After waiting outside through blustery snow with frozen toes and extremely aware that I had forgotten my gloves, I was privaleged and humbled to be one of the first that was allowed to walk into the new church after the Bishop blessed the building and the doors were unlocked. I don't know if I've ever felt more honored than to be able to sing the gathering song for the Dedication of our new church with four amazing musicians. I was so nervous before mass, but with all the hustle, bustle, and thawing out, my nerves evaporated and I just put a smile on my face and remembered what we were there for -- to celebrate all the hard work and the will of God unfolding before us.
The entire mass was so reverent and beautiful, and the church building is a masterpiece. I can sit here and try to think about how to put the mass into words, but it's really impossible. There were so many inspirational points. The Bishop talked about how young people have the opportunities to take what we're doing at Holy Spirit all over the world. We are the ones who will get to have our first communions, confirmations (of course, I'm quite past those now), and marriages in this church building. I won't lie, that was one of my first thoughts walking into this GORGEOUS space, equipped with a Bridal Suite..."I am SO going to get married here." God-willing, I guess, right?
I was nearly brought to tears several times today. I looked out and saw my parents -- especially my Dad who isn't Catholic -- there at mass, and I almost lost it. This stuff is so important to me and my sister, and it was really nice for him to be there. I'm so thankful that Mom instilled this faith into us, but that's another story for another day. During the presentation of the gifts, my friend and her parents were bringing up the gifts and the mom was crying, and she almost got me crying. She's so sweet. Incensing the altar was part of the mass that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The huge incense pot was set on top of the altar and the Bishop started the incense and it started rising. The light was gleaming on the smoke and it was stretching up to where the cross on top of the building extends into the sanctuary, and it looked like the heavens and earth were completely united at that moment. Trish & Olivia singing at that point, "Lord may our prayers rise like incense in your sight..." created an inspirational image.
Singing "Allelujah" for the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament was another awe-inspiring moment. Although stylistically, I felt like I could only hear myself because there was a monitor at my feet, the piece was undoubtedly gorgeous. I am honored every time I sing with these wonderful women to be included in such a spectacular ensemble. They are so faithful and talented -- a group of role models, that's for sure.
So many other moments! Singing the Hallelujah chorus, watching Bishop Medley anoint the altar, seeing Art Kunkel honored with the first watercolor portrait of the building and hearing his quote (something like..) "All that I've done in my life has been a rehearsal for this...building a church. How often do you get to build a church?" (I don't know his exact words, but something like that), singing God With Us with no less than 12 teens at 8 mics when we usually have 4 or 5, listening to my favorite lectors read the Word of the Lord, the interpretive dance during the incensing, the Brothers singing "How Great is Our God", watching the congregation remember that we have kneelers now so we can actually do mass the correct way, giving standing ovations to all those who deserved it, Dana playing "Wondorous Love" instrumentally at one point, taking Communion for the first time in the building, watching the priests anoint the north, south, east and west walls, the ACOUSTICS and the amazing ring after a song ended, getting stopped by so many people after mass giving me compliments. I just offer them up the the Lord -- I'm so humbled by all of it. Singing makes me happier than almost anything else, so it doesn't seem like getting compliments is at all necessary, but they are always so nice and heart-warming.
Today is definitely a day I'll remember forever. If I'm not at Holy Spirit post-graduation (I'm glad I didn't think about this today or I would have been a basketcase during mass...just wait for Christmas Eve), I know that I'll bring my future family back and showcase the lovely building and especially the absolute best community -- the actual church -- and reminisce on the first day we ever had mass in this space. "Let us go rejoicing to the House of the Lord!" Today was perfect, inspiring, memorable, gorgeous, and most of all, holy. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so glad I was able to experience the process from the heart-wrenching last mass at the old building to the glorious celebration at the new.
Now -- onto rehearsals for Christmas Eve Mass! My FAVORITE mass of the year!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Music Ministry -- Why I love it
I had a moment on Saturday, and I just want to briefly document. I love music ministry. Singing mass is one of the best ways to pray and worship. Sometimes it can be stressful, and at certain times of the year, I catch myself complaining about it more than I should. It can be hard to sing four weekends in a row -- to go from cantoring to leading one ensemble to singing challenging music with another. Getting to rehearsal is always questionable in my schedule, it seems. I'm a busy girl, and my church is about 10 miles away from campus where I spend most of my life. Regardless, the reward is worth it in the end.
Saturday, I had quite the day waiting for me. Lead a workshop at 9, get ready, judge Forensic Fiesta at 1, church at 3:30, New Member Dance. I took the time while I was getting ready to plan out a good rehearsal schedule to implement before mass, sent out a text to the people who were singing/playing with me that afternoon, and made sure I knew all the harmonies that I needed to know. 3:30 came around, and that all went to the dogs when my pianist got there and was confused and he thought we were just rehearsing on a random Saturday afternoon and Confirmation was actually on Sunday. Of course, my stress level went from 0 to 100 in 5 seconds flat. Thank goodness for Dana who is a lifesaver under any circumstance and came to the rescue. This did not calm my nerves, however, because it was Confirmation mass, so there were an extra 200 people in the Hall & the Bishop was there to celebrate mass. Once we finally got the sound working, practiced a little, and came back, Father Jerry grabbed the wireless mic, did a welcome spill and walked off with the mic. Adam ran to get it while realizing that it was about to die, grabbed batteries, and at that moment, Dana started playing because the Procession was ready to go. I nonchalantly switched mics with Allie (who by the way, had NO voice which totally screwed every single plan I had made earlier that day), sang, and took deep breaths as Adam got the mic in the stand right as we started singing.
My brain was racing still and my nerves were killing me. I was praying HARD for peace and tranquility because it's really hard to sing when you're worked up. So we get to the Psalm -- the third song in -- and I was singing it. I went up to the ambo and looked out at the hall busting at the seams, and I took a deep breath and sang -- still quite a bit worked up. As soon as the assembly repeated the refrain back to me, I remembered why I was there and it almost put me in tears. It is so insanely rewarding to have a congregation of all different ages and stories looking up at you and singing along to worship, creating such a beautiful sound. It's something you don't hear in the pews when you're participating. It reverberates through the space and you just know that God is smiling at the time you're taking out of your day to be engaged in worshipping Him. That was the best moment of my day...maybe one of the best in my "career" so far. I believe this was the 9th Confirmation that I've participated in, and this may have been my favorite one. It immediately made me think about the people who were being confirmed and how Confirmation helped me to realize where my place was in the church...obviously where I am now. I started reflecting on how I chose to take that path and how happy it has made me so far, and I was praying that the Confirmandi were taking it seriously because ministry is awesome. The end. Music ministry at Holy Spirit is perhaps my favorite thing on Earth.
Saturday, I had quite the day waiting for me. Lead a workshop at 9, get ready, judge Forensic Fiesta at 1, church at 3:30, New Member Dance. I took the time while I was getting ready to plan out a good rehearsal schedule to implement before mass, sent out a text to the people who were singing/playing with me that afternoon, and made sure I knew all the harmonies that I needed to know. 3:30 came around, and that all went to the dogs when my pianist got there and was confused and he thought we were just rehearsing on a random Saturday afternoon and Confirmation was actually on Sunday. Of course, my stress level went from 0 to 100 in 5 seconds flat. Thank goodness for Dana who is a lifesaver under any circumstance and came to the rescue. This did not calm my nerves, however, because it was Confirmation mass, so there were an extra 200 people in the Hall & the Bishop was there to celebrate mass. Once we finally got the sound working, practiced a little, and came back, Father Jerry grabbed the wireless mic, did a welcome spill and walked off with the mic. Adam ran to get it while realizing that it was about to die, grabbed batteries, and at that moment, Dana started playing because the Procession was ready to go. I nonchalantly switched mics with Allie (who by the way, had NO voice which totally screwed every single plan I had made earlier that day), sang, and took deep breaths as Adam got the mic in the stand right as we started singing.
My brain was racing still and my nerves were killing me. I was praying HARD for peace and tranquility because it's really hard to sing when you're worked up. So we get to the Psalm -- the third song in -- and I was singing it. I went up to the ambo and looked out at the hall busting at the seams, and I took a deep breath and sang -- still quite a bit worked up. As soon as the assembly repeated the refrain back to me, I remembered why I was there and it almost put me in tears. It is so insanely rewarding to have a congregation of all different ages and stories looking up at you and singing along to worship, creating such a beautiful sound. It's something you don't hear in the pews when you're participating. It reverberates through the space and you just know that God is smiling at the time you're taking out of your day to be engaged in worshipping Him. That was the best moment of my day...maybe one of the best in my "career" so far. I believe this was the 9th Confirmation that I've participated in, and this may have been my favorite one. It immediately made me think about the people who were being confirmed and how Confirmation helped me to realize where my place was in the church...obviously where I am now. I started reflecting on how I chose to take that path and how happy it has made me so far, and I was praying that the Confirmandi were taking it seriously because ministry is awesome. The end. Music ministry at Holy Spirit is perhaps my favorite thing on Earth.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Mind your head!
So, I'm back in America -- the land of the free and home of the brave! I'm actually quite happy to be home. I didn't realize how much I missed my friends and family while I was travelling like a mad woman around England. My trip was so blessed. Although on any trip there is frustration and exhaustion, you forget about that when you get home and all you can remember are the good times. So, in honor of that principle, I'm going to recount some of the fabulous moments of this trip right now:
1) Hearing "Glasgow Love Theme" played from the piano in the Great Hall while walking through the manor on Friday. Spenser and I were just walking around, and all of a sudden I hear one of the only songs I can play on the piano [from one of my favorite movies, Love Actually] trickling through the state rooms from the Great Hall. I got all teary-eyed [because I just do that sometimes] and just sat down and listened from the Gold Room. Then she started playing Titanic and that made me even happier.
2) Seeing London from the plane on the flight in. That brought tears to my eyes. If you know me very well, you know that I've always had a slight obession with London & England in general. I have no idea where it came from or how it developed, but having the opportunity to go there seriously meant the world to me. Seeing it for the first time, even if I wasn't to go back there for a week and a half, made it all very real to me.
3) Coventry Cathedral [the new version]. This was the first place we went, besides Harlaxton, and it was absolutely beautiful. The cathedral was more modern, built in the 60's, and all I could think about was being able to sing in a worship space like it. This was one of the only cathedrals we actually got to explore where it felt like people still worshipped there.
4) "The Goose" on Saturday night. It was just a fun night out in Grantham -- very chill. Lots of laughs. I didn't take my camera, which I regret, but I didn't want to lose it.
5) V8 & Uno.
6) Skyping with Mom for the first time. She was so excited to see me through the computer. It baffled her completely that technology allowed her to do this. SO funny. She kept making faces and being stupid because she could see herself.
7) Discussing all the different reasons why Jenn did not have skin cancer. One of my roommates on the trip was partially a hypochondriac, and one night I had to convince her that the bug bite on her leg was not skin cancer. This was a continuous battle that created lots of laughs.
8) Sardines. This was one of the most intense games of sardines of my life, considering Harlaxton is huge and there are 5 ways to get everywhere and like a million places you can hide. PLUS, it was super creepy since we were the only people there. I hid up in our classroom & I could have peed my pants until someone finally got up there to hide with me. We were barefoot and running like children around that place -- so funny.
9) "Out on the winding, windy moors" -- Oh, Kate Bush. The moors were beautiful and scary -- I can't even imagine having to navigate through that area without any sort of road or landmark. It was broad daylight and I couldn't see anything in the tall grass. Rocks, bogs, etc. The sky was low and brooding, and it was a summer day. Add snow and illegitimate shoes, no wonder these people had a low life expectancy.
10) Newstead Abbey's dress up room. Kaitlyn Fouts' picture. Also, the May Pole at Mary Arden's Farm. Completely irrelevant experiences, but both full of side-splitting laughter.
11) The wedding set up at Harlaxton -- so beautiful.
12) Mastering the London Underground
13) Telling people to put their "tired" away until we got on the plane because I didn't want to hear their complaints anymore. Eek, I guess my smartass got the best of me.
14) The London Eye. I am totally scared of heights, so this was a huge feat for me. I wouldn't stand close to the glass though until we got to the top -- no idea why this was the point that I was actually okay with it. It was absolutely beautiful though. Note: this was still the first day that I was in London, so it was insanely surreal. The view was baffling.
15) The pink room at Belvoir Castle. I may have to emulate that in my own home one day.
16) Spenser feeding me grapes at our picnic at the Tolethorpe Theater. I've never laughed so hard in my life. I was so insanely embarrassed.
17) Being spotted by Dr. Motley every single time I did something stupid. I swear, he saw me every time I found myself either acting like an idiot or having a realization that I should have understood from the beginning. For example, St. Paul's is Anglican [Church of England], not Catholic. Duh. I should have known this considering the whole Henry VIII thing, Reformation, etc. It didn't even cross my mind.
I was also spotted when a child ran into my purse and started crying. Everyone thought I hit him, but I didn't! I felt absolutely terribly though and all the blood rushed to my face. I was so embarrassed. Then later that day, I was walking through the catwalk onto the flight to Nashville and in a singsong voice, I was saying "We're almost there lalalala" and just giddy that we were finally just one flight away from being home, and I turned the corner and ran into someone. I turned around and of COURSE Dr. Motley is laughing at me and turns around to Spenser and asked him if he saw it.
18) The waiter at Garfunkel's who sang Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" as he swiped our cards. It was playing in the restaurant, and I asked him if he liked Queen. He said yes and asked if I had seen the musical. Apparently in England there is a musical called "We Will Rock You." I considered it, but decided to buy clothes and a purse instead.
19) The creepy waiter at the cafe across the street from our nasty hotel [sidenote: found a full fake eyelash in my bed. I don't even want to talk about it.]. He told us that it was one of those days where you wish you had stayed in bed all day. I don't know why this is significant, but I thought it was funny. I brought Kaitlyn back over there to get a coke and he was "happy" I brought more customers. It was amusing.
20) All the tour guides! Chin-haired lady at Cambridge, Brisk-walker Terry at Oxford, Too-much-info woman at Southwell Workhouse, I'm-an-Actress Lady at the Globe, "This is a private tour, please go over there" Lady at York Minster, Russian Lady at Belvoir, Very-cute-&-knowledgeable Punter on the Cam, Nose-scruncher/Looked-like-Nanny lady at the Bronte Parsonage, etc.
--
This trip was just SUCH an amazing experience. Regardless of how many times I set my timer for 3 more minutes of sleep or was crammed into the mini-bus driven by Ziggy, shoulder-to-shoulder with Spens, about to kill someone if I didn't get to stand up, the good experiences were tenfold. I could talk for days about this, and I probably will. I'm so glad I was able to do this...I'm so insanely blessed.
1) Hearing "Glasgow Love Theme" played from the piano in the Great Hall while walking through the manor on Friday. Spenser and I were just walking around, and all of a sudden I hear one of the only songs I can play on the piano [from one of my favorite movies, Love Actually] trickling through the state rooms from the Great Hall. I got all teary-eyed [because I just do that sometimes] and just sat down and listened from the Gold Room. Then she started playing Titanic and that made me even happier.
2) Seeing London from the plane on the flight in. That brought tears to my eyes. If you know me very well, you know that I've always had a slight obession with London & England in general. I have no idea where it came from or how it developed, but having the opportunity to go there seriously meant the world to me. Seeing it for the first time, even if I wasn't to go back there for a week and a half, made it all very real to me.
3) Coventry Cathedral [the new version]. This was the first place we went, besides Harlaxton, and it was absolutely beautiful. The cathedral was more modern, built in the 60's, and all I could think about was being able to sing in a worship space like it. This was one of the only cathedrals we actually got to explore where it felt like people still worshipped there.
4) "The Goose" on Saturday night. It was just a fun night out in Grantham -- very chill. Lots of laughs. I didn't take my camera, which I regret, but I didn't want to lose it.
5) V8 & Uno.
6) Skyping with Mom for the first time. She was so excited to see me through the computer. It baffled her completely that technology allowed her to do this. SO funny. She kept making faces and being stupid because she could see herself.
7) Discussing all the different reasons why Jenn did not have skin cancer. One of my roommates on the trip was partially a hypochondriac, and one night I had to convince her that the bug bite on her leg was not skin cancer. This was a continuous battle that created lots of laughs.
8) Sardines. This was one of the most intense games of sardines of my life, considering Harlaxton is huge and there are 5 ways to get everywhere and like a million places you can hide. PLUS, it was super creepy since we were the only people there. I hid up in our classroom & I could have peed my pants until someone finally got up there to hide with me. We were barefoot and running like children around that place -- so funny.
9) "Out on the winding, windy moors" -- Oh, Kate Bush. The moors were beautiful and scary -- I can't even imagine having to navigate through that area without any sort of road or landmark. It was broad daylight and I couldn't see anything in the tall grass. Rocks, bogs, etc. The sky was low and brooding, and it was a summer day. Add snow and illegitimate shoes, no wonder these people had a low life expectancy.
10) Newstead Abbey's dress up room. Kaitlyn Fouts' picture. Also, the May Pole at Mary Arden's Farm. Completely irrelevant experiences, but both full of side-splitting laughter.
11) The wedding set up at Harlaxton -- so beautiful.
12) Mastering the London Underground
13) Telling people to put their "tired" away until we got on the plane because I didn't want to hear their complaints anymore. Eek, I guess my smartass got the best of me.
14) The London Eye. I am totally scared of heights, so this was a huge feat for me. I wouldn't stand close to the glass though until we got to the top -- no idea why this was the point that I was actually okay with it. It was absolutely beautiful though. Note: this was still the first day that I was in London, so it was insanely surreal. The view was baffling.
15) The pink room at Belvoir Castle. I may have to emulate that in my own home one day.
16) Spenser feeding me grapes at our picnic at the Tolethorpe Theater. I've never laughed so hard in my life. I was so insanely embarrassed.
17) Being spotted by Dr. Motley every single time I did something stupid. I swear, he saw me every time I found myself either acting like an idiot or having a realization that I should have understood from the beginning. For example, St. Paul's is Anglican [Church of England], not Catholic. Duh. I should have known this considering the whole Henry VIII thing, Reformation, etc. It didn't even cross my mind.
I was also spotted when a child ran into my purse and started crying. Everyone thought I hit him, but I didn't! I felt absolutely terribly though and all the blood rushed to my face. I was so embarrassed. Then later that day, I was walking through the catwalk onto the flight to Nashville and in a singsong voice, I was saying "We're almost there lalalala" and just giddy that we were finally just one flight away from being home, and I turned the corner and ran into someone. I turned around and of COURSE Dr. Motley is laughing at me and turns around to Spenser and asked him if he saw it.
18) The waiter at Garfunkel's who sang Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" as he swiped our cards. It was playing in the restaurant, and I asked him if he liked Queen. He said yes and asked if I had seen the musical. Apparently in England there is a musical called "We Will Rock You." I considered it, but decided to buy clothes and a purse instead.
19) The creepy waiter at the cafe across the street from our nasty hotel [sidenote: found a full fake eyelash in my bed. I don't even want to talk about it.]. He told us that it was one of those days where you wish you had stayed in bed all day. I don't know why this is significant, but I thought it was funny. I brought Kaitlyn back over there to get a coke and he was "happy" I brought more customers. It was amusing.
20) All the tour guides! Chin-haired lady at Cambridge, Brisk-walker Terry at Oxford, Too-much-info woman at Southwell Workhouse, I'm-an-Actress Lady at the Globe, "This is a private tour, please go over there" Lady at York Minster, Russian Lady at Belvoir, Very-cute-&-knowledgeable Punter on the Cam, Nose-scruncher/Looked-like-Nanny lady at the Bronte Parsonage, etc.
--
This trip was just SUCH an amazing experience. Regardless of how many times I set my timer for 3 more minutes of sleep or was crammed into the mini-bus driven by Ziggy, shoulder-to-shoulder with Spens, about to kill someone if I didn't get to stand up, the good experiences were tenfold. I could talk for days about this, and I probably will. I'm so glad I was able to do this...I'm so insanely blessed.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
England! Days 1-4
Surprisingly enough, I am behind on my blogging for this trip...to the point that I haven't really started. I'll try to start from the beginning and give a general overview of the last four amazing days, but even words can't really explain it. I'm still having issues believing this is real. I'm actually here. I know it's somewhat silly to say that I have always wanted to come here and this is one of my "life goals" but honestly, if you go back and look in any of my old diaries, notes to friends, or anything that listed my aspirations in life -- this was probably at the top of my list. This opportunity is absolutely priceless, and it seriously brings more joy to my heart than I let on. So, on that note, Day One:
Travelling. Bowling Green to Nashville! Check Luggage. Nash to Chicago O'Hare. O'Hare to London Heathrow. Heathrow onto Coach (charter bus). The coach brought us to Harlaxton nearly 24 hours later. We stayed up all day to try to ward off the inevitable jetlag. This wasn't too hard considering where we are in residence. This is honestly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The architecture is mind-blowing. The detail is beyond anything I have ever seen. I could wander about for hours walking up and down the corridors and mini-staircases (and large staircases!) searching for the secret passageways, sneaking a run on the piano in the Long Hall, laying in the floor under the beautiful ceiling in any one of the state rooms. Basically, this place is Hogwarts for Muggles.
Travelling. Bowling Green to Nashville! Check Luggage. Nash to Chicago O'Hare. O'Hare to London Heathrow. Heathrow onto Coach (charter bus). The coach brought us to Harlaxton nearly 24 hours later. We stayed up all day to try to ward off the inevitable jetlag. This wasn't too hard considering where we are in residence. This is honestly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The architecture is mind-blowing. The detail is beyond anything I have ever seen. I could wander about for hours walking up and down the corridors and mini-staircases (and large staircases!) searching for the secret passageways, sneaking a run on the piano in the Long Hall, laying in the floor under the beautiful ceiling in any one of the state rooms. Basically, this place is Hogwarts for Muggles.
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