By Jack Servello
We headed out to State College, PA, to meet The Chi Rho Singers at Park Forrest Village UMC. Arrival time was 12:45 pm and rehearsals started promptly at 1:00 pm.
My wife is Pastor Barb Servello serving at The Leesburg United Methodist Charge in Shippensburg.
It was a long two-hour drive but during that time that we talked about whatever was on our minds, or just conversed in general. Occasionally we discuss what possibilities await us for dinner.
Sometimes I will read books to my wife that she needs to read for special classes she’s taking, or I’ll drive and let her read them!
Usually we make time to stop for lunch in whatever town we’re singing in. Once near Moscow, PA, we stopped at a small pizza shop that served pizza with American Cheese instead of mozzarella! It was a very good meal. Diners make fantastic food too. It’s more time for us to spend together just talking and enjoying each other’s company.
Chi Rho Singers is comprised of clergy from the Susquehanna Annual Conference, both active and retired but mostly they’re all still very busy. The director is Rev. Joleen Willis and the president is Rev. Keith Schmuck. He usually introduces the group during the concerts.
When my wife first started singing with the choir, all I did was hang out and read or keep myself occupied until concert time. This year they asked me to play guitar with a few songs, so I’m doing that.
Sitting through rehearsals is very interesting. Rev. Paul Zieber conducted a song this time and give very detailed notes. Paul directed last year while Joleen attended to family needs.
At 3:15 pm they took a break for coffee and light refreshments, then went back to rehearsals. The men gathered in a separate room to rehearse one number which they sing and the women did the same. Then they got back together to finish rehearsals for the rest of the concert songs. At 5:15 pm it was dinner time.
I have to say, there are lots of things Methodists do well and one of them is cook. We’ve had a wide range of dinner fare from chicken and scalloped potatoes to spaghetti with and without meat sauce; ham, green beans, and potatoes; and much more. One church provided a picnic meal of hamburgers and hotdogs. It’s always good no matter what or where.
After we all eat the members sing a song for the people who prepared the meal. It’s really a fun song, it’s partly to the tune of “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, and is called “Thank You People.”
The choir sings one Thursday a month between September and May somewhere in our Susquehanna Annual Conference. Next month they’ll be at 2nd Avenue UMC in Altoona, PA.
On May 23, their last concert before the summer break, they’ll combine with the Western Pennsylvania Conference Pastors Choir at Greenwood UMC in Altoona.
We have such a good time with one another, but it’s more than just fellowship. It’s worship. It might look like a lot of work, but it’s really just worshiping God all day in song. Striving for the perfect sound and hopefully making a joyful noise.
I’m blessed every month when I get to sit in and just listen to them sing. If you’re ever able to attend a concert you will be blessed as well. If you’ve already heard them you know what I’m talking about.
For more information and events visit www.facebook.com/ChiRhoSingers/ or contact Rev. Joleen Willis, Director, at jwillis@susumc.org
