Glory

This morning I went off to church alone, as Sam and Briana were both under the weather and still in their beds. The sanctuary was full of beautiful Christmas decorations and the Advent candles were up front on a table bedecked with gold and red fabric. The choir was listed to sing Christmas music and I realized with a start that this is the first week in December, so we'd be getting to sing carols.
The deacons asked us in our row to press together and make room for two. He held up his two fingers in a peace sign and pointed to the space next to me, as he beckoned someone from the back of the church to be seated. A very large man shoved his way into the pew and sat down. I leaned over to welcome him and he looked away. He was out of breath and clearly had not liked walking down the center aisle all the way to my -pew.
Oh well. He was in church and that was what mattered.
An old friend came to the microphone with his guitar and invited the congregation to sing "Angels We Have Heard on High." I love that song because of that long "Glo-ho-or-or-orrrrr-ee-uh" at the end. It's always been a challenge of mine to see if I can hold out the note all the way to the end of the phrase instead of gasping in the middle of the word (a pet peeve of mine).
As I started singing the second verse ("Shepherds, why this jubilee?") I heard a loud soprano voice rising over everyone else's singing. It had a bit of a hooty quality to it, but the woman was spot on pitch. I was having such a swell time singing myself, that it wasn't until the second "Glo-ho-or-or-orrrrr-ee-uh" that it dawned on me that the soprano voice belonged to none other than the man sitting next to me. As I glanced sideways at him I could see an acqaintance on the other side of him looking at him with an expression of wild surmise. He was enjoying himself, eyes closed, leaning back in his pew and this high voice coming out of his puckery, cherubic lips.
I almost choked.

As I came to the last chorus, I began thinking that it's only because Jesus came to this earth that we have something to be happy about. He has broken the power of evil and sin and death in the human race. Because of His life, death, and resurrection, all of us can live in hope. We know that this is not all there is.
The man next to me was singing like he realized this, too. His voice slid down about two octaves, and he and I finished out the song.

Glo-ho-or-or-orrrr-ee-uh!