Blessings Without Number

By: Melanie Ohnstad, Minister of Music and the Arts

Counting is part and parcel of a musician's practice. The beats that I have counted since my girlhood seem more numerous than the stars on a clear North Shore summer night. Like the pulsing of the human heart, a steady beat creates a framework in time in which music can flow. Its predictability brings both stability and excitement to musical performance. If you count music as a blessing, you probably already know that counting in music is also a blessing! A spiritual director once told me that counting blessings was a good way to begin developing a spiritual practice. She urged me to name a blessing from each day before going to sleep at night. While I have not been as diligent about counting my blessings as my beats, I do recognize two things: 1) that counting blessings is a blessing, and 2) that my blessings, too, are more numerous than the stars on a clear North Shore summer night. 

Westminster accounts for a galaxy of my life's blessings. Like a piece in ¾ time, let me count some of the “stars” of my blessings: 

1. Being part of a community of caring, committed people who make my life so rich and make Sunday the best day of the week
2. All we can do together that we could not do alone
3. All we can do alone from the strength gained from our togetherness

1. Having place to develop and share the gifts that I have been given
2. Creative and talented colleagues whom I enjoy and trust without exception
3. Freedom of thought and expression that allow the Spirit to take us to new places

1. Brad Ollmann's and Kela Wanyama's skill and delight in working with our young singers
2. Jere Lantz's energy and musical understanding in directing the Global and Westminster Choirs
3. Nancy Carter's love of handbells and her ability to share the joy of their music

1. Barbara Prince's creamy voice, administrative foresight and Chamber Ensemble leadership
2. Rodney Allen Schwartz's enrichment of our space and lives with art
3. The hundreds of people who devote thousands of hours to offer music in our worship

1. The joy of hearing the congregation sing the great hymns of faith
2. The diversity of music that deepens my faith and provides me a way to worship God
3. The Christmas Dinners that bring in the holiday season and celebrate the Westminster family

Music: Cantus, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"