by Laura Wichmann Hipp
Victoria is following in her big sister Olivia’s footsteps by coming every three years to sing with the International Choir Festival at Canterbury. Victoria says she’s never going to outgrow wanting to sing at Canterbury even though in three years she will be out of college.
The first time I came with Olivia, her face shone afterwards, I told my family, like Moses who had been with God. Delia came with our whole family the next time but as she cannot stay on key, she did not sing. Having heard that Olivia’s face shone like Moses coming out of the final concert in Canterbury Cathedral, Delia kept a beady eye on Olivia to see the transformation. We have a picture of Delia’s scowling face not seeing what I did. Beauty is in the eye and gear of the beholder.
I had forgotten just how transformative this many great, young, trained voices together is. The intensity of the moving sound and sight in the Holy resonating space of Canterbury Cathedral is something you cannot fully remember unless you are in the moment, like all other sensory experiences. These pure, young sopranos and altos make a sound that is magnificent and worthy of the large space of Canterbury Cathedral, founded in 597 A.D. by St. Augustine and completed in the 1100s!
Like Notre Dame, it has scaffolding around large parts of it. A few of us prayed together outside for the safety of this holy structure. We told some of the workmen, who said with big smiles how much they appreciated it.
Sharing the Lord together and with those unknown came today as I returned my rental car, which I’ve had for much of the summer. Two of the office staff had been in Canterbury for their Canterbury University graduations. Sharing Truths from scripture followed easily as we felt the common bond of experiences to carry with us a lifetime from Canterbury Cathedral. The manager was half Iraqi, half Scottish, raised neither Muslim nor Christian. The office team got it and wanted to read for themselves what scriptures we talked about.
Isaiah 46:11 came to mind as I walked back to the Cathedral from Enterprise Car Rental.
“Calling a ravenous bird of prey from the east, the man that executes my council from a far away country.”
We intersect with each other, getting to know new members of St. Philip's, and intersect with the multicultural people of England, whose paths we have crossed for a moment. We have heard that Boris Johnson has been elected Prime Minister today. It is a long anticipated historic day by many as well as by St. Philip's with our singing Evensong, then a quick supper, followed by another rehearsal into the night. We are going to bed early for a change. Sweet dreams!
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