Last weekend saw the first of two Jerusalem Joy in a day events in the Nottingham area. This first event was in Stapleford at Pastures Community Church. We had met Yvonne at a similar event last year, and she was quick to invite us to her church, as she was very excited about the mission and community possibilities with a musical in a day.So on Saturday Annie and Helen travelled to Stapleford, where they were met by their team of Miriam, Sarah, Alan and Kevin (as well as Kevin's wife Pauline who was most helpful too!). The Pastures Church is in an old pub, which is gradually being renovated by the congregation. Once the team had explored and set up, fish and chips were ordered for the team along with Yvonne, Ian, Steph their daughter and Alan's daughter Sophie.
After lunch, the choir and orchestra began to arrive, and it was wonderful to see the talent on offer. The band were made up of the CMM team plus a piano player, guitar, bass guitar, tenor sax and clarinet. Each player was excellent - perfectly in tune and in time - Annie had no need of her special selective hearing that she sometimes needs to employ on days like this!
The choir were made up mostly of church members who had no experience of choral singing at all, but despite this they did amazingly well. The 5 men were amazing - each very confident (as shown by their brilliant solos - covering the parts of Jesus, Pilate, Herod, Judas and Caiaphas between them). The women took a while to get used to singing in parts, but after a shaky start they managed very well indeed, easily matching the men.
Another delight of the day was the way the church had worked hard to advertise the performance in the area, and they were rewarded by a good audience which included quite a few non-Christians. They used it as a brilliant opportunity to advertise their Easter services and events.
It was a blessing to take part in the day, and we pray that the Pastures church will continue their excellent outreach way into the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment