I have chronicled here before the story of the devotion of our organist, choir director, and finally, cantor, Rocky Craft. His 22 years of service to the parish I serve has proven the impact a parish musician can make on the life, integrity, and fruitfulness of a congregation. He came among us when we had a broken down Rodgers electronic and small choir. He retired having been the guiding force behind two pipe organs (65 ranks in the main sanctuary and 11 ranks in the chapel), a large and accomplished choir, an established music series with well attended concerts, several bell and chime choirs, and the love and affection of all our people.
When Cantor Emeritus Craft retired in 2019, we had commissioned an anthem from Benjamin Culli, a wonderful and very easy composer to work with. It was a wonderful text and the anthem was more than we could have hoped. It has become one of our favorites. Concordia Publishing House published this anthem later and then now it is featured on their blog. You can read the story from composer Culli (himself a parish musician!) here. You can listen to the CPH performance choir with their rendition below. But my personal favorite was its premiere at Grace Lutheran Church to the surprise of our Cantor and with our greatest joy and gratitude from the parish he served so well. That Facebook video is at the bottom of the page. God bless you, Rocky!
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