Members of our handbell choirs made their annual trek to Lutheridge, a Lutheran conference and retreat center in Arden, NC, last week. We arrived late in the day on Friday, enjoyed dinner, and then launched right into an intense two hour rehearsal. The weekend was taken up with more rehearsals, workshops, worship, and plenty of eating!
While there, we were also able to visit with Pastor and Karla Trexler who are always as happy to see us as we are to see them. (Pastor Trexler is a former pastor of St. Mark's and a past bishop of the Florida Bahamas Synod.)
For the first year (that I know of)we had more ringers than we have bells! We borrowed some extra bells and I rang on the advanced track with ringers from Lakewood United Methodist Church.
The workshop clinicians were Michael Helman and Tim Waugh. We have played their handbell compositions in the past. On Easter Sunday, we will play Helman's "Procession for Easter."
This year we were very happy to have Pastor Hanson and Sue Hanson join us for the trip.
