I have been a New England churchgoer for most of my life. There have been times I went to church under duress, there have been times when I have gone of my own free will, and there have been some some gaps in my attendance when I substituted Transcendental Meditation for time spent in a pew.
These days on Sundays, I find myself heading to the West Suffield Congregational Church. There is a lot to like about the WSCC, and the choir is reason in itself to saunter in and sit for a spell. Each Sunday the choir climbs the narrow staircases to the choir loft where generations before them did the same. But time marches on, and this is no group of quivering sopranos and hesitant tenors. Our choir director, Ed Napolski, is a real renaissance man and knows how to work his magic week in and week out. He recognizes each vocalist’s strength and knows which combination of voices work best. It doesn’t hurt that he has a new organ which he commands as a beautiful accompaniment.
So, what started as a skeleton crew of singers seems to expand each week with one new person at a time taking those steps up and becoming part of something special. The group includes members with professional experience as well as just regular folks who like to sing on Sunday morning. This mighty choir defies the somber demeanor of a church group but manages to buckle down when it is time to sing. We are exposed to a wide range of music including traditional hymns, spirituals and anthems, as well as sister duets, and heartfelt solos. And we are the lucky ones.
The proof of that is in the pudding. Just about every week, as the choir finishes their anthem, and the church walls stop shaking, the heads of the congregants turn ever-so- slightly to take a peek at the choir positioned behind them. Is it possible that those people who yuck it up at coffee hour actually sing like that and make tears come to our eyes or the hair on our arms stand on end? Holy cow.
If you need a holy cow moment, join us at the corner of Mountain and Grand Streets on a Sunday and you will be in for a treat.