the hero of the program. He had a solo to sing, and he had gotten about one verse into it when a kid reached out to try to adjust his microphone. It ended up slipping off the stand and clattering to the stage! I admit it, I held back a gasp. I'm sure Kim and the other parents got wide eyed, too. Not Will. He snatched up the mike, pressed it back into place, and kept right on singing. He never missed a beat. Talk about staying cool under pressure! Thanks, God!
Praise God also for VBS prop inspiration. I found a lot of possible ideas for my Echo Bay, including a fireplace and a river made of blue tablecloth. I had been thinking of going to the store to look for bags of cotton to make snow and ice. But lo and behold, I open the choir room's storage closet to store the table cloth, and there in the back corner are several bags of cotton left over from Christmas! Amazing where ideas come from, sometimes.
Goodnight and God bless!!
My day began around 7:30. I made the rounds through the childrens' Sunday School halls and pre-school and infant classrooms. I have to set the chairs down, prop the doors, hit the lights, and switch the signs. The beeper tables are normally set out by the time I arrive, but I have to pass by and make sure. Crowds are extremely rare that early in the morning, but it puts the parents at ease to know there's always someone passing through with an eye on things. So I'll kind of rove between hallways during our 8:00 worship service, and at 8:40, I'll head to the choir room to warm up with the Sanctuary Choir. I'm thankful that Annie Ruth still lets me sing with them despite my other duties as a children's intern. It's hard to believe that I've been singing with the choir for over three years now. Please pray for our director, Randy Kirby. He had sinus surgery this week, but he's doing a lot better now.
So I sang in the 9:00 service (our anthem was "O How He Loves You and Me," guest directed by Tom Taylor). I had to duck out early to prepare for the 10:15 hour. Normally, I'd help with a pre-school or infant class during that time. Something different today. Our organist, Ken Varner, asked me to teach Kim Shaw's Sunday School class because she had to lead the CAC kids in the Call to Worship, and then he needed her for another musical. I agreed to do it and asked Anna Kate if she would help me since she's had the most experience with 1st - 2nd grade kids (and also because we were looking at possibly 20 kids total). She gladly accepted. The lesson went great; far better than I expected. About the only thing that went awry was that our DVD player refused to play a DVD on John the Baptist I'd borrowed. Technology wows me one week and lets me down the next. Go figure.
I spent the first part of the 11:30 hour making the rounds once again through the hallways. Now I have to close everything back down in the kids' rooms: stack chairs on tables, put up fences, lights out, change the signs, etc. But I did make it back to the Sanctuary in time for Communion. It was particularly special today. Instead of the ushers going around with the bread and cup, we gathered pew by pew at different tables assembled at the front and back. I like "open" communion. It somehow feels more alive that way. After that was over, we showed our VBS skit with Annie Ruth and Terri Tanner. As usual, they did a marvelous job. Fantastic chemistry, these two veterans have. Some points in the dialogue almost made me wonder why I bothered to write the skit. All I really had to do was shoot them the basic idea, and they would've run with it. Hey, that's how good they are.
Tonight was fun! The CAC kids presented their Down by the Creekbank program for their parents. Wow, they were awesome. There's so much raw talent among them. We had some truly amazing soloists; those who knew how to amplify their pitch, and those who could nail their notes with ease. Undoubtably, Will Shaw was the hero of the program. He had a solo to sing, and he had gotten about one verse into it when a kid reached out to try to adjust his microphone. It ended up slipping off the stand and clattering to the stage! I admit it, I held back a gasp. I'm sure Kim and the other parents got wide eyed, too. Not Will. He snatched up the mike, pressed it back into place, and kept right on singing. He never missed a beat. Talk about staying cool under pressure! Thanks, God!
Praise God also for VBS prop inspiration. I found a lot of possible ideas for my Echo Bay, including a fireplace and a river made of blue tablecloth. I had been thinking of going to the store to look for bags of cotton to make snow and ice. But lo and behold, I open the choir room's storage closet to store the table cloth, and there in the back corner are several bags of cotton left over from Christmas! Amazing where ideas come from, sometimes.
Goodnight and God bless!!
posted by david @ 7:19 PM
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