November 4th, 2022
Welcome song leaders, voices of the congregation, and all who love to sing! Advent is here and so is our new menu of music for the season.
Gathering song: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
Candle lighting song: “Honor the Dark” or “Walking Into Darkness”
Table acclamation: Vasile Advent Table Acclamation
Prayer song: Preference for “Yea, O God” but you can choose from other prayer songs
Offering song: “The Mighty Will Fall“
Final hymn: “People Look East” (November 7-22)
“For the Beauty of the Earth” (November 28-29)
“In the Bleak Midwinter” (December 5 – 12)
“Joy to the World” (December 19)
Thank you for holding your community in song!
November 4th, 2022
“Walking into Darkness” is a song by Jacob Slichter, with words adapted from the poem “Love is a Stranger” by Sufi mystic and poet Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī as well as line from the song “What a Wonderful World,” (written by Bob Thiele and George Weiss and originally performed by Louis Armstrong).
Here are the lyrics:
Walking into darkness
Water flows from life
Night is a companion
For travelers full of light
High above the travelers
The moon shines cold and bright
Casting all its shadows
Through the sacred night
It is sung over a shruti on the silver setting (C and G) and can be sung in one or two parts that overlap as this recording illustrates.
November 3rd, 2022
“Honor the Dark” is a beautiful song in 4 parts, written and performed by Lea Morris. It’s a wonderful piece for advent and wintertime, featuring loving lyrics which embrace the warmth and power of darkness:
1. Honor the dark, honor the dark
2. Honor the darkness, honor the darkness
3. Honor the dark
As you do the light
Receive the gifts that come to us by day and by night
I choose to honor the dark
Uncertainty and change
Deliver us from fear
Until only love remains
4. As the butterfly slips free from her dark cocoon
As the evening sky reveals the light of the moon
Sometimes, fear surrounds us
Sometimes, there will be pain
Let the darkness heal you until only love remains
To hear how the four parts layer on top of each other, listen to this video on Lea’s youtube channel. Community coordinator Debbie Holloway has also created two supplemental recordings:
a teaching track, which offers suggestions on how to teach the song to a group,
and . . .
a short recording of all 4 parts sung separately, one after the other.
September 22nd, 2022
Greetings Song Leaders and all who love to sing! Here is our list of songs for the fall.
Gathering Song: Till the Moon is No More
Candle-Lighting Song: Journey of a Thousand Miles
Table Acclamation: Shelton Table Acclaimation (thanks Meave!)
Regathering/Offering Song: Amen
Final Hymn: Come Thou Fount
Thank you for holding your community in song!
June 15th, 2022
Greetings song leaders and voices of the congregation! Here is our menu of songs and hymns for Pentecost and Pride, June 2022.
Gathering Song: “Come, Come, Whoever You Are”
Table Acclamation: Summer Table Acclamation
Prayer Songs: Build a shelter / Let it Rest
or . . .
Down to the River to Pray
Or any of the St. Lydia’s Prayer Songs
Offering and Announcements song: Zimbabwe Alleluia
Final hymn: Spirit I Have Heard You Calling
June 15th, 2022
“Come, Come, Whoever You Are” is a beautiful setting of a Rumi poem by Unitarian Universalist pastor and poet Lynn Ungar.
It can be sung in a round of up to four parts.
Here’s a recording.
And here are the lyrics:
Come, come, whoever you are,
wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
Ours is no caravan of despair.
Come, yet again, come!
May 25th, 2022
Build a Shelter / Let it Rest is a beautiful prayer song with words by Pamela Grenfell Smith and tune by Conie Borchardt. Pamela writes, “This is a lyric about giving permission to rest from one’s own inner struggle and pain.”
Here’s a recording. Note that the lyrics can change for new verses. Thus, “Build a shelter for your sorrow” can become “Build a shelter for your anger” and so forth.
And here’s the sheet music, with a brief description of the song’s origin.
April 22nd, 2022
Hello everyone!
Here is the music we’ll be singing during Eastertide.
Gathering Song: Kiev Alleluia
Candle Lighting Song: Wade in the Water”
Table Acclamation: Festive Table Acclamation
Prayer Song: “Down to the River to Pray”
Offering Song: “Duncan Alleluia”
Final Hymn:
April 3-18 “Now The Green Blade Riseth” (shruti on silver)
April 24-May 9 “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”
April 21st, 2022
“Down to the River to Pray” is a beautiful song first published in a 1867 collection of African American songs. It is classic of various American musical traditions, including African American spirituals and Appalachian music.
You may recall this version by Alison Krauss from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Here is a teaching recording by Christian.
Here are the lyrics.
(Verse)
As I went down to the river to pray
Studying about that good old way,
And who shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
(Refrain)
O sister, let’s go down,
let’s go down, come on down,
O sister, let’s go down,
Down to the river to pray
As Christian points out in his teaching instructions, the refrains allow any number of substitutions for the bolded word. One could sing . . .
O sibling
O brother
O parent
O father
O mother
O family
O people
O dear one
If you lead with a gendered word such as sister, include other genders in further refrains so our singing creates a space that welcomes all, including those of us who are nonbinary.
