St Paul Church

April is coming quicker than what we expected. We are in the middle of Lent and will be preparing for Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter. That means all of the choirs are busy preparing for this busy season of the year.

To start with, various choirs will be practicing the evening of April 1st for Palm Sunday. The Women will rehearse at 7pm, the Seniors around 7:45pm, and the Men will work their time in around 7:30pm. The Junior Choir will practice on Sunday, March 29th at 10:10am. Palm Sunday is April 5th and is observed as a music Sunday in our congregation.

For Easter, April 12th, the Juniors plan to sing as well as the Senior Choir. This will all add to our festive Easter service. The Senior Choir will practice Wednesday, April 8th at 7pm.

The Men will sing April 19th and will probably practice April 15th at 7:30pm. April 26th is Confirmation Sunday. A special group of young people will provide music for that service. The Bells will work out their own schedule and be sure to check with Bonnie on the times and dates.

This is a time of year when more people can be found attending church. Invite your friends to be a part of these important services of the church year.

We are in the season of lent for 2009. This is preparation for Easter. As usual, the music of the church reflects the mood and the message for this part of the church year. The schedule for choirs is as follows:

• Senior Choir will practice Thursday, February 26th  at 7pm. We are due to sing Sunday, March 1st. The reason practice is planned for Thursday is to avoid the conflict with the Ash Wednesday service at Dakota UMC. We will be working on music for Palm Sunday and Easter as well. This is the start of another busy season for church activities as well as school events.
• The Women’s Chorus will practice March 4th at 7:30pm for Sunday, March 8th.
• Men’s Chorus will practice Thursday, March 12th at 7:30pm. They will be singing March 15th.

At this point, the next two Sundays are open. One of them will probably be the bells but will need to hear from Bonnie and what is scheduled.

The evening of March 25th should be a night when several of the choirs may be rehearsing for Palm Sunday. Watch the Sunday bulletins for times.

A reminder to everyone that Palm Sunday is April 5th this year. This is our usual service with all choirs participating. Dates like this creep up on us quickly so I am reminding our choir members to mark their calendars.

There were six of our bell choir members and Lonny who attended the “Agape Ringers” concert in Rockford on February 22nd.  We were greatly impressed by what we saw and heard. The church was packed and Rockford is fortunateto be able to schedule their appearance because they are in great demand!

The Freeport Choral Society will hold its spring concert Sunday, March 29th at 3pm at St. John UCC, Freeport. The program consists of sacred and secular music fitting for the season. A bell choir will be part of the program. Hope that some from our congregation can attend and enjoy the music of the season.

December is always a busy month for the choirs. Now comes January and the schedule should be more normal. I do want to thank all who were active in our choir and bell programs at St. Paul for the Christmas season. It really presents some challenges at times due to weather and people’s busy lives, but it all worked out. We were able to keep our reputation for providing live music for the season and for the glory of God!

January’s schedule starts out with the Senior Choir practicing December 30th at 7pm. That is a Tuesday, but figured people would not want to do it on New Year’s Eve. We are due to sing January 4th.

If all goes according to schedule, the Women’s Choir would be singing January 11th and the Men on the 18th. The Men’s Chorus should practice January 14th at 7:30pm if possible. The women should check with Lois to see what their schedule for rehearsal will be.

One can not believe that Advent and the Christmas season are just around the corner. I was not in the mood until this weather change. Lavonne and I spent a weekend at the Christmas shows in Branson, which made me realize that it is time for our choirs to be preparing for December’s music.

With that in mind, the Senior Choir will practice this Wednesday evening, Nov. 17th at 7pm. The music we are preparing will be for December 7th and 14th. Other rehearsals will be Dec. 3rd and 10th. Watch the Sunday bulletins for the exact times depending on when other choirs will be practicing. The Women’s Choir will meet briefly after worship this Sunday, November 23rd to decide if they will be singing on the 21st. They will also be practicing on December 10th at 7:45pm for Music Sunday.

Our special music Sunday will be Dec. 14th. Amy will be available that weekend with the Jr. Choir. All choirs should be participating in that service. Again, I would encourage our members to invite guests to be with us for that Sunday. With that change, it might be possible for the Women to sing Dec. 21st and the Men on Dec. 28th. We will need to check with Lois and Merlin.

Plans are being made for the 11pm Christmas Eve candlelight service and we are looking for people that would be willing to provide music for that service. Contact Ron Welling or Mary Jane Zimmerman with your suggestions. It is a beautiful service and it has a lot of meaning on a December night.

If you are like us, we like to attend special Christmas programs during the season. There are all types depending upon your interests and it makes the season more meaningful. We hope that you can find some time to do the same and enjoy anything from a school program to professional one.

Our choir schedule should be a normal one for the month of October. It will start with the Senior Choir singing October 5th, which is Mission Fest this year. We will be singing a hymn during communion to help cut down on the length of the service that day.

One change is that we will practice Wednesday night, October 1st following Awana. (There are several choir members who will be here that night anyway, so why schedule them to come back the next evening?) This should help to conserve car costs and when the weather turns cold, could reduce heating costs as well. We will try it this month and see how choid members like this arrangement.

The Women’s Choir will be singing October 12th and will be practicing on Wednesday, October 8th at 7:30 PM after Awana.

The Men’s Chorus will rehearse October 16th at 7:30 PM and sing on October 19th.

Junior Choir should be singing this month on October 26th. Amy will inform the kids when she plans to rehearse. Watch for announcements in the bulletin.

We could use more choir members. Just come and join us if possible and be a part of the choral program here at St Paul.

May should be a regular month for the choir schedule. This will be the last month of regular choirs before the summer break.

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