Welcome back, Chancel Choir!

Welcome back, Chancel Choir! For those who are new to the choir, or perhaps may have forgotten, I’m your President, John Dowdell. Well, at least I am for another week and a half – yeah, I know. We’ll talk more about that later, but it turns out I was trailing Donald Trump in a lot of key states. :)

But here we are at the start of a new choir year, and I’m excited to be back singing with all of you. It’s time to dust off those choir folders and those vocal chords, and to start learning some new songs for this season, or as we like to call it in classier circles, it’s time to learn some “Canticums Novum”.

I’m going to open tonight with a couple of passages. From the Old Testament, Psalm 96, verses 1 and 2: “Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.”

And from the New Testament, Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church, and in Christ Jesus, through all generations forever and ever!”

Let’s bow our heads. Dear Lord, we thank you for tonight, and for new songs to start our choir season – we dedicate it all to you. May the work we put into the music of this season reach many hearts, Father, including our own, and as the passage from Ephesians says, may You work through our ministry this season to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. We rejoice in our return to choir fellowship. In your holy name we pray, Amen.