In two weeks, I’ll be playing the organ at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Kapahulu, near Waikiki. I’m already nervous about getting to the church on time, because I’ll first have to finish playing the 9:00 am service at Nuuanu Congregational Church. The last few weeks I haven’t been able to return to my car until 10:15 am!

According to Google Maps, the 6.3 mile journey should take 14 minutes, leaving me ONE MINUTE to find parking, run up the stairs to the organ loft, put on my organ shoes and start playing the opening hymn. YIKES! At least there’s no prelude, but still … It’s CRAZY to have so little time between services.

St. Mark’s is an Anglo-Catholic parish, which means that the percentage of the service NOT being sung or played is very little or next to none. No sitting on your hands here! I just printed out all the service music and hymns, and there are 25 PAGES OF MUSIC, not counting any alternative hymn harmonizations I might use plus my postlude.

Don’t tell anyone, but to make things easy, I’ll be playing the same postlude at both churches. Is this cheating?!

The crazy thing is, I’ll be doing this “adrenaline rush to get to St. Mark’s” not once, not twice, but for FIVE SUNDAYS! Two Sundays, June 25th and July 2nd, then the first three Sundays in August.

Why the break, you ask? It’s because in July I’ll be going on a 9-day tour of Scotland and its castles, followed by a week in Gloucester, U.K. at the Three Choirs Festival! I’ll be going with Bill Potter from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu to Scotland, and we’ll both meet with former Honolulu resident, Joan Ishibashi, in Gloucester for the Festival.

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Today on Facebook there was a nice post by Mark Boyle, a former chorister in our choir at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

n 1998, after living in Hawaii for a year and trying to find a church home, we happened upon the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

Carl Crosier led what was one of the most vibrant music ministries in the island. He attracted wonderful people. A brilliant rehearsal technician, accomplished keyboardist, and beautiful counter tenor, Carl invited me to take part in the Compline Choir at LCH. He provided so many formative moments in my journey as a church musician – and at a very specific point in my life, when I was not in college. He didn’t know it (or maybe he did) but he became my teacher.

Through Carl, I met Vicki Pfluger Gorman who would become my voice teacher at a time when I needed that special guidance only a voice teacher can give. She helped bring my voice back and get me ready to go back to college. Jane and I met lifelong friends whom we will see again someday.

And the St. Matthew Passion. Carl’s love of this work was infectious and truly was the source of my connection to this masterpiece.

At LCH I served as secretary of the church council, and learned much about the inner workings of a church.

But the music here…through the work of Carl and Kathy and Alan (sic) and the choir…this was my lesson of how powerful music can be in worship – how it can deeply impact all aspects of a service.

I will always be grateful for my time at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu!