There was a 50th anniversary celebration at Church #1 today, so I decided (since I’m really migraine-prone thanks to those *&%$ birth control pills) to just hitch a ride to church with someone else and skip it. I got to sleep in until 8:45, have a nice discussion on Old Testament justice in Sunday School, and not have to think about hurrying between churches.
Well… Jon was late, so I told the custodian to ring the bells so we could start the service on time. (He and I had discussed it with several people and they just told me to lead worship and we’d wing it until Jon got there.) I expected him to come in during the first hymn. He didn’t. So… I went up and did the Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness. Still no Jon. I ended up having to cantor the Kyrie and Gloria (something that I am terrified of doing) as well as leading the Prayer of the Day. Jon arrived during the readings and was greeted by me outside the sanctuary with a HUGE bear hug because I had been afraid he’d had car trouble or something. (He had lost track of time while socializing.)
The rest of worship turned out OK though I was very adrenalinated through the rest of the service. Despite a couple mistakes (leaving out the Apostolic Greeting and reversing the order of the first hymn and the Confession), everything actually went pretty well. My cantoring wasn’t perfect but I did fine and I faced my fear (though it’s probably good that nobody could see my hands or knees which were shaking). Jon took me out for lunch afterwards (since he *DID* owe me hugely) and we ended up eating with our council pres and his family — very fun.
So maybe I’m over my fear of cantoring?
