Dear Family & Friends of Christ Church, 

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Many of you know that Rev. Jeanette Hile, the deacon you see at our 10:00 am service most Sundays, is an accomplished musician. Jeanette spent much of her vocational life on the faculty at Seton Hall University, equipping and shaping generations of singers and choral music teachers in our region.  

 

Jeanette spends most Monday evenings at Christ Church in her role as music director of the Sussex County Oratorio Society. Though I am not a formal member of the group, she has invited me to sing with them on several occasions. This past Monday, I found myself in the bass section as the group readies itself for a concert this coming Sunday, May 3, at 3:00 pm.

 

We had run through the entire program when Jeanette addressed the group:

 

“You need to look like you’re enjoying yourselves more. This is Mozart!”

 

I appreciated her healthy reminder. Singing the right notes is a critical part of our task, of course. But we are also responsible for sharing and embodying the joy at the heart of the composer’s offering. It is the merging of these two goals that we strive toward as musicians.

 

I wonder if the same isn’t true of us in our faith lives. I know the work and ministry that God has placed before me. Often I can put my head on the pillow at night confident that several boxes got checked off that day. But did I engage my work joyfully? In my rush to “accomplish” more, have I lost sight of the joy God gifts to me each new day? Sir Francis Drake’s famous prayer puts it this way:

 

Disturb us, Lord, when in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.