Category: God

The Canterbury Cathedral Choir

Sarah and I had a surprising date tonight – a free concert at St. James Episcopal Church in Richmond for the USA tour of the Canterbury Cathedral Choir. This world-renowned choir of men and boys is on their first US tour in 10 years and is making stops in NYC and DC, among other places. They stopped here in Richmond for a concert tonight, which was superb.

They sang a beautiful French piece called Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Faure, which I had sung as a senior in High School. They also did the magnificent Zadok the Priest, which is often sung at coronations and other royal events.

Afterwards, there was a reception full of yummy foods. Sarah and I got to meet some of the young choristers and ask them questions about their lives. I found out that thousands of boys audition for a few dozen spots. They board at Canterbury for school, and they practice their singing every day. This choir has a 1400-year tradition of performing.

After watching Bill Maher’s movie Religulous earlier in the day (his “treatise” on hedonism and why theistic faith is delusional and destructive), I was struck with the thought of the wondrous beauty in the music of human voices (just listen to a clip of this choir on iTunes). Could such sounds really be the result of godless chance? I seriously doubt it. And that’s what Maher wanted me to do as a result of watching his movie – doubt. I just don’t think he had that type of doubt in mind when he produced the movie.

Phoenix and Boston in One Weekend

This past weekend, I got to spend time in both Phoenix and Boston – and half of it was unplanned! I did a scheduled trip to Phoenix as I got to share my juggling presentation at a church on Easter Sunday in Prescott, AZ. The people there at Heights Church were great to me. On Easter afternoon, a family invited me over for a big extended family lunch. They lived out in the desert country. While driving to their house, which sits on some 40 acres of family property overlooking a beautiful mountain range, I passed an elderly couple running their dog while driving their car. Yes, they had the leash out the driver’s side window and the poor dog was trying to keep up with the running vehicle, with other cars trying to go around it all. Now, that is redneck.

After great food and socializing, I took my first four-wheeling trip of my life. The dad and son took me up into the hills to see some ruins, a water spring, and an old mine with a wild owl that was protecting her eggs. It reminded me of the Humphrey Bogart movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (if you haven’t seen it, it is a great narrative of the gold rush days).

On Monday, my friend dropped me off at the airport with about an hour before my flight. But it ended up being the wrong terminal (long story). So I took the shuttle to the right terminal and ended up being too late to check my bags for the flight. It was then impossible for them to re-route me to Richmond, Virginia that night. I had to be re-routed through some other city and arrive home the next day – and pay for my own hotel somewhere.

One of my re-routing options was Boston. So I called my college roommate, who lives in Boston (at BU) with his wife, and he was delighted to hear from me and was excited to put me up for the night. He just happened to have the day off on Tuesday (so did I). So he and I saw one another for the first time in several years and spent all day walking the streets of Boston and eating authentic Italian pizza in the North End. We even took the free tour at the world headquarters for the Church of Christian Science (the “reading room” folks). That was very educational, since neither of us Protestant boys knew much about this Christian Science group. Not to mention, the architecture and grand organ of the building were stunningly beautiful. The entire day was a pleasant surprise for both of us.

God is so good. He takes what seems to be disasters (missed flights) and somehow turns them into glorious experiences (seeing a long-missed friend).