How Have You Been Keeping Your Faith?

To celebrate our KEEPING THE FAITH Campaign, we will be sharing an inspiring message from members of the MCC Toronto community member every week on how they’ve been keeping their faith during these unprecedented times.

We know these past months have been difficult for all of us and we hope these inspiring messages will lift us up further, help us reach out more and motivate us to continue to connect.

#KeepingTheFaith

Richard and Henry

James DiCesar

Cathy and Graham White

Teresa Harvey

Seth McDermott

Letter from Somalia, Africa

Ben Rowswell

Flora Mwashokera

Mark Cassius

Lori and Jennifer

Jason Jestadt

This past Sunday marked one year since I joined MCC Toronto as your Music Director.  It has been a year full of new friendships, exciting music-making and, of course, unexpected surprises in the form of COVID-19.

After conducting the last performance of “Come From Away” to a half-empty theatre before the lockdown on March 13^th, it was clear things were going to be very different.  In that show, people confronted by a world turned upside down come together in ways they never could have imagined.

When the whole world seemed to stop around us during that week in March, the Choir of MCC Toronto and I were about to come together in a way we never could have imagined.

We decided to meet on Zoom (a platform few of us had ever used much less heard of) to try creating our first “virtual choir” video, “Down To The River To Pray”.

With the help of our volunteer video editor, Claudio Tarulli, and with some trial and error, we figured out how we could use Zoom for a purpose it was never designed for: music-making.

Most exciting was the realization that we could continue making music together uninterrupted for as long as necessary.  Since that time, the Choir of MCC Toronto and our weekly soloists have together created over 60 videos and counting!

I want to take this opportunity to thank the Choir of MCC Toronto, who remains committed to creating these virtual performances every week.  Some of them sing in their cars, outdoors, at the cottage, or wherever in the world they find themselves, but they show up every week. I’m grateful for that.

Oddly enough, I feel like I’ve been able to get to know each choir member better while we’ve been apart.  Thanks to Zoom, I know where everybody lives, their home décor choices, and even what their preferred fancy drink of choice is during rehearsals.

I also want to thank the entire MCC Toronto community for reaching out to tell us how much seeing and hearing us each week means to you. Your ongoing support has helped me keep my faith during this difficult time.

In the spring, it was my vision for the Choir of MCC Toronto and all of the soloists who have participated “virtually” to have one big celebratory concert where we would perform all of the music live.  While we may need to change some of the logistics, we are still working to make this happen. And it will be something we can all look forward to in the future!

Keep your faith, everybody!

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