Author: Edward Landin Senn

Recording a CD of favorite hymns and anthems has been a conversation Pastor Rachel and I had been in discussion about a year or two before the pandemic, and our Wednesdays Together program was slowly working its way toward having the numbers and confidence to make it happen.

Though the years following the pandemic have resulted in smaller choirs, the children and youth involved are completely dedicated to our weekly rehearsals, where we come together in community and song. This past fall, it became my goal to ensure that the recording finally happened sometime during the 2023-24 program year, and it did.

“Canticles of Praise” is the culmination of years of working with these groups, with support from staff members, families, leaders, helpers, and all those involved in the Beginners Choir, Children’s Choir, and Youth Chorale ensembles of BMPC.

It was a great joy for me to see the children and youth making music on their own and together, with the support of four of the Sanctuary Choir’s talented Staff Singers. Two of these singers, Kara Goodrich and Jeffrey Wilber, have a special connection to our church. Kara, a child of this church, and Jeffrey, who has been a Staff Singer for forty years and raised his three children as church members, are integral to this recording.

Recordings are a snapshot in time, and this snapshot will always prove to me that a dream is possible—but not without the support and help of everyone who came together to make that dream happen.

If you’re interested in a copy of “Canticles of Praise,” please contact the Music and Fine Arts Department. The CDs are available with a freewill donation towards the Tour Fund for the Sanctuary Choir’s trip to France in June of 2025.

n anticipation of Lisa Hancock’s “Natural Mothers” photo exhibit that will be on display in BMPC’s Gallery beginning on March 3, I felt it might be nice to explain how this particular exhibit came together, as it has an incredibly personal connection to my work as a church musician and the path my husband and I took to fatherhood.

I attended the St. Thomas Choir School in New York City as a young boy. Daily rehearsals and services were a major part of my life, as well as rigorous academics, instrumental lessons, and living in one of the most wonderful cities in the world. Gerre Hancock was the Director of Music at St. Thomas Church and a household name in the world of church music and organ improvisation. His wife, Judith Hancock, was the Associate Director of Music and an equally fabulous organist and musician in her own right. These wonderful people helped me find my path and calling to become a church musician. I kept in touch with the Hancocks after my years at the Choir School. After Gerre died in 2012, I forged an even closer and special relationship with Judy as she maintained an interest in my growing repertoire, church work, and personal life.

I knew the Hancocks had two wonderful daughters, Lisa and Debbie. Still, I never connected with them until this past year when they helped arrange for me to visit their mom in a memory care facility in Connecticut, where she now resides. Seeing someone who was such a force and inspiration to me struggling with Alzheimer’s is tragic, but her bright eyes, warm smile, and memories of me as a young boy were a special part of our visit this past April. Since then, I’ve kept in touch with Lisa and feel so pleased to have found a way to support and showcase her stunning photography in BMPC’s Gallery.

“Natural Mothers” is particularly poignant in my home life as the birth mother of my adopted children recently passed away in a tragic house fire. Their mother was the one person who was not actively involved in our open adoption and blended family, but she is the person who brought the twins into this world and, therefore, someone we talk about regularly. The world of foster care is messy, and while there are situations that turn out beautifully, they are not without heartbreak for others involved (so often the birth parents). Seeing these foster care moments caught in still photography is a wonderful way to pause and think about the good things in your life you take for granted and situations you will never find yourself in.

Lisa Hancock will be in the Gallery before and after the 10 a.m. worship service on March 3 to meet anyone who passes through the exhibit.

Photo with Judy Hancock (age 88) in April of 2023. One of the many mothers in my life.