The Symphony of 1000

A lot has happened since last post. Sunday Night Worship is up and running. We've had two already and the third is tomorrow. I think we all decided that the first two were good places to start, but we really hope to keep building from here. The original vision for the "new" SNW was to be more diverse in worship style and try to get out of the routine that it seemed like worship services on campus had fallen into. The last two really didn't break any new ground, but we are going to try to start that with tomorrow's service. I would tell you what we have planned, but it's somewhat of a secret at this point.

In other news, this weekend the choir I'm a part of is singing with other choirs and the Toledo Symphony at the Peristyle in the Toledo Art Museum. We are doing Mahler's 2nd Symphony which they say is sometimes called the Symphony of 1000 because it takes so many people to pull it off. The choir has 201 singers and the orchestra is somewhere between 100 and 150. So it's not quite 1000, but we do make a pretty awesome sound. The only rought part is that the choir only sings in the 5th (and last) movement for about 15 minutes so we have to sit there on stage during the first 4 movements which last around an hour and fifteen minutes. To make matters worse, I can't really breathe out of either of my nostrils and they only barely managed to cram 201 singers on stage so we are all shoulder to shoulder, knee to back. It is a rough at first, but once we start to sing it really makes it worth it. The piece is about Mahler's conversion from Judaism to Catholicism and the turmoil he had to wrestle with to make that switch. It has some truly deep and amazing moments like when the entire choir is practically screaming the words "This must be true" and "before I live, I have to die" (all in German, of course). I would have to say that despite my cold and having to sit still for over an hour this is definitely one of the cooler things I've done in my life.

Well, I've got the first part of my Saturday free and I have to finish stuff up for tomorrow night's service. I told the band that I would cook them something before we rehearse so we could eat together, but I forgot how much of a paint cooking can be. I'm off to get done what I can before tomorrow.