This year’s Songs of Praise event was a grand success, with participation from six different local churches and their choirs. Held on February 23, 2020, it was the culmination of over half a year’s work on the part of the music directors and choirs, who worked diligently to pull together this event with its varied styles of music and different denominational backgrounds.
It is a wonderful thing to join in with other local believers and make music to worship God together. The best moment for us as a choir was the first time we all got to sing together, over a hundred people packed into a basement with voices unified as one with the songs we had all practiced individually for months.
There were other individual performances put together by the music directors, including a violin solo by Paul Miller, playing the Bach/Gounod version of Ave Maria, a soaring rendition of the Schubert version of Ave Maria by Dr. Charlene Pauls, and a special harp solo during the offering from a visiting musician, Catherine Osborne.
For the offering, this year we chose the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a mission that reaches out to the many economically and socially underprivileged people in the city of Oakville. They were very grateful for the outpouring of donations and all in all, the event raised just over $2200 for their work in the community. They would like to pass on their thanks and appreciation to all of you who participated in the event, invited friends, donated, and even simply sang along in praise!
I will say that this year, same as last, even though we may not have been the largest choir participating in numbers alone, Grace Lutheran Church as a whole was one of the biggest and most supportive congregation in the audience that day. It is a real privilege of mine to work with organizing and creating the music for a church that so highly values praising God in the form of excellent music.
Lastly, we are already planning and brainstorming for next year, so if there is a favourite hymn you’d love to sing along with led by a choir of over 100 voices, or a particular choral classic you’d love to hear, please do let me know either by email or in person.
Thank you again for your enthusiasm and participation in this faith community event!
Stacey Schloo
Grace Lutheran Church
Parish musician
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