Story by Dee Goerge for The Central Minnesota Catholic
Concert goers who anticipated simply listening to a Grammy nominated singer/songwriter at St. Mary Church in Alexandria July 16 were in for a surprise.
Shortly after Father Matthew Kuhn introduced and prayed a blessing for performer Sarah Hart, she had the audience singing and connecting with people around them.
“I don’t like to sing at people,” Hart explained.
She began the afternoon playing piano and singing, “How Can I Keep From Singing?” Then she made it clear she wanted everyone’s participation. When their first efforts didn’t meet her expectations, Hart playfully coaxed them along.
Soon the audience was engaged, singing “You are my Sunshine,” as Hart played piano and her daughter, Evie, strummed a ukulele. Later, Hart had everyone greeting their neighbors with words of affirmations and hugs while snapping their fingers to a song about being nice.
With words on screens, she invited everyone to sing choruses to a few of her songs that some had never heard — and the church was filled with voices.
“When I write songs, I think, ‘Could someone sing this without a book?’” Hart said.
Members of St. Mary’s choir have sung and appreciated Hart’s compositions for years, said Luke VanOverbeke, director of liturgy and music. When he learned Hart was coming to Minnesota for a conference in Collegeville, he booked her to come to Alexandria as part of her Minnesota tour. Hart attended Mass at St. Mary’s Sunday morning and joined the choir to sing her hymns.
“Her music is very personal, yet communal,” VanOverbeke said.
“It’s very singable and the message is so beautiful,” said St. Mary’s choir member Sue Markstrom about Hart’s compositions.
“You can tell the congregation likes it, too,” added fellow chorister Aera Wenisch.
Wenisch had a chance to prove that when Hart asked for a young cantor to join her. She received a lesson on using “cantor face” in addition to using her hands to engage the audience in singing — and laughing.
Throughout the concert, Hart sprinkled joyful moments, randomly playing chords on the piano or guitar as she shared stories. One such story was about the time she sang for Pope Francis and stared at an ugly gargoyle to remain calm and focused. Later, she was inspired to “go for it” with her golden ticket time to meet him. She embraced the pope in a bear hug and felt him laughing as his security nervously eyed her before she said, “Grazie, Papa!” and released her hug.
Just as often, the mood was prayerful as Hart explained how meeting the pope changed her focus from writing the next best song to just “love people” and, of course, to love Jesus.
“Never be ashamed of the love that loved us,” Hart said as she introduced her song, “Never Be Ashamed.”
Hart believes that the Catholic Church is strong because of its diversity and welcoming spirit, which she touches on in her song, “The Feast Meant for Everyone,” a song she wrote with Tom Booth.
“She had God’s presence with her inspired by the Holy Spirit, and I was inspired by her music,” said Linda Hodgson, who is choir director at Assumption Catholic Church in Morris and teaches music at St. Mary’s Catholic School. “I love her music and wanted to see her in person. I was not disappointed. She’s definitely a teacher. She gets people involved. It was interactive, and that reaches people.”
“The fact that we were able to sing along with her was not surprising. Her songs are so singable and in a comfortable range for singers,” added Hodgson’s sister, Lisa Winter, from Wadena, who is an accompanist for churches in the Mary, Mother of the Church ACC.
VanOverbeke admitted he didn’t know what to expect, but he appreciated Hart’s dynamic personality at the concert.
“The word that describes her the most is joyful,” he said. “At our musicians’ workshop, she emphasized that joy through music.”
In addition to the many hymns by Sarah Hart that parishioners may be familiar with, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter has written music for many artists including Celtic Woman, Matt Maher (“Flesh and Bone”), the Newsboys and Amy Grant’s “Better than a Hallelujah,” which was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. For more information, visit www.sarahhart.com.