Friday's Concert

The concert Friday was tons of fun. I arrived half an hour early, thinking that would be early enough to get a seat, but it wasn't. The place was filling up fast. Since it was just me, I was able to get a seat in the main section, next to a woman named Barbara. We chatted for a while. Then the concert started. There was Graham Kendrick, the 15-voice gospel choir from England (apparently they have them in the UK!) and a trumpet player, Raul Donavera (I think I got his name right). He was fantastic. Barbara said he's from Spain.

At one point toward the beginning of the concert, Raul got to play a couple numbers. It was fun, and amazing. The flugelhorn is one of my favorite instruments, and he is a fantastic player. Here are some video clips:

Unfortunately, this is the point where my camera batteries died. The last song performed was the praise song that goes "We worship you/Hallelujah, hallelujah/We worship you/for who you are... for you are good!" The band continued to play for probably another 30 minutes, trading solos. The bass player was incredible. When it was Raul's turn, he held his flugelhorn in his right hand and a trumpet in his left and traded between the two. It was so cool!

Church Tonight

This weekend at church we have a special guest, Graham Kendrick. He's a worship leader from the UK that I've never heard of, but some British friends of mine really talked him up. This is his fourth year coming to church for a weekend, and everyone loves it. Tonight, which is normally quite a small congregation, there were about 4 times as many people as normal. He had a small gospel choir with him (apparently they have those in England). During the special choir number I was amused at the "As you lift Him high/He will drawr you close" bit of the song. Usually accents diminish with singing, but the "r" was definately there! I'm thinking about going back tomorrow morning even though I'm going to the concert tomorrow night.

The nice thing about guest musicians is the very short sermon. Not that I don't appreciate good sermons, but to expect a special guest who has come from England or Canada or somewhere far to do something other than music is too demanding. I noticed this with Brian Doerkson last semester as well. You feel just as satisfied with a passage of Scripture read, an explanation of what it meant to the artist, and then the song based on it. It's really wonderful. I found myself really wanting to stay there for longer than the already over-long service. Except when the littler girl in front of me vomited. I had to leave my seat straightaway before my overly developed gag reflex kicked in from the smell.

One of my favorite couples at church is an older man and his wife. They're Brits, and she's 6'2" and he's shorter than me - probably 5'3". They are so friendly and into everything. They totally get into the worship: dancing, waving arms, and so on. And they are so encouraging. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding the thick accent, and I feel silly asking them to repeat themselves so much, but they're the kind of people you want to hear.

Have I mentioned how much I love my church here? I think I have a few times. I wish everyone at home could experience the true multiculturalism that exists in the church and in the small groups. In my small group 5 nationalities are represented, and it's great. I love looking at the congregation and seeing all the different features of ethnic groups scattered across the crowd. Asian of all sorts, blonds, hispanic, all kinds of European, Texans, lots of Canadians, Egyptians, and a lot of different Africans. I was thinking tonight what Heaven will be like. If I get choked up and have a hard time singing here, how will I be able to praise God when he's physically in front of me and ALL the nations are there? It's hard and wonderful to imagine.