It’s not the warmer weather that I’m longing for, it’s a bit of sanity. February was Black History Month and is always brutal for me at church. I try to fawn off responsibilities to others, but, like a boomerang, they keep coming back to me. Lining up speakers, getting approvals, making sure equipment is set up, putting information into the church bulletin, etc.
Sunday, February 24 was a prime example. Go to the 8:30 a.m. service to make sure the guest preacher has shown up. Afterward, accompany him to a place for him to rest until the 10:45 service. Make sure the 9:30 adult education speakers are there and make sure they are set. Make at least some of the choir rehearsal, which starts at 9:30, but my cloning ability is frayed. Sing in the choir at 10:45 service, and also do the presentation of the ceremonial kente cloth, and read prayers of the people.
Thank goodness my wife has taken responsibility for the luncheon. But then there’s the clean-up afterward.
I would have been happy to have gone home then, as I was exhausted. Unfortunately, the husband of one of the choir members had died that week, and choir people support their own. So we sang at the 3 p.m. service.
Not that it was a BAD day, mind you. I thought everything went well. The guest preacher was good, the adult ed presenters were well-received, and the dinner was fantastic. I thought the music was fine; in fact, if I’m doing this correctly, you should be able to hear I’ve Been in the Storm So Long [LISTEN]; yes, there’s a one-second recording glitch at the end.
There were a lot of deaths in the families of people I know in the month of February. Our choir’s soprano soloist lost her father; him, I hadn’t met, but the rest of the people I knew. The former treasurer of the Friends of the Albany Public Library, Peg, passed away. So did the wife of the former president of the Friends; Len and Naomi Tucker had been married for over 70 years and were such a sweet couple. My friend Broome’s dad Michael died; he was always an interesting and entertaining guy. Our former secretary at work had her mother die in the early morning, then had to bring her father to the hospital for treatment of his heart that same day.
March means working on an initiative my church is supporting with Giffen Elementary School in Albany; my wife is even more heavily involved than I. There’s a church musical, and I have a part in that, on March 17, which means some rehearsals as well. And of course, there’s Holy Week, which church musicians and singers think of as hell week. (Someone suggested that was a sacrilegious sentiment – well, when you think about the betrayal, whipping, and crucifixion stuff prior to Easter…)
So I’m looking forward, more than usual, to April, when our office has a presentation to prepare by the end of the month; a piece of cake.
May I ask, what’s YOUR response to the question that ALWAYS gets asked in February? I’m referring, of course, to “How come there’s no WHITE History Month?” Anymore I just snort and say “That’s all the other ones. We just don’t announce it.” Problem with that response is, it doesn’t always get taken as the sarcasm it is.
You may ask, but I shan’t answer. Well, not until I do one of those Ask Roger Anything, which won’t be until…hmm, around March 20. So I SHALL answer you this month, and you needn’t resubmit it.
Good! I look forward to it. I really hate hearing that question, with its pouty tone and its implication that racism is over and we need to just stop talking about it.
I’m sure you have kids (teens) that go to your church. I’d bet they’d be more than happy to lend a hand if you just asked. And nothing gets them going like a challenge or a contest.
As an example some years back my church needed money for some mission. The teens offered their services (baby sitting, lawn mowing and such) for an auction with the money going to the mission. All of the money was raised in about 45 minutes.
Yes, pastor’s wife checking in. We have also experience a lot of deaths in our congregation – not unusual for February, when so many seniors give up the ghost and now with texting out there, younger people being hurt. A piece of good news: A woman with a high-risk pregnancy was carrying twin girls and they went to term. She had over 14 lbs of baby inside her!! But the two girls are evenly weighted and don’t have rhyming names, so that’s a good thing, and their mom is ecstatic after all the scares.
Our praise band has some heavy stuff lined up. I will post lyrics soon as well as a recording of a demo, we’ll be doing this for the Passion. It’s called “He Was Eating and Drinking (with the sinners and the slaves…)
I was SO impressed by that recording, Roger. Glorious choir, really, I can see why you and your wife are so involved. Take care – don’t get overwhelmed and then eat all the Easter chocolate in one day. That’s my M.O.!! Amy
I had a month back in July of 2005 where two uncles and a friend died. Plus, I had back surgery and had to put down our dog for cancer. Bad month. Here’s hoping for a calmer spring.
Ha ha ha the Church makes you work hard every February? Ha ha hee hee I won’t say it out loud. Too rude even for me.
So how come there’s no “White History Month?” Reminds me of the standard question from kids, “There’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, how come there’s no Kid’s Day?” The answer, of course, is “Every day is Kid’s Day.”
Dan – I don’t HAVE to; it just wouldn’t happen, that’s all.
Yes yes of course, somehow I KNEW you would say that.
Dan- Always glad to please you.