The end of October brings Halloween, Samhain, Day of the Dead, All Saints Day, All Soul’s Day. Different forms of spirituality refer to this time in different ways, but all honor our ancestors. Next Sunday the Choir will express deep reverence for those who came before us, and have since walked on, with a beautiful adagio called “In Paradisum”.
The concept of “Paradise” has been around a long time. As a place of peace and happiness, it is imagined as the abode of the virtuous dead in Egyptian, Greek, Muslim, Celtic, Hindu, Hebrew, Christian, and many other traditions. The Latin words in this piece translate:
May angels lead you into paradise
May the martyrs receive you at your arrival
And lead you to the holy city Jerusalem.
May the choirs of angels receive you
And with Lazarus, once a man,
May you have eternal rest.
Composer Damien Kehoe credits the inspiration for his choral compositions to the influence of Whitacre, Palestrina, Bach, and Wagner. Like them, he sees himself experimenting with different harmonies and sounds for choral voices. Wait till you hear the Choir seek Paradise on Earth as they perform these experiments!
About two years ago, a devastating wildfire swept through our community. We came together, supported each other, helped each other. We belong to a community that dreamed a new dream. Today some of those dreams have come true. As long as we can dream, we can hope. And as long as we can hope, we can thrive.
Jan Garrett and her husband JD Martin live and write songs together near Aspen Colorado, a place that has also seen its share of wildfires. She wrote this song when the smoke of wildfires filled the air around their mountain home.
“I Dreamed Of Rain”
I dreamed of rain and the rains came,
soft and easy, sweet and clear.
I dreamed of rain and the rains came,
and peace spread over the land.
I dreamed of summer and the winds changed,
and the green was easy and the rivers ran clear.
I dreamed of summer and the winds changed,
and peace spread over the land.
And the flowers bloomed in the desert
and the air was fresh and clear.
I dreamed of rain and the rains came,
and peace spread over the land.
I dreamed of freedom and the moon rose,
and the way was easy and the path was clear.
I dreamed of freedom and the moon rose,
and peace spread over the land.
And the guardian stars are shining,
and the night is bright and clear.
I dreamed of freedom and the moon rose,
and peace spread over the land.
I dreamed of heaven and the earth sang,
and the sound was easy, and the song was clear.
I dreamed of heaven and the earth sang,
and peace spread over the land.
And the ancient pain is forgotten,
and the fathers’ debts are clear.
I dreamed of heaven and the earth sang,
and peace spread over the land.
In keeping with the September Soul Matters theme of “Expectation”, some young singers from Choir Director Sadie Sonntag’s school will be singing this Sunday. The song is “Freedom” by Pharell Williams. This is a rousing, dancing, hand-clapping celebration.
Hold on to me
Don’t let me go
Who cares what they see?
Who cares what they know?
Your first name is Free
Last name is Dom
We choose to believe
In where we’re from
The Choir’s contribution will be “If You’re Out There” by John Legend. This song was inspired by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and was later posted as a free download on Obama’s website. The song also alludes to Gandhi’s quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
We’ve been looking for a song to sing. We searched for a melody
Searched for someone to lead. We’ve been looking for the world to change.
If you feel the same, Then go on and say
If you’re out there, Sing along with me
If you’re out there, I’m dying to believe
That you’re out there, Stand up and say it loud
If you’re out there, Tomorrow’s starting now
Now, now
No more broken promises, No more call to war
Unless it’s love and peace That we’re really fighting for
We can destroy hunger. We can conquer hate
Put down the arms and raise your voice, We’re joining hands today.
Oh I was looking for a song to sing, I searched for a leader
But the leader was me. We were looking for the world to change.
We can be heroes, Just go on and say
If you’re out there, Sing along with me
If you’re out there, I’m dying to believe
That you’re out there, Stand up and say it loud
If you’re out there….
Oh, oh, oh, if out there, Are you ready now?
Say it loud, scream it out.
If you’re out there, Sing along with me
If you’re out there, I’m dying to believe,
That you’re out there. Stand up and say it loud,
If you’re out there. Tomorrow’s starting now.
If you’re out there
If you’re out there
If you’re out there
If you’re out there
If you’re out there
Two major things are slated to happen next Sunday, September 15: 1) we return to the two-services schedule at 9:15 and 11:00 am, and 2) the choir returns to our 2-Sundays-a-month schedule. Next Sunday is “Ingathering”, a word that itself has two meanings: 1) a gathering of persons, an assembly, and 2) a gathering of farm products, a harvest. Both are appropriate for mid-September.
The Choir has been rehearsing “Love Is The Water” by Pat Wictor, a singer-songwriter born in Venezuela of American parents in 1966. Introduced to history, poetry and the arts by his mother, Pat spent his early years in countries all over the globe due to his father’s career in private industry. He first came to America as a teenager and settled in California. He wrote this song in 2011, and performed it with the trio Brother Sun for the album Waiting for the Water.
The river washes over every woman and man
Feet in the gravel, and mud in your hands
Nothing can stand against love’s command
Every boulder turns into a grain of sand
Love is the water that wears down the rock
Love is the water that wears down the rock
Love is the power that won’t be stopped
Love is the water that wears down the rock
The repetitive chorus usually encourages people to sing along. Please feel free to do so if the Spirit moves.
“Transcendence” is June’s theme, something beyond the normal, physical experience of being. What can facilitate such transcendence?
A rare gift of music!. The choir will perform this soul-stirring piece from the pen of John Rutter. Set in a gently lilting tempo, it will make your heart soar.
If you could have any gift, any treasure
Taste any pleasure, then what would it be?
Search the wide world high and low for an answer
Over the mountains and down to the sea
Would you wish for youth and beauty, or wealth to make a show?
Or power and position and strength? Oh no…
For you youth it will vanish, and beauty will fade
And your wealth and position are all just a passing parade
May your soul have the gift of music, may your heart be inspired with song
May the echoes remain in your memory, like a friendship that last your whole life long
When your joy is the joy of music, all the magical sounds you hear
Everyday that you spend with music
Is the best day, the best new day of the year
The piece was written in 2007 and dedicated to Elizabeth Goodey for her 80th birthday. Elizabeth was the wife of a special friend of Rutter, Frank Goodey, who walked on in 2005. They were a musical couple who blessed the residents of County Cork, Ireland, with their talent for many years.
A million dreams inspired Phineas T Barnum to create “The Greatest Show On Earth,” filled with wonders like the Feejee Mermaid and General Tom Thumb. These, of course, were hoaxes, but Barnum believed in attracting and pleasing the public, not duping them. He described himself as The Greatest Showman and he certainly attracted and pleased a great audience.
The theme of Salvation and Wholeness continues this Easter Sunday, April 21, with our congregation’s traditional Flower Communion, and an expectation of a million dreams come true!
I close my eyes and I can see
A world that’s waiting up for me
That I call my own.
Through the dark, through the door,
Through where no one’s been before,
But it feels like home.
They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy.
They can say, they can say I’ve lost my mind.
I don’t care, I don’t care, so call me crazy.
We can live in a world that we design.
‘Cause ev’ry night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head.
A million dreams are keeping me awake.
I think of what the world could be,
A vision of the one I see.
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take.
Oh, a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make!
“I Have a Voice” was written by Frank Wildhorn and Robin Lerner. It is a song that inspires rising above bullying, a powerful anthem for any kid who has felt alone and unsafe at school. The profits this song earns go to No Bully (www.nobully.org), a non-profit organization that trains schools to promote student compassion in order to stop bullying.
Educators, psychologists and lawyers helped No Bully develop a non-punitive “No Bully System”, committed to preventing students from experiencing and enduring all forms of bullying. They have created bully-free campuses for over 100,000 students.
I have a voice, simple and clear.
It speaks the truth, for all to hear.
It gives me hope, it gives me faith,
It lifts me up, it keeps me safe.
I have a voice, it’s mine alone.
It comforts me, it is my own.
Although it’s small, I’m not afraid,
For I am strong in its embrace.
No one can say what I have seen,
Or understand where I have been,
For what I found inside myself,
Belongs to me and no one else.
If I were blind and had no eyes to see,
Still I would hear that voice inside of me.
I wish that you,
I wish that you
Could hear it too
The month of April has the theme of Salvation and Wholeness. Sunday, April 14th’s topic is The Rights of Children, and the Choir will perform this piece. What is more important than the right to safety for a child?
This song is in our hymnal under the title “My Life Flows On In Endless Song”. Baptist minister Robert Wadsworth Lowry wrote the original words, published in 1868 in The New York Observer. The Choir will perform it on Sunday the 31st. The first verse goes:
My life flows on in endless song:
Above earth’s lamentation,
I catch the sweet, tho’ far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?
We Unitarian Universalists changed the words a little in the second verse:
What tho’ the tempest ’round me roars,
I know the truth, it liveth.
What tho’ the darkness ’round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love prevails in heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
… and a lot in the third:
When tyrants tremble as they hear
The bells of freedom ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing!
To prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging;
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?
If you hear someone singing the wrong words, it’s prob’ly me, Randy Jones. I was raised Baptist and learned the song long, long ago!
15th century Indian poet and mystic, Kabir, wrote many poems. In 1915, 100 of these poems were translated into English and published in a book titled Songs of Kabir. A hundred years later, in 2014, Elizabeth Alexander took one of these poems and set it to music. The choir will perform this challenging piece, with its close harmonies and mysterious progressions, on Sunday, March 10th.
You are in us and we are in You.
Each distinct, yet ever united.
You are the tree, the seed, and the cell;
You are the flower, the fruit, and the shade…
You are the immanent Mind in us;
You are the Soul Supreme within the Soul.
You are in us and we are in You,
Blessed are all who see You.
The theme of the month is Truth. Truth is sometimes elusive. Truth sometimes stares you in the face. Truth can be painful, liberating, enlightening, mysterious. Truth is Life. Truth is Death. Truth presents Itself here as Supreme Being. Blessed are those who see Truth.
Sunday, February 24, the Choir will perform a piece by David Greenberg with words by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Greenberg is an American poet and songwriter. Emerson was an American poet and essayist. Put together they make beautiful music. The piece is called simply “Music” and it is beautiful.
Let me go where’er I will, I hear a skyborn music still:
It sounds from all things, all things old,
It sounds from all things, all things young,
From all that’s fair, from all that’s foul,
Peals out a cheerful, cheerful song.
The theme of the service will be Surrender and Letting Go. This poem/song explores the beauty in the mundane, the hope in the mean, the light in the dark. Through it we learn to let go of the need for perfection, and accept that imperfection is okay.
