Two Sundays ago, on May 31st, our space filled with almost 200 people — and the whole place came alive.
It was our Spring Concert with Triad Pride Performing Arts, a partnership that has become one of the genuine joys of ministry here at Emmanuel. We’ve been hosting their choruses twice a year for several years now, and somehow it keeps getting better. The choir keeps growing. Familiar faces we’ve come to love over the years are now mixed in with new voices we get to welcome for the first time. And out in the seats, there are returning attendees who have become mainstays — joyful conversation partners and fellow witnesses to the beauty that comes from the combined voices of the choir members.
This year’s theme, planned by their wonderful Artistic Director CJ, was “Time After Time: A Celebration of Love’s Many Faces.” There was Dolly Parton, there was Adele, classical pieces, Broadway tunes, and yes, of course, there was Cyndi Lauper — a rich tapestry of sound reflecting the universal experience of love.
These concerts, in June and December, are among the biggest ways we open our doors to the wider community. One of our greatest resources is simply this building, and there are few better uses for it than blessing nearly two hundred people with an afternoon of beautiful music, joyful fellowship, and a celebration of the wonderful diversity of God’s beloved humanity.
And with Pride Month beginning the very next day, I find myself especially grateful for this partnership — because it helps us live out who we say we are.
It’s generosity: we don’t just offer our space twice a year, we are a sponsor of the entire season of Triad Pride Performing Arts’ offerings, so that anyone attending any of their events can come to know Emmanuel. It’s community: we get to lift up the arts and support the LGBTQIA+ community here in High Point and across the Triad. And it’s inclusivity: a welcome that reaches especially toward those who have not always felt included, embraced, or celebrated by the church — a chance to live out God’s love for everyone.
And we do it in a way that feels so very Emmanuel. When we first hosted a concert years ago, all we were asked to provide was a venue. But our members couldn’t imagine hosting such an event without throwing a reception — without an opportunity for joyful fellowship afterward. We still do, and it’s a good one. I’ve noticed how many of the choir members’ families come to these concerts, and I suspect it’s because of the welcome they feel and the celebration that follows the final note. Every year, I hear some version of the same thing:
“No one throws a party like this for us anywhere else.”
That’s just what we do. It’s who you are.
So thank you, Triad Pride Performing Arts, for being a partner who helps us live more fully into the church God is calling us to be. And thank you, Emmanuel, for being the authentic you that you are.