"Christmas Fest is not a concert, but a spiritual event that you are sharing with the audience."
The advice that the president of my choir gave us at the end of warmups before heading through the blustery weather to Skoglund (where Christmas Fest is held) really stuck out with me. Of course I had merely pondered it somewhat before the performance, but suddenly while we were singing John Rutter's Gloria I had this feeling of joy that made me love the piece we were singing. It may have been the brass section playing in syncopation, it may have been the thrill of just watching Dr. Aspaas conduct us, but whatever the reason, it put a smile (more or less) on my face for quite some time during the concert.
I don't usually smile when I sing. Not because I don't want to, but I'm focusing so hard on making the music sound good that more often than not my jaw tightens and my vocal cords shrink up so I lose the notes on the low and high ends of my range. But coming to St. Olaf (despite the Is-RYE-yel pronunciations and changing all the words of Mendelssohn's There Shall a Star for political Lutheran correctness) has opened a new way of singing, one that made me willing to show and act out my love of performing a work of art to the audience. I suppose what really helps is the spiritual aspect of it. When I sang at my high school choir during the "holidays" (i.e. Christmas season) we sang mostly secular songs, so not to bring the church into the school. I remember our director always implored us to smile. I sort of tried, but deep down I knew it was all for superficiality. Not that spending the holidays with family and sharing the joy was superficial; those are great values in themselves, but growing up going to church on a regular basis showed me there was something more than just talking Santa magic and making little kids happy. The truth is, it's more amazing to celebrate Jesus' birth and share that joy with family and friends.
Even though Christmas is still yet 24 days from now, thanks to the Norwegians we are celebrating it now. Even despite the fact that America is celebrating it all month anyway so to boost the economy via all the shopping and spending that takes place. Of course, the American way is too secular for my tastes.
Out of the whole program, I found a set of lines I though was most appropriate for the post. I didn't take the entire poem (too long) but I found the heart of what Christmas is supposed to be about.
Come and see
The cause, why things thus fragrant be:
Tis he is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and lustre, public mirth,
To heaven and the under-earth.
We see him come, and know him ours,
Who, with his sunshine and his showers,
Turns all patient ground to flowers.
The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome him.
The nobler part of all the house here, is the heart,
Which we will give him; and bequeath
This holly, and this ivy wreath,
To do him honor; who's our King
And Lord of all this reveling.
-Robert Herrick