Last night I attended Lessons and Carols at my husband's new church. Yes, my husband has moved to another church, one that suits him very well. Most of their services, the ones he attends as a chorister, use Rite I (more traditional language) in the liturgy; and their level of music is very, very high. They have many professional and highly educated musicians in the choirs there. The group will tour England this summer and sing in venues including Westminster Abbey.
I've been through a grief process about this change, with some good friends walking the way with me. Church was something that was important to me for us to do together. But the more involved I got at our church, the less he wanted to be. It seems that while my spirituality finds its expression in relationship and service, his is expressed in worship of a very particular sort. Different. Not better or worse. Just different.
The change has turned out to be a good one in many ways we might not have imagined. He is being challenged musically at every turn, there. He LOVES it.
And for myself, I am making progress with finding an opening in my upper voice that has never been available to me before. I credit this to my years of energy work; spiritual searching, too. My singing voice is truly coming available to me as I become a single person in this parish. I am an involved person, to be sure: choir, Vestry, Daughters of the King...so my voice is heard in other venues. But I have longed for freedom in my singing voice, oh, all my life! My little sister has it naturally, and how I have resented that. (Sorry, Nance, you know it's true. Not your fault!)
And it all goes back to The Breath. God breathes this possibility of life and song into us from the very first words in the Bible. Singing is about the breath and how it is used and aligned and treated well and respectfully inside us.
May your breath be gentle and purposeful today. God lives in you. What has She for you to say?