[Magdalen] Updates, Changes, and Re-Treads

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Did your musician quit effective immediately? That's harsh.  Usually there
is at least some notice.

We had been limping along with a musician who was actually unsuited for our
congregation, and when she was confronted by a few things the choir had
been saying about her, she quit on the spot rather than deal with the
criticism. This was just a month or so prior to Xmas, which did concern
some. However those of us in the choir were secretly relieved -- well,
okay, some of the ladies, not so secretly. The rector had a list of
substitutes, and we were able to keep someone at the keyboard til we
approved a new musician. We had a sub for Xmas eve, and everything was
fine. I think our Rector was really strung out about it. I was not that
bothered, because I knew that we could tolerate a few weeks of acapella
singing if need be. Definitely not the end of the world.
I played a few carols on my recorder (church reverb is very kind to the
recorder), and everybody sang their favorite carols (we had a
choose-your-carol time before the service. How can that miss?), and it went
well.

The interim is a bit of a rough patch, but in a month or so, things will
start to return to normal -- whatever the new normal is going to be.

I once visited an Episcopal Church that had a beautiful choir loft and
modern organ, but no choir and no musician. They were getting along,
obviously. Not having a musician doesn't mean the services can't happen.
The faithful few at the early services of this and the church I used to
attend have made do without any music for decades. It's not something I'd
want to do, but it happens, and it's not the end of the world. Really.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 2:04 PM, cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear ones,
>
> Sort of a status report -
>
> On April 1 the company division I work for, HPE Enterprise Services,
> splits and merges with a division of CSC to form a new company. What
> could possibly go wrong on April Fool's Day? Scott Knitter - are you
> also moving to the new company?
>
> The main contract for CMS on which I continue to work remains the
> same. The environment remains challenging. As far as I can tell, it's
> the nature of computer tech work now to expect too much of the
> hardware, software, and people involved. My job and its expectations
> has expanded exponentially. Some of it is easy. Lots more is really
> difficult - no training, no orientation, limited support. More for
> less.
>
> Medications and symptoms from the "massive saddle P.E." are, after 3.5
> months, finally beginning to stabilize and recede. I've been sleeping
> a great deal, and have had very little energy for anything but the
> rock-bottom basics. It's typical of a recovery, neither easy nor
> straightforward.
>
> Our choir director/organist quit Wednesday. She leaves a hole and an
> improved (if tiny) choir. We use the organ and choir ONLY for our 11am
> service. That service is soon to be combined with the 9am
> family-friendly service (they are very lucky to have a wonderfully
> talented folk musician for their service music) as we're too small a
> congregation to sustain both services plus the 'standard' Rite 1 8am
> eucharist. As usual. It's not the changes we know and prepare for,
> it's the ones we can't see and can't prepare for!
>
> Feeling very much out-of-sorts, wishing for faster healing, hoping for
> enough energy this weekend to begin gathering data for tax returns,
> praying for renewal.
>
> hugs & prayers - Cady
>