My first choral gig

CarolSinger; Cynthia Clawson

In November of 1990, I returned home from working on the Golden Odyssey. I disembarked the ship in Athens, Greece, flew to Zurich, Switzerland, flew to Chicago, and finally to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In the weeks that followed, I prepared for an audition with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, did my Christmas shopping, and considered where I would find my next gig if I didn’t win the audition with the Marines.

At the breakfast table before going to church on that first Sunday home from Europe, Mom said, “Erik, I think the Grace Lutheran choir should prepare a Christmas concert, and we don’t have anybody who can direct us but you.” After that short speech, Mom got up from the table, strategically vacating the room before I could say, “But, Mom…” After church, Mom got up in front of the choir and said, “Choir, I think the Grace Lutheran choir should prepare a Christmas concert, and we don’t have anybody who can direct us but Erik.” And that’s how I got my first choral conducting gig. I got it from my mom.

So, I put together a concert that we could do on the second half of the worship service on the Sunday before Christmas. We had six choir numbers, three duets and a trio. The choir sang two numbers that they knew from years past, and then they learned four new songs. I must commend them, even now, on their willingness to learn something new. At that time, their choir library consisted of forty songs, a repertoire that took them from Labor Day to Memorial Day. And to keep the congregation on their toes, they would mix the order throughout the year, so that nobody could come to church on that Sunday where the choir sang “that real zippy number.”

One of the songs that I had them sing came from Cynthia Clawson on a CD that I mentioned a while back called “Carolsinger”. In addition to a sensational singing voice and a talent for composing, she has a touch of the poet in her soul. She opens her album with these words:

Stand still and wait for the night to pass over;

Under cover of darkness the morning shall rise;

From the east comes our hope and it’s wrapped up in sunrise;

So, rest, close your eyes and wait one more hour,

Our joy has come in through the sky.

Just this past week, my friend Ernie G. and I had an opportunity to discuss what advent does for our respective souls. Advent puts me in the same place as the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks when the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Since the day I first heard Jesus’ name, I knew that I had a savior who paid the price of all of my iniquities. My shepherd friends knew of no peace of mind like this. For their transgressions, they needed to extend a burnt offering. Yet, my own peace of mind notwithstanding, I know that I must look to the second coming of Christ to seek what I can’t imagine, putting me on roughly equal footing with the shepherds, who sought the first coming of a king, yet didn’t know what they’d find when he came.

Ernie contends that Advent doesn’t coincide with the winter solstice by accident. As we approach the nativity, the sun falls behind the horizon earlier and earlier, the earth becomes colder and colder; as we wait for this new beginning, things also must come to an end. We shouldn’t wonder, then, that our Advent hymns soak themselves in an ablution of melancholy.

At the end of the album, Ms. Clawson superimposes her advent song over the most timeless, personal and starlit offering of “Silent Night” that I have ever heard; forever suspending that moment where waiting disappeared and joy came into the world. I don’t like to declare favorite albums. It goes contrary to my subjective persona. But if I COULD pick a favorite ……

Credits: To the Grace Lutheran Church choir of Bruce, SD, for singing “Heaven Came Down”.

Now I’ve a hope that will surely endure after the passing of time.

I have a future in Heaven for sure there in those mansions sublime.

And it’s because of that wonderful day, when at the cross I believed;

Riches eternal and blessings supernal from His precious hand I received.

Thank you, my friends.