Final day starts with rehearsal and fellowship

IMG_0716, originally uploaded by oamcsinger.

Pictured: Men of both choruses say their good-byes after morning rehearsal on the final day in Romania.

By Denny Nutter
Sabbath, April 25

Sabbath morning we met in the Seminary chapel for an inspiring combination of rehearsal, meditation on the texts of the music that we were presenting, and personal testimonies. The service concluded like the first time the two choruses had met with each other – the Romanian Men’s Chorus on one side of the chapel and the OAMC on the other. First the Romanian Chorus sang “Soldiers of the Captain” in Romanian, followed by the OAMC singing the same song in English. Then Lou asked the two groups to meet in the middle and exchange our farewells and goodbyes knowing that the next time we would sing together after the concerts Saturday night would be with the heavenly chorus around God’s throne. Many tears were shed and bear hugs exchanged. It was a very emotional time for many of us.

After Sabbath lunch we dressed in our concert attire and boarded the buses for Radio Hall in downtown Bucharest. We were joined once again by the Romanian Brass and the Brasov Symphony Targu Mures State Philharmonic Orchestra (thank you for the correction, Margit). Both concerts were sold out. The acoustics were terrific, the music majestic and spiritually moving. I very much enjoyed the personal exchange with the audience during our entry and during the hymn sing in the round. The audience always seems very pleased and breaks out in spontaneous applause after the second verse of “Nearer, Still Nearer” is sung in Romanian by only the OAMC.

Another high point for me was being with Levis and Paul Dragulin as they met their Romanian grandmother for the very first time just prior to our first concert. I’ll never forget their grins as they hugged her and exclaimed, “Isn’t she beautiful!”

The second concert was moving in more ways than one as we experienced an earthquake of about 5.3 on the Richter scale at 8:20 p.m. We found out the next morning that it had been centered in the region of Vrancea about 145 kilometers northeast of Bucharest.

But that was nothing compared to the moving of the audience by the Holy Spirit that night. It seemed like the audience didn’t want the evening to come to an end. Closing ceremonies and final numbers were a glorious ending to an incredible two-week journey for the OAMC in Romania and the conclusion of most recent chapter fulfilling God’s purpose in changing lives.