Forty Days and Forty Nights

The choir will call everyone to worship on Sunday (1st Sunday in Lent) with Heinlein’s arrangement Forty Days and Forty Nights.  I’ve always been curious about the number 40, as used in the Bible.  Why not 30 days?  Was language so limited that “forty” as used in the Bible would be equivalent to “lightyears” in today’s lingo?  Consider the other references to forty in the Bible:

- In the story of Noah and the Great Flood, it rains for “forty days and forty nights”

- Moses spent “forty days and forty nights” on Mount Sinai when receiving the Ten Commandments

- Jesus spent “forty days” in the desert before beginning his public ministry

While I have just recently become a more interested student of the Bible (as opposed to the “must study the Bible to graduate attitude”), it becomes evident that the number “forty” symbolizes a “long period of time”.  Within the context of the “instant world” that we now live in, forty days seems like a really long time.

Forty days and forty nights

Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Interfaith Service

St. Mel will be joining choirs from Valley Beth Shalom, St. Peter Armenian Church and The Faithful Central Bible Church at an Interfaith Service at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino(http://www.vbs.org/) on March 13, 2009 at 8 pm.

This event is open to everyone (no tickets required) and is organized by Dr. Noreen Green.
In Noreen's words: "The service is about sharing our musical and religious traditions. The VBS choir and Cantor will lead a traditional Shabbat service, then our guest choirs will perform for each other and finally we will all sing together in the spirit of unity! The Community is invited to share in this uplifting service."

Guest choirs were asked to pick 2 songs from their traditional repertoire. St. Mel Parish Singers and Handbell Choir will be performing AVE VERUM by W.A. Mozart and BREATHE by M. Barnett.

Ensemble pieces are: WHEN YOU BELIEVE from Prince of Egypt, HALLELUYAH (Israeli), HODU AL ERETZ ( a gospel like number in unison) and HINEI MA TOV (round). A group rehearsal is scheduled at VBS on Wednesday, March 11 at 7:30 pm.