Talk Story
In Hawaii, when friends gather
together, they “talk story”. Talk story is informal conversation that always
generates story-telling. The stories told are rich with history, culture,
family, people and place. They can be funny at one moment and heart-rending at
the next. They are the narratives upon which relationships were built. They
give substance to experience. Those stories gave me windows into others, and
perhaps most remarkably, traveled through the windows of my own heart to leave
their imprint deep inside. Shared stories have a capacity to connect us not
only with the story teller, but with our own narratives. And those connections
build relationships.
I love hearing people’s stories, and am amazed how asking
one simple question and then listening deeply opens sacred, shared space
between us.
In the few short weeks that I’ve been at St. Paul’s I’ve
already heard some amazing stories, and want to share one. Perhaps it could be
titled, “Hidden in Plain Sight.”
The church received a very generous gift
from the estate of a former member.
Being new to the congregation, I asked Becky, our secretary, to
tell me a bit about Elizabeth “Betty” Page and her parents, Katharine Hottel
and Guy Anderson Benchoff. I was
delighted to see photos of all three of them on the wall just outside the
church office.
One of those pictures had a pipe organ
in the background. I asked where that photo was taken, since we don’t have a
pipe organ at St. Paul’s. To my utter surprise, Becky told me it was at St.
Paul’s and quickly took me on an excursion to view the organ’s pipes which are
behind a wall in our sanctuary. They are amazing, each carefully labeled, the
whole thing a work of skilled artisanship right here, hidden in plain sight,
and without talking story I might never have known!
The music we enjoy each Sunday morning
depends in part on those hidden pipes, their ongoing maintenance, and the
talents of skilled organists like Emily Koon and Derek Ritenour, accompanied by
the combined voices of each person present.
Perhaps most delightful of all was
learning that Mr. Benchoff was a musician, taught music at Massanutten Military
Academy, and played the organ. My great-grandfather, the son of German Moravian
missionaries to Labrador, was a music teacher at Sewickley Academy in
Sewickley, PA, and a church organist. My mother inherited his talent and taught
piano and was a church organist for years. I feel a certain kinship to the
congregation, the Benchoff family, and our organ, all because Becky and I
talked story.
I
can’t wait to talk story with you! Only God knows what might emerge!
Pastor
Anne
