When All Else Fails ...

Punt!

In November, our choir director/accompanist resigned. While this was not ideal, it was sooooo much better than having it happen the week before our annual cantata. However, anytime approaching the start of Advent is a lousy time to find a new choir director. Accompanists are easier to come by, but someone who can do both take time to find. The problem is that by November most choirs are already working on their cantata music and choir directors aren't going to leave until after the performance, unless there are extenuating circumstances (and then they wouldn't be available to take up new responsibilities anyway).

So, what do you do when you have a congregation with a tradition of a cantata?

Get creative! While it's a total pain in the rear and I would have done almost anything (well, not really, but you get my drift) to avoid the situation, I love the challenge of a problem like this. How do you honor the tradition when you simply don't have the resources to pull one off?

Strolling through one of the listserves I'm on, someone commented on something they did one year for an alternative children's pageant. Instead of the usual "everyone dress up and do the nativity scene" pageant, they had the participants share their family traditions at various times throughout the worship service. Hmmmmmmmmm......

Some of my best thinking is done in my sleep. The next morning I awoke with an AHA!

What is a cantata but a series of related pieces of music tied together by some scripting or scripture? What if we turned our cantata upside-down: share a series of related stories and join them with music and scriptures? Tomorrow we're celebrating our Upside Down Cantata!

My original plan was to have 5-6 people share something of their family Christmas traditions and what they mean to them. In between, we'd sing a verse or two from various Christmas carols or hear a scripture read. I've got nine people who are willing to share their traditions!! All ages. One of our young instrumentalists is going to play for us after two of our 'pieces'. We're singing a verse of three different carols, and hearing three scriptures read. I'm so looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

It's always amazing to me to see how this group deals with adversity. They are absolutely awesome! I feel so richly blessed.