harmony

Easter had a lot of little highlights this year. The vigil, where Anna was baptized with cold water and joined a big family. The whole Triduum, in fact, that brought me from there to here with solemnity and exuberance. The joyful white-and-gold-and-lily celebration. The decommissioning of our old organ with a joyful Vierne Symphony. Delicious Easter lunch with a black bean salad that was to die for and perfectly executed roast lamb. A cleansing new fire at the Point, with attendant marshmallows.

But the best part was the singing. The six of us, musical and non-musical alike, somehow produced delicious guitar stylings and four-part harmony that wove itself in and out of the lyrics, supporting the words and lifting them up above the page, bringing Easter to life in triumph and alleluias.

It made me think about harmony, how much more beautiful it is if everyone is singing something just a little different; departing from one another and joining back up again, never getting too far away but also not relinquishing individual identity. Unison is beautiful, but never as rich or as deep as harmony.

There's a lesson here, a lesson about who my friends are and how I view difference. About how I can learn from others as they depart from me and join back up again and weave their lives in and through and around mine. And about Easter, how it's more joyful when you celebrate it not just through your voice, but in four-part harmony.