Congratulations to Faith York, who was celebrated at the June 18 Sunday service for her 30 creative and inspirational years of leading the Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church choir as its director.

In a video shown during the service, retired CEUMC Minister Ruth Morrison summed up Faith’s deep contributions to the church and community:

“Thank you, Faith, for being the sound track, the hum of the life in ministry of the Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church all these years. Blessed are you, holy are you. Rejoice and be glad. Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Faith was hired as the choir director in 1994. During Sunday’s service, she was recognized for her diverse musical talents, the most significant being the music she specifically composes for Sunday services. Her original hymns and songs have been created for the church’s 150th anniversary, Easter Sundays, funerals, special events, but most impressively, for any given Sunday for which she presents the congregation with a surprise and cherished gift.

Judith Hill has been a choir member for all of Faith’s 30 years. For Sunday’s service, Judith read this Opening Prayer:

“Lord, we come before you today with our gifts of musical praise. We give thanks to you for creating us with the ability to sing and make music. We thank you for the work of Faith York in bringing music to us all, and leading us in praise of you. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Throughout the video celebrating Faith’s years of leading the CEUMC Choir, a variety of members of the congregation shared memories of her special and unique contributions:

Longtime choir member Duane Wakefield: “I can’t say enough about the quality of your music, the quality of your leadership; to be able to find the best in anyone who joined our choir and use their voice appropriately.”

Choir member Stephen Bither: “I remember a time when Faith said, ‘I am music’. That’s who she is. She is music and music is intertwined with her life, so much so it is part of her.”

Judith Hill: “Faith could take a choir of six to eight people and make it sound like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.”

Retired CEUMC Minister Priscilla Dreyman: “She is a Renaissance woman with many, many gifts she uses every single day. She’s a musician of many musical genres and styles. She’s a composer of a multitude of hymns and songs.

“When Mary Jane O’Connor-Ropp and I co-partnered at the church, we marveled at how every single week the choir moved us so deeply in singing their anthems that spoke to the scripture lesson and the theme of the service . . . Worshipping for me was so often a peak experience because of God speaking to all of us through Faith’s music and the music of the choir.”

Current CEUMC Minister Kathleen Decker-Szakas: “We know Faith as a talented musician, as a composer, as a choir director, and as a teacher. The times I have sat with the choir, she pulls out from the group of singers who are there that week the best and creates a beautiful, worshipful sound for all of us.”

Mark Braun, chairperson of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee: “She gives to us the most important of arts — music, giving freely, and creatively, and lovingly, and to help integrate it all into a service, seemingly with such ease from a vast knowledge, but also knowing the work it takes to deliver it to us — the rhythm, and tune, and words, and harmony, and grace with conviction.”

Pastor Kathleen presented Faith with a bouquet of flowers during the service and a celebratory cake was served after worship.

After three decades, words alone cannot capture the impact Faith and her music have had on this church. Thank you, Faith, and also thank you for bringing along Larry Ducharme for being an integral part of the CEUMC music program worship, also for 30 years!