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During
the weeks I was still thinking about whether or not my ego or appearance of ego was getting in the way of having a good
choir, I was also involved in other music projects. The composers' group that I was in was busily working
towards a state-funded performance of our original music. My contribution to this concert was a song cycle for baritone
and choir. This serious choral work would be performed by the hosting church's 40-member adult choir and I was
invited to hear them rehearse.
Wow! what an eye-opener.
As choir members arrived at the [dedicated] rehearsal room, they were checking off their presence on the attendance
list that was posted in the hallway. Almost everyone was there ahead of time or on time. Their music was organized and in
order and very little time was wasted. Then the co-directors got ready to begin. The first things they did were ask about
missing members, talk about choir and church concerns, and ask for individual prayer requests. It sounded just like a
prayer meeting. Their prayer was equally impressive; no person or concern was left out. There was no doubt left in my mind
that anything rehearsed here would be done to the glory of God.
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My thoughts were
spinning as I left the rehearsal. I had been praying at home and asking for everyone's prayers, but hadn't even considered
prayer as the proper way to begin our choir rehearsal. How could I have missed such an obvious necessity? I
had no excuse, either; almost all my education had been in Christian schools where beginning (meetings, classes, journeys)
with prayer was a way of life.
The next thing to do, of course,
was to start praying before rehearsals. But . . . (and here's my ego showing through) I wanted to start having prayer in a
dignified and musically significant way. How could I accomplish that? The possibilities ranged from making an abject
and tearful apology to explaining nothing and asking someone to pray. Ironically, my new prayer was about
the best way to start the new routine of having prayer as the beginning of rehearsals.
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