The United Church of Christ is a wonderfully diverse group of people. We say, “No mater who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” And we mean it. Our congregations are filed with people from all sorts of backgrounds, engaged in all sorts of ministries.

It should come as no surprise, then that the gathering of the United Church of Christ Musicians National Network would be a great place for those of us who enjoy people watching. Our musicians are old and young, male and female, paid and volunteer, classically-trained and play by ear. They are advocates for traditional hymns, praise music, jazz, and a host of other musical genres.

The event began with a banquet and the schedule circulated in advance of the event said, “feel free to dress up.” Those words already made it clear that there would be a variety of different outfits. I wore the kind of clothes I generally wear to church: a white shirt and tie and a blue blazer. Since it is summer and quite warm in Kansas City, I wore tan slacks instead of grey. Susan wore a black dress with a pink sweater. We could have gone to church or to a concert or out to dinner dressed that way. Since it was a banquet for church musicians, such attire seemed to be in order. Of course, I doubt that anyone else paid much attention to our clothes.

There were others who dressed similarly to our outfits. I wasn’t even the only person wearing a bow tie. But there were plenty of other clothing choices. As we sat in the hotel before the banquet, we observed a parade of folks in a wide variety of clothing. There were some shorts and t-shirts. There were jeans and sport coats. There were golf shirts and dress shirts and suits. I joked with another participant that I expected to see at least one tuxedo, since that is what musicians usually wear when they dress up. I didn’t notice any tuxedos. I couldn’t, however, fail to notice the gentlemen wearing sandals with striped socks, red slacks, a green shirt and a plaid jacket that would have been at home in the 1950’s. I’m thinking he chose his clothing with care. He has different tastes in clothing than I.

I don’t actually own a pair of bright red slacks. If I did, I doubt that I would wear them to a church meeting.

But, as I said, we are a wonderfully diverse group of people. We are not all the same. And that is one of the deep joys of the United Church of Christ.

One of the topics of conversation at our table was speculation about the meaning of the table decorations. In addition to the candles on a mirror in the center of our table, there were sheets of music, CD’s, pill bottles filled with rice and beans, and feather boas. The different items didn’t seem to fit together into a single theme. It was clear that the tables had been decorated with care, but I had trouble imagining how the various elements came together and what they had to do with the event.

Our worship leader told us a little about the tables before beginning the service. She noted that one of the event organizers had invited leaders to bring items that could be given away to participants. There will be packets of music for our reading sessions that will be used to introduce new anthems and songs. A publisher who wants us to take free copies home and share them with others in hopes that some of our choirs will order multiple copies supplied the music. We have already received tote bags and pens and there will be plenty of other items in the display area at the church tomorrow. The worship leader said that she didn’t have any merchandise samples to give away, so she asked her friends and colleagues for items that she could bring. There were CD’s from a church musician and minister who has recorded albums of her songs. There were copies of a new baptismal hymn that a colleague wrote for the baptism of a grandchild. There was a song that was written by participants in a gathering of Latin American church musicians as a gift to our group with an invitation that some of our group write a song for them.

Those things made sense, but pill bottles and feather boas. She went on to tell us that she does a lot of ministry in nursing homes and hospitals and that she has found that simple shakers are fun for people to use with music. They can add a little rhythm and participate in the music by shaking them. And, she said, whenever she uses pill bottles to make shakers by filling them with rice or beans, they always bring a smile to folks in health care institutions that are filled with all sorts of medications. And smiles are valuable in such places. The shakers got good use during the songs we sang in worship.

And the feather boas were gifts from the choir of the home church of our worship leader. They enjoy singing popular music and from time to time have concerts that are just for fun. Some of the members of the choir suggested that all church musicians need feather boas to “lighten up,” and remember how much fun it is to make music.

In our opening worship, we sang traditional hymns and new songs. We sang in Spanish and English. We sang a praise chorus and a meditational song. The songs were like the musicians assembled: each unique, each different, each wonderful in its own way. During the service, there were several opportunities to turn to someone else and share a story about how music had touched our lives. The stories were filled with emotion. Music is important to all of us.

Music is a joy that we share.

It promises to be a wonderful meeting and an opportunity to discover new resources for worship in our church.

But I don’t think I’m going to get any fashion tips. I’ll stick with what I’m used to wearing.

Copyright © 2012 by Ted Huffman. I wrote this. If you want to copy it, please ask for permission. There is a contact me button at the bottom of this page. If you want to share my blog a friend, please direct your friend to my web site.