Comfort and Renew Center hosts LCMS Choir

 

Members of Concordia Academy Choir at St. Paul's Chapel

 

Sixty-six students and twelve adults from Concordia Academy (LCMS) Choir traveled from Roseville, MN last week. The choir tours each year, and this year they came to New York City.

“When they called about the Faith Walk and explained they where a tour choir, I asked if they would like to perform at St. Paul's Chapel.  It was a way for them to give a gift of their music in honor of those lost on Sept. 11th,” said Pastor Ann Tiemeyer of Koinonia NYC.  St. Paul’s was the respite center for Ground Zero recovery workers, offering meals, massages, counseling, and supplies to volunteers and uniformed personnel during the cleanup efforts.  It is now open to the public, offering artifacts and video presentations to visitors from around the world. 

With such a large group in the Comfort and Renew Center, several Koinonia staff members and LDRNY’s John Scibilia and Mikki Baloy were enlisted to lead discussions and answer questions.  Another large student group, from Orange County Lutheran High School, visited the Center and participated in a FaithWalk just two days later.  Several of those students had lost a relative.

Choir director Rebecca Fritz led the Concoria Academy students in four songs at St. Paul’s, including the hymn “Abide with Me.”  Prior to the concert and FaithWalk, the choir sang at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Garden City, visited churches in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and of course went sight seeing at Ellis Island, Jones Beach, and Times Square, and went to a Broadway show.

“Watching them sing at St. Paul's was very powerful,” said Pr. Tiemeyer.  “I’m so thankful we were able to arrange the concert and make a FaithWalk part of their experience of New York City.”

 

Before the concert, students gather at St. Paul's