Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing

A glorious day of worship today! I played for both the contemporary service (piano) and the regular old service (organ). The Permanent Deacon preached a wonderful, stern, thoughtful, convicting sermon about sacrifice (the OT lesson was the abortive sacrifice of Isaac). Both celebrants presided with dignity and grace. The congregational singing at the late service was particularly wonderful, with confident four-part harmony a capella on a couple of stanzas and some interesting if unplanned free accompaniments from the Organist (me). We even had incense. It was like being in church again!

Some miscellaneous observations:

(1) I was a minute or two into the prelude when I thought, with some relief, "Hey, this is going pretty well." My fingers immediately got tangled up.

(2) One parishioner said of my organ playing today, "I thought for a moment that Bob was back with us." Bob was our previous organist, and one of the best service-players I've ever heard. It was an extravagant compliment, but no less gratifying for that.

(3) You really can't go wrong with "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing" (to Azmon, of course). I did things that would have got me kicked out of any reputable music school, and it still sounded great. And what a great combination of text and tune!