Concordia Chapel Choir and the Lenten Art Project
Concordia Chapel Choir Concert
On Saturday, March 21 at 2 p.m., Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd hosted the Concordia Chapel Choir from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota. This was the third year in a row that the Concordia Chapel Choir has presented a concert to us as part of their spring tour – thanks to alumnus and Concordia College supporter, Herb Morgenthaler. Herb has spent his life supporting all things Concordia, Norway, and Lutheran. Months ago, he excitedly told me Concordia had hired a wonderful new choir director, Stephanie Tubiolo, and that they wanted to come back to Good Shepherd!
Director Tubiolo and her 85 singers came earlier in the morning, assembled their custom—made choir risers, put together their many percussion instruments, and lifted up their amazing young-person energy for a rehearsal that was but a foretaste of the feast to come. I couldn’t wait when I heard their opening warm-ups, which included starting and stopping pieces from Ariel Ramirez’s Spanish mass setting, Misa Criolla. I was thrilled to know that the audience would be able to enjoy the mass, or hear it for the first time (and I was jealous of those in attendance).
The choristers were then treated to lunch – a taco and bar…bar. The fine volunteers at Good Shepherd worked hard at filling the hungry singers and were treated to the best thanks a choir knows – a thank you song. The fellowship hall was filled with laughter and satisfaction, and the concert in the sanctuary lived up to the billing. If you missed the chance to attend the concert in person, the choir recorded it when they returned to Moorhead the very next day, and it is available online for people to listen again and again. Thank you to all who helped with hosting the choir! What a treat for the ears and warmth for the soul.
Listen to the recorded concert HERE!
Written by Seth Hartwell, Director of Worship and Music
2026 Lenten Art Project
This year’s Lenten art project is a visual meditation on the theme “Promises for the Journey” — courage, strength, protection, companionship, and forgiveness.
Gathering on Wednesday evenings during Lent, members cut, folded, and assembled over a hundred paper boxes to adorn the chancel wall. These purple boxes symbolize God’s promises, while confetti-like bundles of paper woven between them represent the “twists and turns” of life.
As Pastor Laura reflected one Sunday, “Whether we realize it or not, we put God into boxes of our own limitations and making.”
This installation holds that tension—between what we try to contain and what cannot be contained—offering a meditation on God’s enduring promise to be with us through every turn.
Written by Brita Taracks, member of the Good Shepherd Art Team