It's not too late, do the work!

January 13 2008 Hello Readers, In this week's service, The Gathering is with my Dad. As I listened, this one in particular brought back many feelings and memories. As Dad explains the opening hymn, the tone in his voice and his word choices are distinctive. For example: "Excuse me" --"give me a moment to get my bearings." [As I listened, I was brought to my childhood home, where often I would walk down the hall one way while dad was going the other and he would say something like "excuse me" in a teasing way like he was upset, when he was not at all -- I would laugh so hard, that was my role, laughing. I kept laughing and he kept teasing, I loved it, I loved the attention. Dad was all about interactions, I miss those with him so much it hurts.] Once the song begins, I am filled with pride for my father who, once he retired from teaching, picked up guitar and led this congregation and our family in song for many years. The song also includes what I beli...

  December 30 2007  (Dad does not lead The Gathering) Hello Readers, This week's service marks the end of 2007. I remember as a kid our family would usually start the year by taking down the Christmas decorations. With this task, a lot of emotions came -- it wasn't nearly as much fun as putting them up. Later, as I raised my own family, my own kids seemed to have little interest in decorating, let alone putting things away- and so I stopped getting a tree and just strung lights around. Eventually, we had a tree again when they each expressed that they wanted one.  One thing my own kids enjoyed was exchanging gifts. My daughter once stated to me when she was a teenager that Christmas brought out the best in us. I often felt like it was too much fuss, but she reassured me that we showed our love this way and that it was a truly joyous time. My son also got into the spirit, he liked to purchase his own wrapping paper so that he would be the only one with that particular desi...

December 23 2007   Dad is NOT leading The Gathering this week 14'54" Piano and Violin (niece and brother-in-law?-- so lovely!) to 19'20" 39'20" a piano/choir Christmas program and various speaking parts -my sister announces the inspiration for the program, a children's book given to her daughter from their Virginia church family on her 1st birthday Hello Readers, As I skimmed through today's link, I noted above two of the highlights for me. Members of my family, taking part and arranging worship using music in special ways.  As a music teacher, I am often asked who influenced me in my pursuit of music. My answer always starts with my family. I can remember endless road trips to visit family and for vacations. Time was spent singing various songs with multiple parts or in rounds. At home, we often gathered around a piano or guitar and sang there too. This taught me pitch, timing, and expression. Later, my parents encouraged me with piano and flute less...