Paperbackwriter asked if I would blog about my church choir. I thought to myself, "here's a great opportunity to give some context for how it is that I get to see Faith." I want to start with a disclaimer. I hate to brag, and I have a habit of playing down some aspects of of my life and experiences. I'll try not to do that here, but I also understand that some churches focus on numbers as benchmarks of success. It's a turnoff to me and I know it is to others. This description is here as I have said for the sole purpose of providing some context.

My wife and I attend a large Baptist church in the Southeastern United States. Sunday morning attendance averages over 1100 people. The sanctuary seats nearly 900. Our Sunday school class is the largest at about 150 adults and youth. We offer college level theology and other Biblically based classes on Wednesday nights and are accredited for continuing education. We send missionaries on more trips than we can accommodate the share services for on Sunday evenings. I've taught occasionally on Wednesday evening and my family is active in one of the missions to a third-world country. We also host the elementary classes, cafeteria and assembly rooms for a local private Christian School the campus of which adjoins the church campus.

The ministry that I am most active in is the music ministry. We have an 80-member choir with a 20-25 member orchestra. The orchestra includes a state-of-the-art digital pipe organ, piano, auxilliary keyboards, rhythm and bass guitars, drum set and auxiliary percussion, brass, woodwinds, and strings. We worship with a variety of musical styles: particularly classic hymns, praise and worship, contemporary, southern and black gospel. I'm a baritone who sings tenor. My wife sings high soprano. Faith sings alto. The high sopranos and altos are like bookends. The mezzo sopranos sit across the front and men sit across the back. The basses sit next to the high sopranos and tenors sit next to the altos. I sit only a couple of people away from Faith. My wife sits waaay on the other side. the choir loft is in a nice arc so that we can see most of the people on the other side of the choir. The orchestra is divided into sections in front of and on either side of the choir loft with an elaborate system of monitors so everyone can hear to play with each other. The choir is also outfitted with two projection screens on the front of the back stretch of the balcony aside from the two for the congregation. This allows us to sing unhindered by folders. We memorize the notes and the words and helpful clues are available to us as we need them.

The two services we have on Sunday morning are virtually identical. Most of the choir and orchestra manage to come to both services. The service starts with worship, music and prayer. During the second service the young children in children's church are present for this. Then there is a period of greeting where the choir and the children leave. The choir will disrobe and join the congregation for one service or the other. I leave from the first service to set up sound for my Sunday school. My wife usually doesn't come for the first service. Sometimes Faith comes to Sunday school early. We have spoken here, but often we avoid one another. This is also one place where we catch each other sneaking peeks at each other. My wife is oblivious to this.

The choir room is directly under the stage in the sanctuary. We have jokingly speculated that we could install a hydraulic choir loft so our older members wouldn't have to climb the steps all the way up into the choir loft from the basement. To get an idea of the climb, the baptistery is directly behind the choir loft and is on level with the balcony which altogether circumnavigates the sanctuary. One could climb into the baptistery from the choir loft. Given typical standards for construction, that should give you an idea of the height from the basement we climb. We often harmonize with the greeting music as we descend back into the choir room each service. The stairwells on either side have a nice reverberation that makes it sound like the choir is singing in the shower. Because of our location in the choir loft, my wife goes down on one side and Faith and I go down on the other. I usually let her go on ahead while I do the gentlemanly thing and allow the altos on the back row to go ahead of me.

The choir typically rehearses Wednesday evening after classes adjourn. We have toured on rare occasions. One trip several years ago was to London. We have sent people to choir workshops at the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. We have sung at churches around town and in neighboring towns. We have traveled to a popular Christian convention center in the mountains to sing for mission groups. Most often I go and my wife stays home with the kids. I have offered to let her go, but she insists on letting me go. Faith has only been with the church a year or so. I don't recall her going anywhere with us yet. However, if the counselor tells me to clue my wife into my little disorder with Faith, she may not want me go anywhere without her anymore. This would be understandable.

The music that we make is nothing short of incredible for a simple church choir. We have several members, including Faith and myself, that are often asked to do solos. But there is nothing like the sound of a large choir truly worshiping through music. Sunday mornings I am often moved to tears as we sing. Of late my heart breaks to hear Faith's sweet alto voice only a couple of people away. In the context of worship, I can offer only my brokenness to God and give him my Faith (pun intended) and my faithfulness out of obedience to His will.