2010 Events

We presented a concert with all proceeds benefitting the flood victims in Pakistan – demonstrating that divisions of faith and country do not overshadow the common wish to help our fellow humans.

Performers included the Muslim Youth Choir; First Baptist’s organist Robert Jordan; Sikh Youth Musicians; Aspire Ensemble Vocal Quartet; violinists Fatima and Humza Mirza; Third Coast Ensemble; Pakistani-American pop singer Taimoor Khan; First Congregational Church’s Choir; members of the Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra (pictured); Cantor Larry Charson; and MFSM Executive Director/cellist/composer Elizabeth Start.

In collaboration with Transformations Spirituality Center, we welcomed singer-songwriters Joel Mabus and Carrie Newcomer as they “made a joyful sound” with their fresh, engaging and spirit-filled musical performances.

Newcomer presented Writing Mindfully: Exploring the Sacred Ordinary in Story and Song – a song-writing workshop focusing on exploring life through the power of small details and personal story. She shared writing tools and practices, and presented new ways for actively participating in art-making in a more spirit-filled manner.

Mabus presented Singing From Other Hymnals: Finding the Sacred in the Secular – a Songwriter’s Perspective, a workshop exploring the idea of our own personal “hymnal.” Joel explored “hymns” in unlikely places, and surveyed songs that might not be religious or even reverent in some cases, but that speak to the soul and “our better angels.”

A community tradition since 1995, the annual Messiah Sing was held in the historic First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Kalamazoo.