This was easier than I thought! A little background first...
I sing in my church choir, and although I'm not very good at going to the rehearsals, I'm pretty loyal for Sundays, especially when you consider I live 50 minutes away. Anyway, the first week of October we sing a hymn in church called "Tu has Venido a la Orilla" or "You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore" (#173 in the hymnal at my church). With a Spanish flair and lyrics like, "On the sand, I have abandoned my small boat and with you I seek other seas" and a little something about fish nets (although, I don't think it was a reference to the stockings) this was an instant hit in my mind.
Like most Sundays, I went back up to Plymouth after church to practice choir music for another ensemble that I'm in with a friend of mine. I told her about the hymn and she was familiar with it, so we sang it all day, even though we knew few of the words. It's quite catchy. You can hear a midi organ version without the words here.
She then said one of the smartest things I've ever heard about going to church. She mentioned that she wasn't particularly religious, but she greatly enjoys a community to come together one a week, sit, listen, talk with each other, sing, and just think about spreading peace. She said it a lot better than that...the way I put it sounds stupid, but you get the picture.
Anyway, the next week was a hymn sing Sunday. If you aren't familiar with the ritual, people in the congregation get to church early and sing whatever hymns they want. It's led by the pastor or choir director and people just yell out numbers. I called out #173, as the choir had taken so much time (ten minutes the previous Sunday) to learn it, and I had such fond memories, I thought it needed another go. Also, our church is in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Seems fitting to me!
The next month, the choir director was on to me, so when I requested it he said, "No! No! No! No more selections from the choir!" Luckily, it was my birthday, and people knew it, so pretty soon the entire congregation was yelling out 173! 173! It worked. We sang it. We went to the Lake shore. We wore fishnets. It was awesome.
Fast forward to this morning. I think I was absent on the December hymn sing, or at least gave it a pass to sing Christmas carols instead. Regardless, I was hankering for some Orilla. I opened up to it and guess what it said on the top: Epiphany! It's a song for the Epiphany season! And today was the Epiphany service! I pointed this out to the choir director. He groaned, but because it was Epiphany (by the way, wtf is Epiphany?) I planned on making a request. Someone else in the choir picked the first hymn and the director said, "No more from the choir!"
Heartbroken, I gave up. I'm playful, often sarcastic, and somewhat adventurous, but ultimately a rule follower. Fortunately, someone (and I wish I knew who so I could give them a hug) must have seen that it was an Epiphany song and requested, "173!" I yelled out, "Hey-oo!" and my choir buddy Carl yelled out, "Bingo!" much to the disdain of the alto section. I didn't care though, I've long known I'm a heathen, even if my church attendance record is well above average for a 24 year old.
Looks like Lakeshore has become a hit at my church. Number 31, by the grace of God, is checked off.
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