“If God is with us ….”
“If God is with us ….”
One of the drawbacks of a quarterly magazine is that events which take place early in one quarter seem very “old hat” and dated when reported in the next edition. However I think one such happening in November is worthy of recall, namely our church’s version of Roger Jones’ Christian musical “Angel Voices”. What a joyous evening that was, for both performers and hopefully the audience! It seems such a pity that after a lot of effort by so many people, the show was only on for one night.
After six weeks of planning and of necessity, individual practices, several of our church groups came together for final rehearsals – singers, dancers, drama group, soloists and readers! Some might say a motley crew but we all know what can be achieved in the Lord’s name. The cast brought their own particular gifts and varying abilities to their roles, but one thing they all had in common was commitment. The only regret was that those taking part could never see the whole production – although thanks to Helen, most of it was captured on CD.
Under the aegis of Ken and Ray, the St. Martin’s Singers sang beautifully – as did the soloists Marlene, Gary and Claire. As Jesus, Mike’s tenor voice was stirring and Celia’s rendition of “Are you in the Book?” was both very moving and thought-provoking.
Bearing in mind there is an age range of over 60 years between the younger and more mature members, both dance groups, Jubilate and Maranatha, performed well together but Helen’s dance version of the Devil in “Will you Buy?” was worryingly very good! One of the dancers was so involved watching the rest of the show, she forgot her own cue – sorry, fellow terpsichoreans!
Readings by Val and David, and the dramatisation linked the whole performance together, and with Gary speaking as John, the text of the Book of Revelation came to life.
As in all stage productions, there are those whose work is seen but not appreciated – i.e. costumes, prompter, people in charge of the lights and the back-projection screen etc. – so well done to everybody who contributed to the evening. All the performers were amateurs (apologies to Ken and Ray) but I’ve never understood why the adjective “amateur” seems lesser somehow than “professional”. If I remember my Latin correctly, it means “done in love!” and as one person kept reminding the rest of us during slightly fraught periods in rehearsals – “If God is with us, who can be against us?”. Amen to that!
To bring this report up to date, we recently shared a parish lunch to discuss our Church family and families in our church. What better way to celebrate than to use a Christian social event as above to bring all ages in our church together. And how wonderful that little Catherine from Maranatha (and the Sunday Club) has since been baptised.