Summertime on New Year's Eve

         

When the choral group at last night's jazz/worship service ended their selection with Summertime, I leaned over to my husband and whispered, "That's an odd song for a cold winter's night," not realizing the treat we were about to be served by Eric Waters, one of the pastors at UALC.

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Oh, Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

But until that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With your daddy and mammy standing by

Eric preaching at Mill Run

First, he mentioned how he had sung this in high school choir (he has a wonderful voice and is fabulous with the liturgy) and it had been a favorite.  Then he went on to open the song and the scriptures first with our longings to be "rich and good looking" with references from Scripture, and then the story of Jesus from the prophets to the manger to the cross and resurrection, to our own promised resurrection when we'll "spread our wings and take to the sky" when Jesus returns.  It's hard to get a Lutheran audience to shout "Amen" and applaud, but we did. Second, I'll offer this hint, in case you think your preacher could do this, Eric was a theater major at Dartmouth, he usually gives the Scripture readings for the day from memory, and this sermon was so beautifully crafted, that he was speaking poetry.  I hope it was recorded, and I'll add a link if it was.

What a wonderful way to say good-bye to 2015 and to welcome 2016--listening to Eric talk about our hope, and then closing with communion, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, closing the service.