Thursday, March 27, 2025

A Prayer of Thanks

Read: Philippians 4:4-7

Almost every Sunday morning after the offertory anthem you’ll see me leave the choir loft carrying two things: my music folder and an iPad. The purpose of the music folder should be obvious. We just sang an anthem but why is he carrying that iPad?

Depending upon who may be speaking, and from where, we have a number of preset audio “scenes” programmed into the soundboard. If the liturgist is speaking, the microphone on the lectern is turned up but the hanging mics over the choir and the mic on the pulpit are turned down. This eliminates much background noise, making the speaker easier to understand and also helping to prevent feedback. If I’m sitting in the choir loft I can’t change the soundboard settings directly but I CAN change them using the soundboard app on the iPad. 

I told you that so I could tell you this: On January 12 this year I completed my regular Sunday morning routine. I set up the soundboard, got my music, went down to the choir loft to warm up. When that was finished I couldn’t find that iPad. I went back up to the balcony, looked around the soundboard, looked in the choir room and returned to the narthex. I looked around the narthex, looked in the choir loft, then enlisted some help. Beth Norris looked all over the place. Reverend Eardley went up to the balcony and looked around the soundboard. I went back up to the balcony. No iPad anywhere. I told the people who had helped me search that, while I wanted to do things the right way, finding that iPad wasn’t critical. 

Truthfully, most people can’t tell if the mics are set properly. That’s why we have a catchall setting called “GPUMC Default.” All the mics are on but set to avoid feedback. I told Reverend David that I’d LIKE to be able to use the iPad but it wasn’t critical. I said a brief prayer asking God to help me calm down and remember where I’d left it. The service started and ran normally. After the anthem I went up to the soundboard. The iPad was on the soundboard right where I thought I’d left it! I said a brief prayer of thanks. 

Do I think God did some kind of magic trick to put the iPad there? Not really. What I do believe is that my prayer was heard and God helped me let go of my anxiety and gently focus on what I was looking for.

Fred Van de Putte