O Holy Night

My choir experience is finally over. It all happened last night and quite truthfully, it was incredible. Simply put, it has been an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. So, before I go into the details of the night itself let us take a trip down memory lane to figure out how I got myself into this mess in the first place.

On October the 23^rd I received a Whatsapp message from one of the worship leaders from church that simply read “Choir this year?” followed by some music note emojis and I cautiously obliged. A mixture of excitement and unease filled my being as I was not quite sure what I had let myself in for!

I turned up to the first practise not really sure what to expect. As has been mentioned the whole affair was a source of profound confusion from the very beginning.

As the weeks passed I became more and more confident with the idea of being in the choir. My family winced as I practised at home, bellowing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen at any given opportunity. Slowly but surely, I was beginning to be able to hit the notes I needed and navigate my way around the dozens of pages of sheet music that had been given to me.

Then, came the darkness. Having missed a practise session the week previous due to a preaching commitment I began to feel a little bit behind. The following Sunday, after a busy week, I found myself tired, groggy and feeling a little ill. I considered not going to practise for a second week running. I then remembered that I was unable to make the next week's practise too. I agonised about going to bed but something inside me spurred me on. I was going to be in the choir and no-one could stop me.

The King's Centre Choir 2015

Flash forward to the real thing: I was on stage, dressed in a bright red jumper (choral uniform apparently) feeling sick with nerves. Seven members of my family, who don't make a habit of going to these kind of events, came to watch, occupying a whole row right in the middle of the church. The administration elements of being in the choir overcame me as I constantly dropped my music and turned to the wrong pages. In some cases, I had managed to lose the words and had to mime a song or two. The whole thing certainly was a baffling ordeal.

But I did it. We did it. I loved it. The whole thing has meant a great deal to me as I've done things I never thought I would ever do. We sang in unison, we sang harmonies, we even sang with a live band. And people loved it! Lots of people were uplifted by it and were able to share in the joy of Christmas because of an unlikely group of singers all with different stories, backgrounds, proficiencies and abilities banded together to sing praises to Jesus. Beautiful.