THE EVENT:
We had a great time celebrating Coram Deo at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Prince Edward Island – it was everything we hoped it would be.
The gorgeous sanctuary was filled with about 300 folks from all over the island, representing about 10 streams of the Church, Catholic and Protestant, gathering for a night of worship and prayer together.
It’s one of the top 10 concert halls in the world based on acoustics, so the sound of the most acoustic pieces was incredible.
THE SOUND:
The acoustic nature of the Coram Deo ensemble works well in these settings (though a bit of a sonic challenge – special kudos to Terry, Phil and the impeccable sound crew for their labor of GodLove).
My Jesus, I Love Thee began the night, played by Matt Frise on the violin from the balcony; a 3-part male vocal rendition of What Wondrous Love filled the dome with a quality of worship expression only a spiritual can evoke.
We did a fresh acoustic/organic version of my rendition of Apostles’ Creed (We Believe) and a host of other contemporary and traditional hymns filled the night.
THE CONTENT:
Here’s a .pdf of the Song/Prayer Sheet for those who’d like to see: PEI SongSheet.
For me, the highlight was in the prayers we prayed in unison together – prayers of Orthodox, Celtic, Jewish and British origin, all brimming with living poetry.
THE IMAGES:
Here are some images from the night, though the lighting was dim for the sake of atmosphere: Flickr: Photos from danwilt
THE BAND:
Dan Wilt: Leader, acoustic guitar and hammered dulcimer
Will Bernard: Co-leader, acoustic guitar
Lindsey Roszell: Lead and background vocals
Matt Frise: Violin, whistles, Latin prayers and percussive sound effects
Jacob Murphy: Upright bass and belly laughter
THE RESULT:
Worship… unity… bridge-building… engagement with God and one another.
It was taste of what many of us who attended loved – a night of ancient/present/future worship.
13 Comments
Still waiting on those photos benig uploaded. It really was a special night. Thanks for helping put it all together.
I loved this night (I played acoustic and sang with Dan). For the past few years I have been unsettled with the narrow definition that worship sometimes gets. What frustrates me is that we at times come close to minimizing worship to being only about singing a few songs to or about God.
Two things were important for me during this night at St. Mary’s. The first was that our worship experience was influenced by visual elements as well as musical ones. The architecture and art in this beautiful old church drew my eyes to God in a way that I seldom have opportunity to experience. There is something powerful about the visual in worship that I think many of us with newer, white-walled churches are missing out on.
Second, halfway through our set Matt Frise played a solo on the violin. As the notes danced around the generations old sanctuary I was pulled into an experience of God that was bigger than words. I love times that I can hear God is beautiful melodies.
Worship is not only about words. Sometimes we experience God through beauty that we see or hear. Other times we experience beauty as we relate to people. For me this is true worship. This is why I am a worshipper and worship leader after all these years. I am so grateful for this time in PEI that connected me once again with the beauty of God.
Thank you Dan also, for blessing me with the opportunity to be apart of the evening (even if I was sick and voice barely audible…thank you Lord for microphones). But truly an awesome night it was. The whole weekend it had been pretty rainy and dreary and then that afternoon the sun began to shine. As we rehearsed in the church that afternoon, it was so refreshing and exciting to watch the light shine through the stain glassed windows and brighten up everything.
I loved being in that church and having the evening to worship there, it was such a wonderful blessing. There is something to be said for the time and detail that was put into the making of that building. You just don’t see that anymore, and because of that I can’t help but appreciate the architecture all that much more.
Thank you everyone who came and celebrated with us. It was a pleasure worshipping with you. And thank you band for being so much fun to sing with. You guys rock!!!
It would be so much fun to do again, but no pressure
It was realy great to see you once again on PE! I was telling my daughter how wonderful ,spirit filled your music was.She finally got a chance to experience it for herself.
Please do not make it so long until you and your wonderful band/family come again!
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Hi, I was wondering if you would mind helping us present a Coram Deo here in New York state. Perhaps we could follow the order of worship that you all used and could give us a general idea of how you organized, adorned, set up the sanctuary? We have been trying to organize something like this using all of our traditions and have drawn a blank, then I ran across your blog. Thank you for prayerfully considering our request.
Coram Deo,
Penney Forbes
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