The Good News: Free to Worship
There was not one dry eye in the house. On Saturday, February 27, at the Dalton Theater of Kalamazoo College one of the most spiritual and moving performances took place at the Free to Worship concert. The concert touched the hearts of many resulting in tears and raised hands in praise. The night began with an opening prayer by Eric Aiken, asking the Lord to bless everyone and their voices and for everyone to have fun and a good time praising the Lord-and the Lord answered these prayers. The Mistress of Ceremony, Ora Stokes-Carson, starts the concert up with singing a few lines of worship, warming up the audience, filling the people up with a little bit of worship leaving the other performers finish the job and fill them up until they were drunk with worship.
The “Good News” of the Lord were first performed by the Kalamazoo College Gospel Choir opening with an up beat number that brought the audience to their feet, clapping and swaying along followed by a solo sung by Christian Bitijula. The happiness and joy was so apparent on the faces of the choir members, showing that it feels good to spread the word. Dasha Williams followed the K College Gospel Choir with her own expression of praise to the lord, which she does through dance. Her movements flowed beautifully with the words of a tranquil worship song. Every swift and slow motion she made had the audience captivated and moving in their seats right along with her. The beautiful movements of praise and worship Dasha made were incredibly graceful and the passion pouring to the audience from every point and chassé Dasha made were enough to bring tears to one’s eye.
Throughout the night many different people performed their way of spreading the good news and the audience embraced every bit of it, hollering “Hallelujah” and “Amen” whenever they felt the Holy Spirit, which seemed like every second of every song. The talent that the youth exhibited was remarkable. Freshmen Corinne Tabor of Kalamazoo College showed her talent while singing and playing a piece on the grand piano and young Jason Ford expressed his love for the Lord in a spoken word piece, rapping to a modern hip hop instrumental being played in the background. After hearing some Gospel songs, Aspire of First Congregational Church, featuring two K alums and K voice professor Corlyn Schreck and her husband, changed things up by singing some old spirituals that, even with the traditional sound of opera, wowed the audience.
Aspire weren’t the only guests invited to worship at the concert. Western Michigan University Gospel Choir sang a few selections, one being the very familiar song Our God is an Awesome God with a more upbeat and gospel twist to it. Vocalist and recording artist LaVida Mickens sang an inspirational gospel song that brought more tears and cheers than ever. And the tears of joy and praise just kept trickling down as the audience was asked to join in praise by singing to a slow and mystical rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful as the Kalamazoo College Gospel Choir returned to the stage singing a consoling song I Trust You singing, “Sometimes the pain in my life, makes you seem far away. But I’ll trust you, I need to know you're here. Through the tears and the pain, through the heartache and rain, I’ll trust you.” This expressed the many doubts and fears people have in their lives but then find peace in trusting the Lord, such a message lifts anyone out of whatever ditch they’re in.
Closing the night, Mistress of Ceremony, Ora Stokes-Carson ended with her own spoken word of praise and inspiration before Ks Gospel Choir sent the audience home with an uplifting song Giants that had people dancing and clapping enthusiastically proclaiming that “Giants do die, the bigger they are the harder they fall. Giants they die, just walk around the Jericicho Wall.” This song spread the good news by saying no matter what giants one may have in their life be it bills, problems at work, family issues “They gotta come down”.
Being able to be free to worship is a great blessing that others in the world may not have. That Saturday night at Kalamazoo College every person in the audience was truly blessed to be a part of such an amazing gathering of worship. It left a message in the heart and mind that all yee who are faithful have the awesome God on their side and through the tears and the pain and mountains and giants if you just trust in the Lord they gotta come down, and THAT is the “Good News”.
Very clever ending Johanna. Your piece is very descriptive of the concert and people who participated and attended, which is very important. But there are moments where it sounds more like a report than a review. But at other moments, like in the phrase "The beautiful movements of praise and worship Dasha made were incredibly graceful" at the end of the second paragraph, you review the artist very well. This was enjoyable to read, Jo, and makes me wish I had gone to see the performance live! Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly convey the emotion and power of the event in this piece well! I think your attention to tone and fluidity is really evident and effective. I also appreciated how you addressed the different types of worship individually, but wove them together to support your larger point of view.
ReplyDeleteI am curious what your intended audience for this piece is, as such a religious subject must be handled differently in different forums. I might also try different words to replace 'worship', as the repetition challenges your review's well-crafted flow.
Overall, well done!
I'm with these two; I wish I'd been able to go! I like how the voice in your writing reflects the jubilant tone of the performance. You balance description of the event as a whole and breaking it down into its components as well. You should forward this to those in charge of the event. Nice review.
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