Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
John 14:12 NRSVue
We attended the Cantabile Choirs concert in Kingston last evening thanks to the gift of tickets from friends who couldn't attend. It was the farewell concert for esteemed director, Mark Surrette who through a long career created choirs for children, youth, men and women with a devotion to excellence. Last night more than 120 members sang a broad range of choral works, accompanied by seven or eight musicians.
I admit that choral music is about a four of ten in terms of my enthusiasm while its an eight to ten for Ruth. Actually, when I attend concerts my appreciation rises to a seven or eight. Where do we hear the miracle of "voices united" anymore? Even in many congregational settings choirs are fading away, particularly with childrens' voices.
I was touched by Peace, written by Dan Forrest, which was sung by the men's chorus of twenty-four. It is a sacred piece, drawing on the words of Jesus to his disciples at the Last Supper, according to the gospel of John. It intersperses the word "shalom" throughout, the Hebrew term for peace. It was a sublime blessing to a sell-out crowd in The Spire, formerly known as Sydenham United Church. This music didn't differentiate between listeners of different religions or no religion at all.
My one thought was that the Arabic word "salaam" might have been included as well, although that would have required the permission of the writer. In these turbulent times it would have been an additional invitation to unity.
The concert as a whole was a balm for our battered spirits. Peace. Shalom. Salaam.
2 comments:
I wish I had known about this concert ! However, I was at a piano concert in Stirling (Luke Bell, a graduate of our Rotary Music Festival) in the afternoon, which was awesome !
I'm sure you would have loved it, Judy, but it sounds as though the tickets were hard to come by.
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