A true blessing

~ Presbyterian organist met Pope John Paul II and accompanied his Mass when he visited California

Last Sunday morning, a little blonde girl, no older than five, skipped up the aisle to the front of Cape Girardeau's First Presbyterian Church, towing her brother by the hand. They sat on the steps of the altar for the chidlren's sermon where parishioner Kate Broeckling asked them how they praised the Lord. The little girl said nothing, just smiled shyly, squirming in her pink polka dot dress.

"Music is one way we can praise the Lord," Broeckling explained as she gave the children hand bells. As she offered a blessing and gave thanks for the gift of music, the children rang out their simple child prayers until the little girl broke back down the aisle, still ringing happily.

Sitting at the organ in the choir loft at the back of the church, Rebecca Hathaway Nelson began her own prayer, playing "O Lord Most High, Eternal King." She's been praising the Lord with music ever since she herself was a 5-year-old girl, and has done it so well that she's had some rare honors. Like playing for Pope John Paul II, who was canonized in Vatican City that same day.

Nelson moved to the area last year when her husband, the Rev. Kim Nelson, became the church's pastor. A few months later she joined the Music Ministry Team and began playing the organ during services.

She laughed describing the first time she, as a Presbyterian, came face-to-face with one of the most beloved religious figures of our time.

"It was kind of like meeting a president you didn't vote for," she said. "You obviously appreciate the enormity of the moment, but you almost want to step back or something."

The soft-spoken organist called it serendipitous, the opportunities that God has afforded her through her music. The native Californian began playing the organ in high school, took it as her major at the University of Red-

of Redlands and eventually became director of music ministry at Madonna del Sasso church in Salinas, California. When the Madonna del Sasso choir was invited to sing at the Vatican, Nelson was encouraged to visit first, and in 1986, she traveled to Italy and met His Holiness.

The following year, the pope's second U.S. tour included a mass held outside Monterey, near Salinas. The Dioscese of Monterey hosted the nationally televised event and asked Nelson to staff the organ. As the pope celebrated mass before 70,000 of the faithful packed into Laguna Seca raceway, Nelson provided the music.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself," she said. "If that had been my goal, I never would have dreamed that I'd be playing for the pope near the lettuce fields of Salinas, California."

When she finally took the Madonna del Sasso choir to sing at the Vatican, and John Paul learned that Nelson had been the one playing in Monterrey, he praised her abilities in his accented English.

"He said he remembered the mass at Monterey and how particularly beautiful the music was. At first I thought he was possibly just being polite," Nelson said, but when a South American priest assured her of John Paul's surprising knack for recalling people and places, she began to think it was possible he wasn't just being polite.

After all, she explained with a small smile, it might be unlikely that the Pope should recall the music from one particular mass, but is it any less likely that a Presbyterian organist would end up playing for him?

"It was a true blessing," she said. "And I've always been impressed with how my Catholic brothers and sisters have treated me. It really was a nonissue that I wasn't Catholic, and through working in a Catholic church, I've found that we have so many things in common."

As it turns out, music is one of those things. But Nelson doesn't play only church music. On Salinas's acclaimed Western Stage, she recently performed "Side by Side by Sondheim" and since moving to Cape Girardeau, has become involved with Southeast Missouri State University's theater department. She played the keyboard for the recent production of "Peter Pan" and will do the same for the upcoming production of "Nunsense."

In the meantime, Nelson and choir director Dr. Peter Durow are focused on helping the congregation at First Presbyterian Church better praise the Lord through music.

"Dr. Durow and myself like a variety of musical styles," she explained. "A blended service of traditional and contemporary music is more effective for 21st century worship."

The hand bells have been played at First Presbyterian in the past, but it was she and Durow who decided to bring them back.

Playing last Sunday was especially meaningful for Nelson. It reminded her why she strives to enrich her parishioners' musical experience -- because, as she attests, there's no telling where it could lead.

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627

235 Broadway Cape Girardeau, MO 63701