Dear Members and Friends,

I think I have mentioned in one of these before that I am a natural risk-taker. I think I’ve also mentioned that I am not a particularly hopeful person, generally. I usually believe that hope breeds disappointment and nurtures complacency. In any case, whether I’ve mentioned these things or not, I would doubt that any of this is a surprise to most of you by now. And yet, as we approach September 1st – the day choir rehearsals are scheduled to begin for our in-person worship services that soon follow – I find that both of these impulses in me are challenged.

I am a risk-taker without even really trying to be one, and yet, not to the extent that I am willing to put our choristers at unreasonable risk to their health. (Although, some minimal level of risk is unavoidable.) All of the singers in our choirs are or will be fully immunized by the time we begin together, and that gives me great comfort. They will also be masked while we are together, which is annoying, but a relatively minor price to pay for the privilege of getting to sing together again.

Our Music Ministry Staff Team – Signe, Joe, John, Dustin, Amanda, Joey, and I spent a couple of days in retreat together last week in Hood River. I was reminded (as though I needed the reminder) of just how lucky we are to have such a talented, committed, open-minded, open-hearted, and downright fun team of musicians at the church. This often shows up in the ways we make music each week – maybe you can sense it as you listen, I don’t know. But it also shows up in the ways we plan, vision, and germinate ideas together. Having the team together for the first time in 2 years, laughing together, and discussing all the things we intend to do this year, it is impossible to come away from that without feeling overwhelmingly hopeful that our dreaming will not be in vain.

And, maybe what I am learning through this time is that even the risk-takers should sometimes pause and reflect, and even the hopeless should leave a little room for possibility.

If you have not yet heard Jon Batiste’s newest album, We Are, go do so right away. Here’s a little taste: his track called “Sing”. https://youtu.be/ugixREvpgng