Rainy Days and Sundays

Remember that Carpenters song with the line 'Rainy days and Mondays always get me down'?  Rainy days and Sunday nights sometimes get me down; Monday morning work looms large and the television set with the nearby couch beckons, especially if there is Sunday night football or a hockey game.  (What is the low-carb substitute name for couch potato?  Maybe couch turnip?)  There is not usually much planned activity; Sunday nights are problematic in the eating and moving department. 
Last night, my husband and I (for whom I am planning to invent a fake name just like Elizabeth Gilbert did for her SO, but that's another post) went to Heinz Chapel for sung prayer by the Pittsburgh Compline Choir.  It's a pretty well kept secret that I learned of only last year when a work colleague invited me to a benefit concert given by the choir, even though it has been doing this for 22 years now during the academic year.   Heinz Chapel is a beautiful venue; and even on a sunny day, seems dark inside.  Compline is the final prayer of the day and in sung form; it is calming and moving. 
When we got home I checked out the choir's website and found an article written by Charlie Stewart for the Holiday 2010 issue of Shady Ave magazine.  Some excerpts that I hope might move local readers of EMM to stop in some Sunday night at 8:30: 
"Feel a sense of calm take hold of you as you enter Heinz Memorial Chapel in Oakland to hear the Pittsburgh Compline Choir.  Close your eyes and listen to the quiet.  Take a deep breath and exhale your worries  As the chanting rises from the chancel, let the goose bumps flow down your spine, while you are transported to a long-ago century.  When the organ prelude begins, a meditative rest takes hold as you imagine leaves shimmering in the breeze, a crescent moon, hugging a friend, a father pushing his daugher on a swing -- or nothing.  The service heightens your senses -- the smell of incense, the sight of flickering candles, and the resonance of the choir's voices in the high, vaulted ceilings of the chapel.  Let the experience waft over you.  Pray for someone you love, and let God know you will try to be a better person.  That's what Compline is all about."