Gratitude in Lent

This Lent and especially last Sunday have been special, and I am so grateful for every one of you, for this church, this community, and many ways in which we serve God and each other.

Our last Sunday worship service had a wonderful communal feel. It's been a long time since we sang hymns as a congregation together, and from the organist bench perspective, it felt very emotional. Pinnacle congregation is well known for singing out and singing well, even with masks on, and our first Sunday back in 2021 didn't disappoint. You made the space holy with your singing and participation. Thank you!

This Sunday we also had our first children’s choir rehearsal in person this year. So far we have been working with the kids on songs for Palm Sunday, Easter, and Mother's Day during the weekly Sunday School online. Thanks to Hillary Mackowski, Katie Rosenson, Melissa Trafficante, Katherine Rosenfeld, Helena McGinn, and the whole Children's Ministry team we recorded educational videos and were continuously teaching music to the kids online. I am so grateful we were able to keep the music going and our precious children engaged. We are planning to have children singing and ringing for Palm Sunday, Easter, and Mother's Day, and I can't wait to share our music with you.

So far during Lent, we have had two (out of three) Organ Meditations. You can still watch them here https://vimeo.com/513060151 , https://vimeo.com/513060680 . We heard Nancy Schamadan and Diane Wenger delivering with great depth the words of scripture, and organists Kristin Holton Prouty and Gary Quamme presenting wonderfully appropriate organ music. The way we developed the meditations was unusual - the organists were sent scripture selections from the Lectionary and asked to come up with music that would fit the Word. And of course, the choices were beautifully appropriate, done by organists who are also amazing church musicians. In addition, Meredith Downing created and displayed inspiring Altar art connected with the readings. We have one more Organ Meditation on Wednesday, March 24 - please consider joining us at 12.30 pm. It is a wonderful way to experience Lent, create a connection with God through word, sound, and visual art. It takes a team to deliver meaningful experiences in Lent, and I am grateful for all Pinnacle staff and members involved.

Last, but not least, we had an amazing organ concert with Dr. Elisa Williams Bickers from the Village Presbyterian Church in Kansas City. Village Pres is in many ways a similar church to ours - similar in size, message, mission, but also the organ! An awe-inspiring Richards & Fowkes, their opus 22, was installed there in 2016. Dr. Bickers’ knowledge and experience with making an RF organ sound best showed perfectly! Last Sunday she performed music by Mendelssohn, Bach, Reincken, by Americans Carl Haywood and Brenda Portman, as well as Nigerian composer Fela Sowande. You can still watch the concert for a couple of weeks here: https://vimeo.com/523502123

I got to spend a few days with Elisa, and it was a wonderful time. We exchanged our church and music experiences, talked for hours about music and organs, being church musicians, performers and mothers, making life and work balance work. We visited other organs in town, met Phoenix-based musicians, listened to each other playing, and talked the organ talk.

My gratitude journal is full this Lent.

photos courtesy of Meredith Downing