LTSP

New Students, Fall 2001

Make a joyful noise

Linda Furia, musician, has a new "gig" (a job especially for musicians). This former biologist and life long musician has answered the call to music ministry by becoming a seminarian.

Linda grew up with a love for music. Some of her warmest experiences of playing music began in her church choir. "I loved all of the music and singing of a Lutheran liturgy," said Linda. In high school she joined the Lutheran church were she sang and played the piano for Sunday School.

Her entire life she had a dream of being a professional musician. Throughout college she taught and played music to pay for her education at Rutgers University. However, she didn’t feel she was good enough to play music professionally, so she decided to study biology. Gradually, she stopped attending church.

After college graduation, Linda focused on her career as a medical researcher. "Not only was there no time for religion, many of us thought we were above it; we believed we could explain everything through science." However, Linda always remembered the warmth of the Lutheran church. With encouragement from her husband, she left research to become a professional musician and began to again attend church.

After years of honing her keyboard and choral skills, Linda realized that she needed to fill in her ministry skills. "No one ever warned me that my church ‘gigs’ were turning into a music ministry," Linda said. Linda is now a full time music director at the Reformation Lutheran Church and is growing in her present music ministry while she studies.