Last evening I attended the annual performance of Carols by Candlelight, an occasion filled with glorious music and a display of the talent of our residents. Not only was this the 37th performance in our community, for me it's the one event that kicks off the season, partly because of the memories it evokes.
I clearly remember the first Carols by Candlelight I attended in 2003 because I consider it "redemptive". We'd moved three months earlier, a move that I found difficult, filled with mixed emotions. Although I was thrilled to be near our family again, it was heart-wrenching to leave the city, the people and the church I'd learned to love and lean on.
That year I attended the Saturday afternoon matinee, simply because our then youngest granddaughter sang in a junior choir. First I was captivated, then slowly but surely convinced that I could learn to live here and love it. Music, embedded in the DNA of the place I now call home, comforted and called me.
It's twelve years since I first sat mesmerized by the quality and vibrancy of the music and I haven't missed a performance since. Last evening, as they have for decades, boys, girls, men and women sang their hearts out. Accompanied by a world renowned organist, they entered singing, candlelight spilling everywhere.
It was an aged gentleman sitting at the next table, however, who demonstrated to me the power of the music and of reminiscence. Throughout much of the two hour performance, his frail hands beat out the rhythm of classical masterpieces; at strategic times he gently but firmly conducted from his chair and, occasionally, hummed along. Such powerful music. So many memories. So much music in his soul.
In a world where sadness often dominates Christmas, let's always make melody in our hearts to the Lord!
