Can 90 minutes of Christmas music improve race relations in Salisbury?
Seems improbable that an hour and a half of yuletide songs can bring people closer together, build friendships and fight racism.
But an annual Christmas concert at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, along with concerts elsewhere in Salisbury that feature a black and white ecumenical choir, seem to be doing just that.
The goodwill and connectivity at last week’s Glory of Christmas concert filled my church and moved many to tears.
I couldn’t get through the first hymn without my eyes welling up. The 80-member choir hadn’t even started, and I was already on my second Kleenex.
Seeing a black and white choir sing to a black and white audience was powerful. In the wake of electing our first African American president, the event had even more meaning for me.
St. Luke’s is mostly white. Reaching out to predominantly African American churches started as a professional mission for choirmaster Dr. Phillip Burgess.
It’s become a personal one.
Phillip helped organize the first Glory of Christmas concert three years ago after white and African American churches came together to sing for visitors from Salisbury, England.
Now the group performs at other times of the year as well, and as a result, Phillip said many members have become friends.
This struck a chord with me, musically and otherwise.
While I was in college, the governor of South Dakota declared a Year of Reconciliation between whites and Native Americans. Among the many events and policy initiatives the state launched that year, including permanently changing Columbus Day to Native American Awareness Day, the governor asked white and Lakota people of South Dakota to do one thing.
Make at least one friend from the other culture.
That profound, simple act can do more to reconcile people, heal old wounds and close the gap between cultures than any government program.
The way Phillip sees it, the world is getting smaller, and it’s everyone’s job to understand each other better. The Glory of Christmas offers a chance to try new skills and gain appreciation for the way other people do things.
Singers from the black churches, many for the first time, performed with an orchestra. Singers from the white churches had to learn to put down their sheet music.
Gospel music features improvisation, and Phillip told the choir to sing not what was on the page, but what was in their hearts.
Good advice for us all.
After the concert, I saw Phyllis Partee buying groceries. The music director at Crown in Glory Lutheran Church had played amazing keyboards at the concert.
We introduced ourselves and laughed when she revealed that her mother’s maiden name was Ford.
“Maybe we’re related,” she said.
Improving race relations in Salisbury isn’t exactly the reason that Ms. Partee and Phillip participate. They do it because they love music, and they want to share it with different people.
Music brings people together. When Phillip was struggling to come up with something profound to impart before the concert, soloist Rebecca Stinson reminded him, “What we are doing here is a good thing.”
That’s all he needed to say.
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Emily Ford covers the N.C. Research Campus.