dream: visiting a church

dreamed on 6/18/2008.

i am in a church. it is a rather large church. the service hasn't yet begun, the choir is singing, pews are filling up as people enter and get settled, waiting for the service to begin.

i find a stray purse and want to connect it to its owner, only i don't know who it belongs to. i carry it with me, holding it out so its owner can recognize it.

i go up into the choir area, and someone in the choir says, "you can leave that here--i'll get it to its owner." i set it down on the floor.

i am in a foyer, reading the bulletin board. i am reading an account of a visit to another church by a member of this church. the writer, a woman, is telling the story at the same time i am reading it. i hear her voice. it is not exactly simultaneous with what i am reading, but not too far off, either.

the written part is typed up like in an old-fashioned church bulletin.

the church she and her husband visited is on a college campus where they are visiting their daughter. it is a notable church, old and historic.

==

i wonder if this is the first time i have ever dreamed that i was reading something simultaneously with hearing someone tell the same story i'm reading. it was like harmony or stereo, deepening the experience.

there is something about church in my life--my father was an episcopal priest full time until i was 11, when he went to grad school and changed careers. i went to church just about every sunday of my childhood. i wouldn't say that i "got it" but i value the experience--the exposure to the liturgy, the words, the ritual, the progression of the service.

what i remember most is feeling like i was a good person, spiritually clean and uplifted, after attending a church service. even when i didn't know what the words meant. church gave me a new start every week.

one inspiration for this dream is playing church music. i have stayed at glenda's several times now, and in the evening right before bed, she plays her piano. she asks first if i mind. heck no! i love hearing people play who know how to play.

glenda plays hymns--nothing too complex, but with skill and feeling. her playing is a wonderful send-off to slumber.

the last time i was at her house, she played several hymns saturday night. sunday morning, i got ready for eNLP early and wondered if anyone minded if i sat down at the piano and played. no.

it had been years--so long ago i don't remember--since i played the piano. i started with treble clef only, reading music from glenda's hymnal, which is a baptist hymnal, i imagine--at least that explains why i didn't recognize so many of the tunes, having been raised episcopalian.

i searched out hymns in the key of C, or with only one sharp or flat, feeling rusty at reading anything more complex. i found some i could play that had harmony in just the treble clef. the rhythm just came to me.

glenda was full of praise for my sight-reading. beam!

then i found a hymn i know well, "morning has broken," which i will forever think of as an old cat stevens song, although the hymnal attributed the tune as traditional gaelic. i pointed that out to keith, my scotch-irish friend (and glenda's son-in-law) who plays pennywhistle. he hung around a bit and sang.

i love that tune, and the words in the hymnal. click the title of this post to read the lyrics.

i got bolder and added the bass clef notes, slowing me down considerably, but it came back to me. and i knew what i would need to do to quickly learn to read and play bass clef better than i ever have.

right then, after playing it twice reading both clefs, i spotted what i thought might be a flute in its case. sure enough, it was. i took it out and put it together and played it.

oh, my. it's been at least 10 years since i've played flute. mine is sitting on my bookshelf in its case, not functional.

the beauty of playing music and wanting to get better at it is something i would like to have more of in my life. maybe it's time to get that flute fixed.