50 Days of Gratitude: Day 17

Last night we drove into Tacoma, which is conveniently close at hand, to the campus of Pacific Lutheran University, for the final concert of the school year for the Choir of the West, the premier choir at PLU. I’ve known several folks who’ve been a part of this group over the years but this year, we didn’t know anyone. We thoroughly enjoyed it, nonetheless.

There is something about live music. Something about being able to feel the vibrations of the notes and watch the expressions of the musicians and experience the energy of the audience….well, it’s just wondrous and one of our favorite things.

Other than the opening and closing hymns, A Mighty Fortress and Beautiful Savior respectively, we weren’t familiar with the program last night, which made for an evening of even more discovery.

What we hadn’t anticipated was that they would be recognizing the graduating seniors, calling them each forward, sharing a bit about their plans for the future and their favorite choir memories. Again, we didn’t know any of them, but there’s something so hopeful about a person on the cusp of a new thing. I am trying to remember that for myself.

At the conclusion of the senior introductions, the choir sang one more piece before moving close together, joining hands, and launching into Beautiful Savior, which is how they end every concert. I once sat in a hospital room with a woman whose daughter and friends had been members of Choir of the West. They surrounded her bed in her last days, joined their hands and softly began to hum….then sing….Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, praise adoration, now and forever more be thine. At her funeral, some weeks later, as Advent dawned, they sang it again.

And so it was, that last night, when the opening notes of this hymn began to fill the space, tears began to fill my eyes. Tears of joy for the students I have been so privileged to work with over the past years and who I know will bring more of God’s justice and peace and hope to the Church and the world. Tears for a world that seems to have lost its way. Tears for all who have died before anyone was ready and tears for Kris who was accompanied by singing. Tears of joy for new life as we get to know our wide-eyed granddaughter. Tears of disappointment. Tears of gratitude. Tears that come when the first chord of a song seems to hold the beauty of what has been and of what might yet be.

Here is a link to the Choir of the West performing this hymn on February 7, 2020, just before the pandemic shut everything down: