The Threshold Choir
From the San Diego Union Tribune comes the tale of a wonderful, wonderful ministry:
"An ardent band of women in the seaside city of Santa Cruz is on a heavenly mission – they sing for the dying.
They call themselves the Threshold Choir, and they perform at the bedsides of the terminally ill, singing in intimate tones, like a mother soothing a newborn."
At Called & Gifted workshops, we often tell stories about individuals who perform this ministry but this is the first choir I have heard of.
"Laura Devine joined the Santa Cruz choir in June, when her mother was in the hospital. Learning that doctors didn't expect her mother to live, Devine rushed to her mother's bedside, badly shaken. She sang a slow gospel-inspired song she had just learned in the choir:“I'm gonna lift my mother up
She is not heavy
If I don't lift her up
I will fall down.”
Devine, 50, believes her singing played a role in her mother's unexpected recovery – she was home within a week – saying the incident taught her “the power of the voice.”
Only the power of the voice?
My only complaint about this article was that the impact of music was described in purely therapeutic terms when clearly the impact was profoundly spiritual. It is fascinating that we use songs riddled with the language of the Gospel at moments like that but then pretend that we really aren't singing about, well, God and heaven and redemption and forgiveness and stuff. And that we aren't asking God to act at that moment. No, its just the power of the human voice.
Especially if the singers and others were praying that the listeners would encounter the healing presence and love of Christ through the music in a way that would invoke their personal assent to grace. In whatever way they could assent at that moment.
The ultimate healing from which all other healings flow.
posted by Sherry W @ 7:46 AM
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2 Comments:
Thank you for sharing your story about the the Threshold Choir. I was very moved by the story. Ah, but if only they would address the spiritual aspect of these wonderful ladies' work in the life of Christ.
Thanks for sharing, and know that at least one faithful servant was moved by that sharing (even if he is a Methodist!).
BrotherMarty
I agree that they omit discussing the spiritual content of the songs and that grace as the promotion of healing.
One thing that many forget, and I delight in reminding them, is that one song, sung in Mass, is repetition of the actual singing of angels. The Sanctus is one of the most beautiful of sacred songs, and not the least because two thirds of the lyrics were taken from the angels' own singing before the throne of God. The healing power and bestowing of grace of that song is hence amazing.
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