With our Partner Church service coming up on March 7, I am finding myself, once again, in a sad place because of the loss of our Mixed Choir during COVID-19. The Choir has always been a part of our celebration of the partnership with our brother and sisters in Felsőrákos, Romania. Like most European churches, that village church has a long choral tradition, which I was able to experience when I was in Felsőrákos in 2016. I was so grateful to hear their Women’s Choir, a group with strong sonorous voices singing both traditional songs and even one in English that we had shared with them! It was quite beautiful. So I deeply regret that we cannot have our choir with us this coming Sunday to lend their sense of community to our service. We are only “making do” without them.

We will, however, have two songs which we have used before to celebrate our union with that church. You will hear Székely Áldás (Székely Blessing), a piece done by our choir in the past. This piece is a special blessing of the very people in the village of Felsőrákos, and is quite specific to them. There are words sung in Hungarian and English words in the second “verse” as a translation. I will sing it as a solo this time. We will also sing a hymn together at the end of the service that you know, #123 Spirit of Life. We will do it in English and then I invite you to try it in Hungarian! You will see a phonetic rendering of the Hungarian on our screen. And please do give it a try. It is a way of engaging with our sister church that makes it more personal—an effort to step just a bit into their culture.

Your Music Director,

Deb Jacquemin