Transported by Song

Day five

7/20/2010

Ely

Today was all day in Ely. The morning began with rehearsal at the chapel at the Bishop Woodford House where the youth choir, their chaperones and some other adults are staying. The BWH is a retreat facility of the Diocese of Ely. And it’s perfect for the youth…we are the only ones lodging here throughout our stay so we have lots of space to stretch out, a lovely garden, and we are not very far from the cathedral grounds and the wide open park there.

Our journey with the youth choir has embraced the theme of pilgrimage, focusing on what Benedictine spirituality has for us as we grow in community. The lodgings for the youth are perfect for this. We eat breakfast and dinner together at the retreat house, and that regular mealtime gives us a good rhythm for the day. We begin the day with some quiet, a prayer, a meal and some conversation and teaching, and we end the day the same way. Of course the in-between time is filled with all of the youthful energy you would expect from twelve highly energized students half a world away from home…we are ever grateful for the steady influence of our chaperones.

The majority of the adults in the parish choir are staying and The Lamb, a hotel near the cathedral. It is the only hotel in Ely, and the choir has taken the majority of the rooms there for the week. That location works well for them as well since it is nearby the restaurants in downtown Ely and they are on their own for dinner.

Ely is a very nice town. Right away it feels, and sounds, smaller than San Antonio. There is very little road noise, no highway rumble in the distance. And it seems that every available piece of land is maintained as a garden or lawn. Little gardens are everywhere. Peek down an alleyway and it will be lined on one side with a shade garden. A few feet of space between sidewalk and house becomes a lavender hedgerow filled with honeybees.

This evening was the choir’s second at the cathedral for evensong, and they were better than the first. There is space in the choir seating area for the congregation to sit between the choir and the high altar. We sat there last night. Today many of us sat in the midst of the larger church space during rehearsal and the service to get a feel for how the service fills the larger church space. Once again we were impressed with the quality and strength of our group.

Visitors came to and fro in the rehearsal, and most paused to listen to choir. Many stopped and closed their eyes to take it all in. Helen Ballew, one of the youth choir chaperones said this: “The Cathedral is breathtaking in its own right. But when the choir is added into that space you feel transported.” And that’s what the choir is doing…They are making their voices available for God’s use to touch, transport and transform people. And they do it so faithfully and well.

Wednesday has us touring Cambridge and King’s College, with no evensong in the evening.

More about our day – and many more pictures - later on.

- Jonathan