MAGA won

One of my players wrote a song the fourth verse of which we adapt when a member of our corps is in special need of prayer- an injury, a life-threatening illness, surgery, or for a loved one in their family.

Yesterday I learned of such a need and created a prayer verse lead sheet for us to play today. A prayer in music for one of our own.

Last night I sent the copy to my new pastors who didn't respond until right before service today. They said it would take too much time to do this, and we have special needs prayers listed in the bulletin. So ixnay on doing this in service.



My prelude was Etude Op. 25 No 11 by Frederic Chopin because of the brutal heat wave we're enduring, as a reminder of the howling wind of winter, so be grateful!





I play some work of the great repertoire to set a mood and expectation for and during service. Something the congregation could not do, but from which they could and would gain a new or important perspective. Some major churches that have capable talent regularly do this before or during service. It is a best practice of the great music, used in this case to glorify or illustrate God in a profound and compelling way.

When I finished the etude, I snapped a picture of the congregation. Pastors were bvllshitting with the MAGA; the only people in attendance. Not a single soul paid attention to the prelude. Their discussion? Different kinds of ammo and what it does. This went on for ten minutes, so service began more than ten minutes late.



Then during service a special prayer was asked for President Trump.

We did a Doerksen set of songs, and we sang them- my orchestra, in three part men's harmony. It was not only flawless, but better than the video for the same reason live music is better than recordings.

The sermon was on The Good Shepherd, with lots of talk about Jesus. We watched a cute video about sheep not responding to call by children, but when the shepherd called, the sheep all came over. Like a miracle. Missing was the many preconditioned times the shepherd did that because it was sheep FEEDING time. Animals aren't stupid. But some pastors and their congregations are.

We sang a final song to a video. Nobody knew it and few if any sang. I anticipated the harmonic progression and rhythm and played along with the video, very softly and ethereally. Nobody noticed- but then they were not supposed to notice. This isn't about me or us.

The only question in my life now is when do I walk away?



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