From Pastor Eric
What does it mean that people who love music, worship, and the arts consistently find a home and a space inside FBC's walls?
This is a question I have been asking all Spring as our congregation has hosted musicians and music groups from our community. The most recent opportunity we had to extend hospitality to musicians was last Sunday. We welcomed Sarah McIver on flute and Eliana Schenck on oboe in morning worship. In the afternoon, we welcomed Kimberly Galva and more than a dozen of her violin students for their annual Spring recital - which included Kevin, Rosemary, and Valerie Plovnick.
When I expressed my appreciation to one of our guest musicians her response was, "I should be thanking you for allowing me to play here. This is an amazing space, and this congregation has been so kind to me this morning." After the violin recital Kimberly said, "What a wonderful opportunity for my students to hear themselves play in this space, and to know there are churches that still value not only music but all of the arts." Their words of gratitude echo what I've heard from other musicians who have been in our space this Spring - from the brass players at Easter and the Mariachi band on Palm Sunday to guest organists to Runnymede Singers who rehearse here weekly to the Bucknell University A Cappella Choir to the DC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
What does it mean that people who love music, worship, and the arts consistently find a home and a space inside FBC's walls?
This question brings me back to the work of sociologist Robert Wuthnow who said a desire to see the arts employed fully in the life of the church represents a profound cultural shift. The shift is a move toward a complete integration of the senses into our daily lives, as well as our spiritual lives.
As we open our doors to musicians and artists in the community, we create opportunities for their work to connect with the work of the Divine. We also create opportunities for our own spiritual lives to be enriched and expanded by the majesty, mystery, and beautiful holiness of God - things which should be, but are not always, most attractive to us. Maybe this is why Saint Augustine said, “My God and my glory, for this reason I say a hymn of praise to you and offer praise to the One who offered sacrifice for me. For the beautiful objects designed by artists’ souls and realized by skilled hands come from that beauty which is higher than souls; after that beauty my soul sighs day and night.”
What does it mean that YOU have found a home and space inside FBC's walls, which happen to be full of music, worship, and the arts?
Pastor Eric