Well, maybe it’s not entirely life-changing, but at least it’s going to change my life at leisure. I can say with certainty that my life of “retirement” is over, and it’s all because of a phone call I got last Sunday afternoon from the Rev. Paul Lillie, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

You may remember that I played five Sundays at St. Mark’s this past summer, and the biggest challenge was just getting from one service to the other! That is — from Nuuanu Congregational Church’s 9:00 am service, to St. Mark’s Episcopal 10:30 am service.

Theoretically, it would be possible, since most of the time, the Nuuanu service is out by 10:10 at the latest. Wouldn’t you know it, though, on three of the Sundays, the worship service went waaaaaay over its normal length of one hour, and I absolutely panicked because I arrived late for St. Mark’s service.

So, the phone call that will change my life, if not my schedule, is that St. Mark’s is changing the starting time of their service to 11:00 am. I can’t tell you how earth-shattering this news is, but there simply are not enough organists in this town who are able to play the liturgy at St. Mark’s!

The concept is brilliant, though — Churches should consider changing the times of their services so that they can share an organist because organists are so few and far between!

In fact, my sister attends a large church in the greater Los Angeles area, and she told me their church could not find a substitute organist for when their organist wanted to take a vacation, so they flew someone out from Connecticut to fill in! Can you imagine — no substitute organist available in the huge metropolis of Los Angeles! I can understand the situation on Oahu, in the middle of the Pacific, but in the Los Angeles area!

This past summer when I filled in, the St. Mark’s choir was on vacation … so for the first time in 10 years, I will have a Thursday night choir rehearsal to attend. I told Father Paul, though, that outside of the last ten years, my Thursday nights hadd been committed to a choir rehearsal since I got my first church job at age 15. Outside of the year I was in graduate school, I have continuously had a church job, and therefore a Thursday night choir commitment.

The truth is, I do love the liturgy and the service at St. Mark’s, and I consider Father Paul Lillie and Mike Dupre my friends, and for this reason, I’m going to leave my life of leisure and start tonight with choir rehearsal and my first Sunday service on October 22.

Just today, I read an article in The Guardian called Why retiring is bad for your health – according to the 70-somethings who refuse to quit.” Basically the article said, “Financial incentives aside, a delayed retirement could benefit your health – especially if a job feels more like a passion than work… Most of us are less physically strong than we were in our 20s and 30s – but when you have a job that feels more like a passion than work, there is no need to stop doing it just because you reach an arbitrary age.”

In my case, I still do love playing the organ, but I must admit at times my schedule is overwhelming! Like NOW! I figure that I will be spending at least 20 hours a week just for the organist job at St. Mark’s, in addition to continuing to play the organ at Nuuanu Congregational Church, teaching organ students, practicing for concerts, and learning Spanish obsessively.

The reason the job will take no less than 20 hours per week is because there are at least two and sometimes three masses per week, each with its specialized music, plus a choir rehearsal and wouldn’t you know it, the organ music I’ve programmed will take lots of practice besides!

Here is the official announcement from The Evangel, the newsletter from St. Mark’s:

Welcome Kathy Crosier

FROM THE RECTOR This Sunday we welcome Katherine Crosier as our new organist at St. Mark’s. Kathy is no stranger to the parish, having served as a substitute organist for our liturgies many times in the past. For many years Kathy served as the organist at Lutheran Church of Honolulu, where she and her late husband, Carl Crosier, built a fine and reputable music program for LCH, and by extension the Islands. She also served as the organist for ‘Iolani School chapel services, and she is active with the Hawai’i Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, currently serving as the Dean. Kathy enjoys the liturgy very much at St. Mark’s, and she looks forward to supporting the choir and our choirmaster, Mike Dupre, from the organ console. St. Mark’s extends a heartfelt welcome to Kathy.

Okay. Now you can call me crazy!