10 Dec 2023

My dearest Rodney,

It’s Christmas time in France and specifically I’ll share Paris with you this year. As you know Christmas time has been tough for me since you’ve passed..so I allow myself complete freedom to do what I feel I can manage. Thankfully Chris and Matthew and the rest of our family seem to understand (or not?) some of the seemingly bizarre aspects of my international life so I continue.

This weekend, I came to Paris and it did not disappoint..for many reasons! I visited The windows at Au Printemps and Galleries Lafayette and enjoyed them like a kid..they were just mesmerizing with their animations. I’m so glad this tradition continues in France..we seem to have lost it in the US.

The city of lights takes on a magical feel at Christmas..and even though it was cold and wet, the drizzle made for nice photographic reflections of street lights, car lights and Christmas lights. When we came here years ago we stayed near the Gare de Lyon, because the trains from Auvergne came and went from there. (That has changed now, they now come and go from Gare de Bercy). One time we stayed at the holiday inn, and found it a bit tired and run down, so we didn’t come back. This time, I took a chance according to the pics on the internet (always doubtful!) it looked ok..so I booked it. The place has been wonderfully restored, is an easy walk from Gare de Lyon (where I can get easy metro and RER connections) and I have a nice balcony room where I took some pics of the Gare at dusk.. magical!

I also walked over to the Champs Élysées and the trees were sparkling . A friend of mine took my pic with the arc de Triomph. The whole city seems to be getting a face lift, my guess is it’s in preparation for the 2024 Olympics.

But windows and lights weren’t the main reason I came to Paris this weekend…albeit a nice addition! I came to participate in the “singalong” performance of Handel’s Messiah.https://parischoralsociety.org/product/handels-messiah-sing-along-29th-edition/

When I was in high school as Mason County, (45+ years ago!) we had a wonderful, strict and very demanding choral director Coralie Runyon..a force to be reckoned with! She demanded excellence and would not accept nothing less..a very good manner for forming young lives to be successful as adults! Each year our choir would perform the entire work of Messiah at Christmas time in Maysville KY at the First Christian Church. I have such fond memories of those performances. Under her direction several future professional musicians and directors were created and one of them, Zach Ullery, is now directing the Paris Chorale Society. Imagine that..a native Maysville Kentuckian directing the Paris Chorale Society (PCS) I’m so proud of him! It is with the backbone of PSC members that me and other interested musicians performed part 1 of the Messiah today at the American Cathedral in Paris today. I was incredibly emotional (yes, I shed a few tears) and blessed to have been able to sing this work again. Thank you PSC and Zach and his mother, my friend Bedouin and my friend Caroline! It was just a magical afternoon..

As you know, I’ve been listening to a podcast called the Bible in a year https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bible-in-a-year-with-fr-mike-schmitz/id1539568321 I’ve learned so much (highly recommend) and will go through it again next year. Because I know that the lyrics to Messiah are all from scripture, when the narrator of the podcast comes to scriptures that are the lyrics of Messiah I tend to sing them rather than read them..the music always takes over in my brain!

I started to wonder if it was Handel that selected the scriptures or someone else adapted them. So I used know it all Google and found a very interesting entry in this blog https://stevelaube.com/really-wrote-handels-messiah/ that answered the question! It seems an Englishman friend of Handel named Charles Jennens did the research and selected the verses to be used and gave them to Handel. Mr Jennens requested to be anonymous for his work, preferring the scriptures and Handel get the attention. Mystery solved! Thank you Steve Laube for your research and Charles Jennens for your support of the arts and specifically Handel whose work Messiah is a true masterpiece of music and message all over the world. In

So Rod, even though the 25th of December has not arrived as I type this, I have celebrated a very nice Christmas, in my way. Of course it’s not the same without you..nothing will ever be the same. You remain just behind my eyes..especially as I sang today..and those memories inside turned into tears. I know you could hear our magnificent choir sing in the heavens and I would like to think you joined the angels in our songs of praise.

I will always love you Rodney..always. I ask God to bless you in your mission Rodney…whatever it is, however it works…I just know you are about our Father’s business..and that is as it should be.

Merry Christmas in heaven Rodney…it must be something special.

Love,

Sarah