Christmas Brass Hopes

 

As I have said many times, music is one of the most important facets of Church for me.  And, on 12/24/2021, I have Christmas Brass hopes.  Because Christmas Eve is not really Christmas Eve without Christmas Brass.  Thankfully, for as long as I can remember, Sarah and I have assembled an ensemble that has allowed us to play at the start of the Christmas Eve service.  And the 358th day of 2021 was no different.  Thanks to Michael Tibbetts who played trumpet with us tonight (our second trumpet had Covid and could not attend).  But ALSO, thanks (again) to Jacob Reeder, Olive Ruiz, and Brian Greenberg (the video wizard) who, unknown to them, had a repeat performance on our 8PM online Candlelight Service.  The whole day today was fantastic, from the Maggiano's Family Lunch, to the City Light Shows (and Christmas Village) to the 5PM IN PERSON service (with brass prelude) to a very meaningful service this evening.  I will go to bed tonight with sounds of Christmas Brass resonating in my head and I hope all enjoyed this evening and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve!  MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PRIDE Hopes

Image
  June is PRIDE Month and I have enjoyed seeing all of the ways that people are celebrating Pride on Facebook, on other forms of media, in commercials on TV, and in our neighborhoods.  On the 175th day of 2021, as I was driving to the ATM in Collingswood to make a deposit, I came upon this house, at the corner of Belmont and Lees Lane.  It filled me with happiness, I like colors and lights (must be my Glee Club, Dance, and Theater Tech Crew blood) and, on 6/24/2021, this house filled me with PRIDE hopes.  I hope that, with each passing day, that more people are comfortable living their authentic lives.  I hope that oppressive laws and cultural norms can be torn down in favor of those that are inclusive and empathetic.  I hope that announcements from athletes announcing that they are gay are no longer news events (because they are so commonplace).  I just want the world to be like the slogan of our church, Old First Reformed UCC.  LOVE FIRST. ...
Read more

Empathetic Hopes

Image
  There have been a lot of days, in the past few years, that I have been thinking about how many of the world's problems can be solved if people could just exhibit more empathy.  There were a few situations on the 259th day of 2021 where this was in the front of my mind.  SO, on 9/16/2021, I have empathetic hopes.  I hope that I can continue to have empathy to others, and let it be one of my major guiding principles.  But I also hope that others can also be more empathetic, not really to me, but to others.  Those that need help.  Those that are struggling.  Those that have less than.... The world these days has many questions... and, in most cases, empathy is large part of the answer.
Read more

Mums Hopes

Image
 "Mums the Word!" was the saying for the 261st day of 2021 because 9/18/2021 was the date of the Collingswood HS PTA Mum Sale.  And we woke up VERY early (6:30AM) to get to the School to meet the truck to unload the mums.  And then we sold and we sold and we sold and we delivered when we couldn't sell anymore in person.  And we did not sell out as fast as I had expected and hoped.  But I hope that all the folks who supported CHS PTA (THANK YOU ALL) have a wonderful experience as their mums open up and bloom.  And I hope that, next year, selling a little later will have more people thinking about Fall and so we sell out faster (as we typically have done).  And now, exhausted from a long, physical, but fun and fulfilling day, I go to bed with Mums Hopes dancing in my head.  GOODNIGHT!
Read more