It was an ordinary day. Trying to remember if I ever wrote a story about singing with my dad and our family doctor, Dr. James Martin, during a Christmas service at St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I've searched my old stories and can't seem to find any story about the three of us singing together, but that doesn't mean we didn't do it and I just didn't title my story so as to help me recognize it when the next Christmas rolled around. Well, just in case, I thought I would post a story once again telling of the three of us portraying the three of Orient. It all began years ago when the three of us portrayed the three Kings of Orient in St. James Episcopal Church's Christmas Eve service. We all sang the "We Three Kings of Orient" as part of the church pageant at the early evening Christmas Service when all the children were still able to make it to church without falling asleep. If I remember, Dr. Martin lead the song singing the verse where he would sing "Gold I bring to crown Him again...etc. with my Dad chiming in with verse No. 2 which was "Frankincense to offer have I...etc. with me finishing the third verse with Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume...Breathes a life of gathering gloom. We all finished the song together with.... Glorius now behold Him arise....etc. Each one of us had to walk slowly down the center aisle of the church when it was our turn to sing our verse and eventually we all ended with the final verse with the entire congregation singing the final verse of the hymn with us. What made the entire event so dramatic was the outfits that we each had to wear when it was our time to walk down the center aisle of the church. Both my dad and Dr. Martin were fantastic singers and performed quite a bit over the years, but for me it was a rather scary situation since I had to make sure I didn't trip on my costume while following in my hymn book to make sure I was singing the proper song verse while walking down the aisle. I had the chance to perform my part of the hymn for close to 10 years before either my dad or Dr. Martin was no longer able to take part in the hymn. I loved the outfit that I had to wear since it added about three feet to the top of my head and made everyone look at my costume for most of the time and not just me as I wound my way down the center aisle in the church. The three of us sang the hymn together at Christmas for close to 10 years before Dr. Martin was called away from the church for a medical emergency. I have posted the photograph of the three of us as "The Three Kings" so you could see how we looked during our walk down the center aisle of St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, PA. Those are some of the best times I can remember while singing in the St. James Church choir with my dad and Dr. Martin. When the pageant was over, we all had the honor of marching back to rear of the church one more time so everyone in the congregation could see our costumes for the service. I'm so glad that I had found the old photo from back in the mid-1950s. Both my father and Dr. Martin have passed. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment