Building on the success of our recent “Aloha Summer Social,” we hope to return to Hawaii with a parish performance of Tales of Wonder, a musical conceived by Marty Haugen while visiting a parish in Hawaii. That parish was largely made up of native Hawaiians who had preserved story-telling as one aspect of their culture. To an extent, we do the same every Sunday as we gather to listen to the Word of God. In Tales of Wonder a village gathers around two story-tellers who relate some of the familiar and central stories of their faith – Creation, Job, Jesus, and the coming of the Spirit – primarily to the children, but also to the adults.
I was first introduced to Tales of Wonder by Marty Haugen himself when he visited London for anniversary celebrations of the St Thomas More Centre. Since then. I have directed performances at St Ignatius College, Enfield (1991), Parrs Wood High School (1995) at which the Headteacher remarked that we had delivered the entire religious education program in one night! When I became Director of Music for the Cathedral and Diocese of Hallam, performances followed at churches throughout the Diocese. Most memorable was a performance in Iona Abbey (1998) at which both Marty Haugen and I had been invited as guest musicians for the annual Music & Worship Week of the Wild Goose Resource Group. I directed, with Marty at the piano. The choir was made up of the 120 people signed up for the week and the children all came from Iona’s tiny primary school.
Can we rise to the challenge of performing it here at Sacred Heart? The proposed performance date is Wednesday, October 1 (updated from previous bulletin and email listings showing October 2), in the church. Our choir has already expressed its interest. Parents of children aged 8 and up, might your children be interested in being part of a children’s singing group? We would need to rehearse, of course, but please let me know if your children are interested by writing to me at pjakob@sacredheartfla.org
– Philip Jakob | Director of Music
