Running away from home

What a great weekend! Youth Sunday was a great hit...our young people did an awesome job leading worship. Today, the children and youth of the church (and some adults called in as last-minute replacements for sick kids) put on a great musical about Nicodemus. It was one of those things that seems like a good idea, turns into a whole lot of work, and then winds up really good. We weren't sure who would come; we put out 60 chairs and I think probably had to add another 60. We never got a good count, but I'd be willing to guess we were somewhere close to 150 all told. It was so good to know that our church is so supportive of its young people.
It's also been a tiring spell; we have a huge Confirmation class, and they are meeting on Sundays, which makes Sundays exhausting. It's just one thing after another, and I am responsible to some degree for all of it. I've been missing worship team practices, which leaves me feeling a bit out of the loop, but the worship team has done very well without me, and that's a good feeling. I hadn't intended to leave them at all, and when I hurt my back and then Confirmation started, I kind of felt like I'd abandoned them. That service is very much my baby in a lot of ways. Eric's kind of a hands-off leader, not in a bad way, but but since I'm not, that means that I have taken on a lot of responsibility for the music, the PowerPoint, and so on. Being me, it's hard to let that go.
In other news, I did a new thing this week in the worship service: I sang the offertory anthem with someone else. It's been very well received, which makes me a little uncomfortable, but also makes me feel good. I don't sing well in front of people and with music...Ben and I think we figured out tonight: it's the music. When we transition from melody to accompaniment, I get lost, and then I lose the key I'm meant to sing in, and it just goes downhill from there. I can sing something I already know a capella and do pretty well, but anything else makes it a lot more difficult. So, that said, I had John to sing with, so he helped me stay anchored to the melody (plus it was a hymn, with makes it easier).
I couldn't have done anything like it until a couple of years ago. I have always liked music and liked to sing, and have sung in church choirs for years. But singing solo was beyond me, until I had sinus surgery, and cleared out a lot of nastiness that kept my head stuffed up and my ears infected (not to mention the sinus infections and bronchitis that it seemed like I had all the time). Since then, my "ear" has improved, as has my ability to sing. Even so, I still don't think of myself as someone who can sing. It was fun, though. I'm looking forward to doing it again sometime...but maybe I'll stick with Sunday evening specials for the time being. It was kind of intimidating singing Sunday morning.