Upon arrival at office early this morning, I couldn’t help noticing a very large ‘puddle’ of vomit out in the middle of the sidewalk, along with some smaller drop-offs on the street of N. Federal which was likely deposited there by one of those overly-imbibed patrons of the bar two doors down. Just looking at it was enough to turn my stomach, and since it was still below freezing, I just left it there for the time being. But when I arrived back at office from my organ playing gig, I noticed someone must’ve scrapped it all out to the curbside and likely didn’t use any bleach water to wash the residue off the sidewalk. Today was the fourth time I’ve come upon it near my office, and believe me, it’s not something anyone would want to deal with on a regular basis.
Since I hadn’t called my dear friend in a number of days, I picked up the phone and placed a call to her. Unfortunately she’s still dealing with whatever she managed to catch over the Holidays, but I do believe she’s well on her way to recovery. Yes, there’s a lot of nasty stuff getting passed around our city, which is why I’m trying to steer clear of crowds and confined spaces. As always, we did have a nice catching-up chat which I believe helped to boost our spirits.
After my phone call, I sat down at piano and started practicing the music I was given to play at a church this morning, and after running thru them several times, I decided it was as good as it was going to get for the time being, so I grabbed my music and headed over that church which would be the very first time I played for them, and after I managed to get thru their entire Service without any major flubs, I can now freely announce that I’ll be playing an organ and grand piano on a regular basis at Mason City’s First Presbyterian Church which is located at 100 S. Pierce Ave., and happens to be about two blocks west of Mercy Hospital.
Having only been in that church once before, which was a very many years ago, this past week, I had time to familiarize myself with their massive electronic organ, along with bringing myself up to speed with their order of Service.
When I walked into the main body of it this past Tuesday, I was in near shock over its over-all design and appeal, and especially their absolutely gorgeous stained-glass windows which are definitely a work of art. The large window in the Sanctuary depicts Genesis and the opposite one above the choir loft, is the artist’s depiction of Revelation. Without a doubt, their windows are some of the most beautiful I’ve seen in many years. I believe if someone’s been actively searching for a church to attend that’s visually/spiritually uplifting, they’d definitely find it in our city’s First Presbyterian Church.
Before their Service started, and then after it was over, there were a handful of members who came up to the choir loft to introduce themselves, along with telling me how grateful they were to have me, so after today, it appears I’ve found my niche, and you can be sure I’ll be diligently working at providing the best possible musical experience I can for them.
They invited me join them in their community hall afterwards where they were serving lunch, so I headed down and had a good Noon meal while conversing with several members whom I’ve worked with over the years. As chance would have it, today was the Pastor’s birthday, so they were also handing out slices of his birthday cake. Yes, it was quite the spiritually and socially enriching morning for me.
I’d already been given the music I have to play for them next Sunday which I’m already comfortable with, but I’ve still got a great deal of work to do on getting their ‘Gloria’ pulled into my zone of comfort. Oh well, we all need challenges. Right?
Oh, and if you’d like to watch a video of today’s Service, just click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o49y29oms4o
Tonight’s One-liner is: An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s.