Celebrating Life

In 1972 I was a bright-eyed pre-teen, a tomboy who loved to shoot baskets, ride my bike around the neighborhood, and hang out with my friend Lisa who lived around the corner in our cul-de-sac. Life centered around church, and Lisa and I were at First Baptist in Mooresville, NC for every activity, including the youth choir.

Music was always in the background, either on our record player, on TV with Dick Clark,  or through the radio where we listened to the top 40 countdown each Saturday. So when rock music about Jesus came out in the forms of Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell, it was as if the two loves of my life — rock & roll and church — had miraculously come together.

And then Celebrate Life! erupted in Baptist life. The upbeat musical by Ragan Courtney was written for youth choirs and featured drums, guitars, drama, clapping and even shouting. I embraced it with my whole heart, and the lyrics had a profound effect on my budding spiritual life.

In February of 2020, I wrote about how excited I was to get to sing Celebrate Life! with an ensemble at my church. Well, we all know what happened in March of 2020, and sadly, we never got to perform it. Until now!

The choir at First Baptist Dalton will be performing the iconic musical with actors and band on April 21^st.  I’m back in the church choir and loving it.

Fifty years later the words and notes come back to me, along with the emotions. Tears streamed down my face the first time we practiced In Remembrance, in which Jesus talks to his disciples at the Last Supper.

In remembrance of me, search for truth,

In remembrance of me, always love,

In remembrance of me, don’t look above,

But in your heart,

Look in your heart

For God.

Do this in remembrance of me.

My friend Donna sitting next to me was concerned and offered me a tissue.

“They’re not sad tears,” I whispered. “I can’t really say why I’m crying.”

All through rehearsals, the tears have come. I think they are for the simpler time in my life when I first learned these songs, when I was a fresh Christian, unblemished by the world and ready to take on anything in the name of Jesus.

Maybe I am grieving that innocent girl who had not yet come up against much of life.

My Christian journey has not been a straight path. I have had dark times of doubt, times when I questioned where God was hiding, times of rebellion, and times trying to be someone I was not. That girl singing her heart out in 1972 had no idea what her life would be like.

And yet, here I am at 65, the same words moving me as they did 50 years ago.

Last weekend I went with friends from my church to a two day Cultivate Women’s event, featuring Bible teaching with Kelly Minter. The event was sponsored by Justice & Mercy International, the group that I went down the Amazon River with two summers ago. Seeing some of the women from that trip and videos of the ministry JMI is doing in that part of the world brought more tears.

In Kelly’s first teaching session, she quoted this verse:

“I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6

I heard God reminding me that despite the wrestling He and I have had over the years, He is still working with and through me, molding my faith, and continuing to show His face to me. I’m thankful for those who made the effort to make church meaningful to me as a young person and those who continue to do so today.

If you are in the Northwest Georgia area on Sunday morning, April 21^st, come to FBC Dalton to hear Celebrate Life! I’ll be the one in the alto section with tears streaming down my face.