Our program year is now in full swing, as we kicked off with our back-to-school/back-to-church backpack blessing on September 12, and did liturgies honoring saints close to their feast days: St. Michael and All Angels and St. Francis of Assisi. This year, we've done these rites at 9 and 11 a.m. 

Be sure to mark your calendars for the evening of Saturday, October 30 at 4 p.m., when we will celebrate our annual All Hallow's Eve liturgy, featuring spooky Bible readings. We plan to again have some kind of party afterward outside. Watch the e-news and printed announcement sheets for details. Then, on Sunday, November 7, we will celebrate All Saints' Day - one of the major feasts of the liturgical year.

Are you a person who likes to sing? Whether or not you've sung in a choir at St. Columba's before, if you would like to sing alone or with me to lead singing on a Sunday, we're now scheduling cantors to sing regularly. Write to me at music@stcolumbakent.org and let me know, and I'll be in touch by phone or text to find a Sunday that works for you, or we can find a time on a Wednesday for you to come and practice. Come and try it out!

Even as we are returning to something of a rhythm that perhaps feels more normal for us in this era of COVID-19, some things have changed a lot in our musical life. After speaking with some of the singers in our congregation, we have decided to postpone the return of vocal ensembles to Sunday worship due to the continuing high level of transmission in King County and the inability of our youngest to be vaccinated.

When singing ensembles do return - as transmission rates (hopefully) decrease and vaccinations are more available - we will be changing how we do things, in that we will not plan to have a choir that sings each Sunday - at least not for a while. Instead, for festival days, we'll put out the word for sign-ups for people to come together to rehearse and sing. Depending on who is able to be there, we'll try out several things to sing and choose what to do together. My hope is this new format will make it easier for people to decide when they have time to sing and make for less demanding rehearsals. If you're a singer here, I hope you will try out this new way of doing choir.

For those who aren't singers but who still want to participate in music-making, we've started the Distant Chimes - small groups that rings easy-to-play handchimes. We're doing this using a cohort model, where people commit to gathering together as a group for a limited number of rehearsals. At the first rehearsal, we see how ready we feel to play on Sunday morning, and then decide as a group what day we can all commit to being together to offer the music for the rest of the community. If you are looking for a COVID-safer way to make music together, come and try it out - kids - who are old enough to read - and adults are both welcome!

On the instrumental music front, we've had other changes. Paula Mayfield resigned from her staff position here as our pianist, although we've been glad to have her back  - along with Dave Close, another pianist familiar with our community - from time to time over the past few months to fill in on days when I have been away. (We have been waiting to fill the pianist position until we're ready to have a choir singing again regularly.) 

Also, we've resumed in-person Wednesday night healing services with music. Al Francisco and David Brand have agreed to play guitar and sing on those nights when they are available, but they are interested in having others join them. If you play an instrument that would fit well with that, please speak with Al or me so we can find a time for you to rehearse together with them and try it out.

COVID-19 has required a lot of adaptation for us as a worshipping and music-making community as we're trying out different service schedules and musical selections that are easier to sing. I want to send a big thank-you to everyone in our St. Columba's family for being so willing to try it out!

- Martin