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Choral Listening Series - Recording #3
This is the first example of a multi-tracked recording that we've seen. This method is one of the only ways to make group music in times of social isolation. All four parts here have been recorded by the composer, then mixed together by an audio engineer to create the piece we hear.
A Prayer by Rachel
May we take this as a sign that everyone here and at home is connected by your love.
Dear Families
Okay, whew. So that whole mourning piece from last week really opened me up in ways I was not anticipating. I hope you are all okay. I think God and our intuition are like that: always nudging us further and asking us to open up a little more and let go of a little more.
Choral Listening Series -Recording #2
Listen to it once with your eyes closed, and at least once looking at the score. What a stunning work of art. This is the most famous of Whitacre's many choral pieces, but I encourage you to listen to other works of his as well.
Have You Mourned
Have you mourned? During this time, this COVID-19 time, we have heard all the media terms; unprecedented, uncertain, unimaginable. In my news app, there is a daily feature called “Good News from Around the World.”
Queen Ann Ruler of the Universe
The writer of this short story is Murray who is a student of Ann Gardner’s Extending Education (EE) class. This program has been meeting at McDougall for the past three years and serves the educational and social needs of young adults with all abilities.
Finance Update During these Challenging Times
Regular offerings have stayed strong. PAR givings have not changed and non-PAR givings have only gone down by a small amount.
Rudy’s 80th Birthday
The quiet serenity of a Willow Park neighborhood was suddenly disrupted on Sunday afternoon by an explosion of loud, raucous sounds. A parade of 22 cars, filled with folks from McDougall, lined up to drive by Jean and Rudy’s home honking horns, ringing cow bells, and generally making as much noise as possible!
It’s Not the Same as Being Together
This pandemic is much more given to Lent than Easter. Lent is a time of self-reflection, of sacrifice, of giving up something to make space for spiritual deepening. Easter is supposed to be about new life and celebration. Death has not conquered – God is still at work among us!
Keeping in Touch
Many of you are wondering how are we going to keep going with the Covid-19 virus going around. I have been keeping in touch with the children and their families by making phone calls, emails and having Zoom sessions.
Attard Family Update
After daycares closed, Kelsey has been at home with Erica and James during the day and working from home in the evenings. Andy continues his construction work at Foothills Hospital.
Social Distance Hugs
Pat and Art headed for Palm Springs, California, before the Covid 19 was of concern. We drove down with Cynthia and Rob and nicely got settled in the house Cynthia had rented when the fast-spreading virus was declared a pandemic. Though we managed to get in 2 games of golf, all golf course’s lounges and dining rooms were closed.
Signs of Hope
Wow! What a huge change in our lifestyle in such a short time! In the recent Chinook Winds Regional zoom meetings, and in conversations in my own church and others, I have heard many concerns about the stress and anxiety being felt by some. Certainly the constant news reports of so many persons ill or dying from the covid virus are concerning to all.
Some Words of Inspiration
The world is changing around us, our daily routines, activities, and lifestyles are interrupted.
We are all doing our part to flatten the curve, giving our frontline health care workers, caregivers, and medical staff across the country the chance to prepare for what COVID 19 is bringing to our country. We don’t know how long we will stay in self isolation.
Challenging Times… Changes Ways of Doing Church
With the cancellation of worship services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, McDougall’s worship team quickly moved their creative energies towards sharing meaningful worship services online.
Holy Week in Uncertain Times
If things were “normal” today would bring a burst of Hosannas. The Palm Parade, the first event of Holy Week. It fools you. You think with all those praises, those palm branches waving, those cloths on the road that Jesus travels on a donkey as a man of peace, that the tide has turned. Our long weeks of Lent are over.
Choral Listening Series -Recording #1
This is one of the enduring choral masterpieces of recent times. Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre are the defining composers of American choral music from the last three decades. We’ll get into some Whitacre later.
The Children Made Pizza
Each Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon, the children join together in a video chat hosted by Donelle Elliott.
Hello Families
I am thinking about how each of you might be feeling as you read this newsletter. I wonder what your week was like, what you thought of the poem from last week. It is an unusual business to be a minister, particularly in this time.
Hearing a Call to a Deeper Life
I have walked a long road to work in the church. Had someone told me five years ago that my life would look this way, I would have been incredulous. I have always known the deep whispers of the Divine and was the kind of kid adults said was an “old soul” or “seven going on forty-seven”, but I didn’t know those gifts were valuable or that I was.