November 2022 Letter From The Pastor

 A Letter from the Pastor

Dear Emmaus Ev. Lutheran Church,

I recently finished reading William Zinsser’s The Writer Who Stayed (2012).  This delightful collection of brief essays is culled from his Zinsser on Friday writings on the website for The American Scholar. Mr. Zinsser was given free rein on his subject matter, so these essays range from personal recollections of childhood, family, military service in Italy, the writing craft, to observations of our interactions with technology, to remembrances of writers and musicians. He regularly refers to notes and articles that he came across in his office. As he was aware of his advancing years, I had the sense that he may have been cleaning out his office and going through some version of downsizing.  

In the essay Singing Along with Mitch: Miller revived an American Tradition; Mr. Zinsser reflects on the good work of Mitch Miller when he learned of his death at the age of 99.  Mr. Miller was the proprietor of the television show “Sing Along with Mitch.” Reading the obituary took Zinsser back “to a summer evening in 1991 at Chautauqua….my wife and I found ourselves singing along with Mitch in Chautauqua’s huge open-air auditorium. Densely seated among strangers, we were united by a tradition going back to 19th-century America: group singing on a summer night.”  (p30)

The essay continues with information about Mitch Miller and his work in teaching people to sing as well as introducing new generations to what Zinsser calls the “American Songbook.” In his second to last paragraph Zinsser writes, “At Chautauqua…it occurred to me that we were the last generation that would ever know and sing those songs.  The postwar advent of television made us a nation of silent receivers, and since then digital technology has pushed us into deeper isolation.  Today we sit alone with our computers, conducting our lives and our friendships without seeing anybody.  Making music together is one of the pleasures that somehow got mislaid.” (p33)

At that last sentence I thought of Emmaus with gratitude.  We have been among you but for a brief time, yet we see and hear clearly that Emmaus is a singing congregation. The joy of making music together is not mislaid here. What is more important, we are not singing the American Songbook. We are singing God’s music. We are singing the liturgy and the hymns of the Church, many of which are Lutheran hymns. We are getting ready for heaven by singing our confession and praises! 

Thank you for allowing us to be with you as congregation members and for allowing me to serve you as pastor during the vacancy. 

In His Service,

Pastor Zell