A Family Reunion

Family reunions. 

If you know me at all, you know that I love family reunions. From the small scale of our seven family members coming together for dinner, a holiday, or a vacation, (you can read here how I feel about my circles being stacked up), to get-togethers and vacations with all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, to extended family reunions every summer - they are all important to me and a priority.

This weekend, we had a guest preacher, one in a series of guest preachers we have had this year to celebrate our church's 150th anniversary.  Among his thoughts in the sermon, he used the phrase "family reunion" to describe what we experience each Sunday when we come together as the body of Christ. It really resonated with me as I looked at the people around me — the faces of those I have loved for many years, who are truly family.

On this particular Sunday, two days ago, I had the privilege of singing with the choir and being the Cantor. The choir sang a childhood favorite of mine, John Rutter’s For the Beauty of the Earth. And as I sang it, I was overwhelmed. I was moved by the beauty of the piece, melodic and rich in lyrics, and steeped in nostalgia and memories for me. And the words of our guest preacher echoed in my mind — a family reunion. 

Rewind back to circa 1981. A little third-grade version of me, with long dark red hair and a shy grin, joined the Carol Choir at our Lutheran school. The director, Mr. B., was a dear family friend, and I imagine I was excited to be a part of his choir — he was funny; a jokester and quick to laugh, but he was also a loving teacher and an excellent and talented musician and choir director. In two years, I shed the short white robe of the carol choir and donned the long choral robe of the school choir. And dare I say this? Joining the choir impacted my entire life. 

Beginning in fifth grade, our school choir sang challenging and complicated pieces, we went to workshops, and sang for pastor's conventions. We sang with various instruments at worship twice a month, and at concerts and festival services throughout the year. We laughed with our director, but we also learned proper breathing techniques, the difference between head voice and chest voice, and how to sing vowels by watching a rubber band stretch in different directions. In the school choir, we often sang for funerals at our church, offering up our voices with Children of the Heavenly Father, which we kept in our folders for such occasions.  Though we were in middle school, we often sang with the church choir, which I later joined in high school, singing difficult pieces such as the Messiah. Mr. B. often charted our progress as the Christmas concert approached, with detailed graphs on the chalkboard behind the risers.   My time in the choirs at my childhood church spanned about 10 years, and participating in that ministry shaped who I am:  the people I sang alongside, the biblical texts of so many pieces, and overarchingly, ever pointing me to my Savior.

So what does all this waxing nostalgic about choir have to do with family reunions?  Maybe nothing to anyone else, but to me, it all connects.  This past Sunday, as I sang the Rutter piece with all my heart, we sang the phrase "friends on earth, and friends above". I looked out from the choir loft with love at all the faces around me, thinking of them, and all of the faces before with a fierce love. This family reunion — the communion of saints — reaches far beyond my love of earthly family reunions.   As I sang the words so embedded in my heart, as many hymns are, I thanked God for His gift of the Church. From 1981 to present day, and before that and forevermore, God gives us each other - this fellowship of believers, which spans distance and time. 

Each Sunday, as we commune with the body of believers, we get a little taste of what is to come. And one day, we will sing and rejoice in the ultimate family reunion — with our sainted loved ones and all those who knew Christ — as we spend eternity in the presence of our Savior. 

A family reunion indeed.