Seniors from some of Cleburne’s small churches find big enjoyment in combined choir

Christmas music is one of the highlights of the holiday season in Alabama Baptist churches, but many small congregations often find it difficult to put together a full-scale musical production.
   
Several churches in east Alabama, however, have found that a community effort is a meaningful way to celebrate the Savior’s birth.
   
Known simply as the community choir, several of the churches involved are members of Cleburne Baptist Association. Many of the churches represented in the choir have small congregations with large senior adult populations.
As individual choirs, they don’t really have enough members to put on a full-scale cantata. But together they enjoy both the singing and the fellowship the choir offers.
   
“To me, singing is a major part of Christmas, and the cantata just adds to the spiritual meaning of the season,” said Reba Gay, a member of Harmony Grove Baptist Church in Fruithurst. “And being part of a joint effort — where there’s more than just yourself wanting to add to the spirit of Christmas — makes the holiday season that much better.”
   
The idea for the community choir was first mentioned several years ago, according to Steven Bentley, organist at Beulah Baptist Church in Muscadine and director of the choir.
   
Three of the participating churches had already joined together for Fifth Sunday night singings, and joining their voices for a special project seemed like a natural progression of that effort.
   
Now in its second year, the community choir includes members from seven churches in the east Alabama–west Georgia area.
   
Jim McIntyre, pastor of Bethel United Methodist Church (UMC) in Muscadine and a choir member himself, says that the choir’s effort adds to the Christmas spirit for his church’s mostly senior adult congregation.
   
“Through participating with the other churches in our community in this type of ecumenical experience, we all are reminded that we’re celebrating the birth of Christ together,” McIntyre said.
   
DoeDoe Newborn of Heflin is another member of the choir. After she retired last year from her job as Muscadine’s mail carrier, she missed seeing the folks on her route. So when a member of the community choir invited her to join them for the Christmas program, she was excited by the opportunity.
   
“I like to sing, and by participating with the community choir, I have gotten to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time,” Newborn said.
   
Choir member Corene Laminack of Bethel UMC and Gay both said they enjoy the combination of traditional Christmas hymns and contemporary worship music the cantata includes.
   
“I’ve never really thought I enjoyed contemporary music, but some of the songs in the program are so lively that they just make you feel better while you’re singing,” Gay said.
   
“The fun of singing in the choir and the seriousness of the program’s message really make the cantata meaningful.”
   
In addition to the music, Bentley said the social aspect of the choir is important to the choir members and their respective churches.
   
“A lot of times our senior adults are not as active in social events as our younger people,” Bentley said. “But they all love to sing, and the choir has given them a chance to get together.”
   
Padgett Cope, director of missions for Cleburne Association, said he believes it is by divine design that such programs attract senior adults as both participants and attendees. Cope and his wife, Betty, had the opportunity to attend the choir’s performance last year, and he has nothing but praise for the effort and its contribution to the association’s Christmas worship offerings.
   
“While the program was designed and planned for all age groups, many who came were senior adults,” Cope said. “They got a blessing and had a time of fellowship, and it was just a good thing.”
   
Cope said the community choir idea is one he would like to see implemented in other rural communities. Bentley also would like to see the choir become a community tradition.
   
“Our area is so small, and it would be great to have a community choir that could sing at special events,” Bentley said.
   
But for now, Bentley and the members of the community choir are just happy to raise their voices in honor of Jesus’ birth.
   
“Christmas is an enjoyable time,” Bentley said. “The community choir gives us an opportunity to have Christmas fellowship with other believers and celebrate the birth of Jesus — and that’s what Christmas is all about.”