Cantata Day

Today is the cantata. After all the practicing and preparation it now comes down to execution. I was in a moment of reflection this morning and I needed a pick-me-up because after all, it's about Christmas and Jesus and all that. I should be happier, or at least more excited.

Then I was reminded of a church Christmas dinner I played in November of 2006.

This band I'm playing with in the following video clips played Friday nights at my church. The services were kickin' and we were packing the house each week. I'm assuming the church organizers wanted the same vibe for their Christmas dinner so we were asked to play. It was nice to watch this again and be brought back to a better time. Here are some clips from a homemade video of the event.



The more I watched of our performance that night, I realized reflection and memories can be a double edged sword. While the band has remained consistent up until now, so many other things have changed since that night. But the biggest change is that there was definitely a different vibe to the style of songs we played and sang back then.

The songs were of higher quality which allowed the band to cook. I love cooking.

The singers were of higher quality. I'm not only referring to skill and talent. If you watch this group of singers (especially the men), they are fist pumping musical shots, jumping, feeling the vibe, and setting the tone for praise. They exuded a spiritual quality I find lacking today so to be serving with these people was a real privilege. I won't get into what the band currently gets to work with but I'll give you a clue and say it's not this.

It seemed like we were going to praise until the congregants fell over dead, or we did, whomever died first. So I guess my Christmas gift from the Lord is that no matter how it goes tonight, He made me remember a time when it all went proper.

Special thanks go to Dave Brown for getting me this video.