I will admit – I’m not the type of person who generally goes to high school chorus concerts. I know that our local high school is known for its performing arts program, but I’m just not somebody who generally makes it a priority to go out and enjoy good music, when it’s easier to just stay in and read or play video games. So I’d never seen our high school chorus perform before.

I’ve seen elementary and middle school chorus concerts – I’ve been going to them for years, because my own children were performing. But this year, I’ve got a kid in the high school chorus. So I went to the winter chorus concert tonight. And wow – I was blown away.

It was inspiring. The sheer talent and dedication that created the confident, glorious harmonies I heard tonight. The sincerity they brought to songs in other languages – I had no idea what they were singing, but the emotion flowed through the auditorium. The way the whole room seemed to breathe and sing as the choir literally surrounded the audience for “Carol of the Bells.”

And, of course, I received a procession of chills as they performed “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” complete with brass section. I closed my eyes, and let the words of that hymn wash over me, words I know so well and which always rattle me. “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail incarnate deity.” “Light and life to all he brings, ris’n with healing in his wings.”

Oh, tonight I saw – or heard – signs of God’s light shining through those wonderful youth. They shook the heavens and stirred the hearts of mortals.

That’s where I saw the light of God today, the first Wednesday of Advent.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay