As the congregation filed in, the Salvation Army Brass Band, an excellent group, greeted them with some tunes appropriate to the occasion. I sat far up in the back, in the middle where3 Ted Bell
After the rain out of the NY Salvation Army Band yesterday, the Sunday service went ahead as planned, despite the weather, and from a musical point of view, which is the main reason why I went it was all superb. The ingredients included the magnificent Great Auditorium acoustic, the brilliant S.A. brass band, Gordon Turk on the Hope Jones organ with front and back registers roaring away, especially the latter when Gordon would let loose with it , the choir and the soloists.
I did some videos to give you an idea of this marvelous religious and musical event–a unique combination well known to those who frequent CMA sponsored programs through the summers. Note that the Salvation Army New York Staff Band is the official name of this group.
Paul Goldfinger MD Editor Blogfinger.net
True conversation: I sat next to Harry, a Neptuner age 90+. We chatted and then he said,
Harry: Do you go to St. Paul’s Church?
Me: Uh, well, I once went there on Christmas Eve. But…I’m Jewish.
Harry: That’s OK.
Me: As I tried to stand, I stumbled a bit.
Harry: You don’t have to stand.
Me: So I stood for awhile, but I was wobbly, so I sat.
Then we both were quiet during the service and the music. I sort-of listened to the sermon as Col. Ivan K. Rock pleaded to the congregation to make our world a better place through deeds and prayer.
But then, like a bolt out of the blue (on a gray rainy day) he mentioned a date–it was 780 BC. And then he mentioned Judah, and I was wide awake as he added some more biblical history.
In 780 BC the Jewish nation existed –in two parts, Judah to the south and Israel to the north. Later they became one. Many modern day Muslim historians deny that there ever was a Jewish nation in the past.
I never heard a non-Jewish person express what we Jews know to be true. But maybe I need to pay more attention to what the Coalition of Christians and Jews are now about. They do exist, and I am happy to send them money and receive their news.
And then I went out into the rain with everyone else.
NOTE: We must acknowledge the superb performance today of Ronald Naldi, tenor in residence, whose beautiful voice reached all the way to the back of the GA. He sang a selection from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, a name that I know. And a magnificent soprano voice whose name I don’t know. Do you?
And let’s not forget our homegrown conductor Cindy Bell who kept the music orderly.