Tim Scorer: Learning God through What We Sing

It’s critical that the people who create hymn and songbooks, and who shape Sunday worship, are aware of the significance of the hymns and songs they choose to use…

Every congregational survey I’ve ever seen lists music as one of the three most important features of the congregation’s worship life. The music we sing or hear sung in church speaks to us in ways that the spoken word alone does not. Music has the power to shape both the head and the heart – which is why the people who create music resources for the church, and who shape Sunday worship, pay so much attention to the message of the hymns and songs they choose to use. They know its significance.

There’s a kind of denominational stamp of approval that comes with hymns and songs published in books and placed in pews that carries a lot of weight with church members. “Well, if they have us singing these words, it must be what we’re supposed to believe,” is a pervasive attitude among churchgoers who tend to go along with what is given, developing an attachment to the attractive and familiar rather than objecting to dated theology and systems of belief that are no longer relevant. At the same time, many people balk at having dated and unpersuasive theology foisted on them Sunday after Sunday. They walk out the church door and don’t come back. Witness the dramatically declining attendance in mainline denominations in North America over the last four decades.

On the other hand, the people who choose to stay in church and who work to include hymn and song lyrics that express 21st-century theology are often rewarded with some really fine poetry and musicianship. Truth to tell, in the world of church music and hymn writing, there are numerous song writers and musicians who are putting together words and music to express a contemporary theology that speaks powerfully to the spiritual worldview of 21st-century Christians.

The recent co-publication of a new song collection from The United Church of Canada and Wood Lake Publishing is a testimony to the ministry of these contemporary musicians and poets. There’s a lot to check out in More Voices, a collection of 225 songs, representing an array of musical styles
In this edition of CopperHouseCURRENT five of the song-writers represented in More Voices speak to our “Insight”: “Choose carefully; we are formed by the words we sing.”

And, as encouragement to explore the diversity that’s offered between the covers of More Voices I have included a feature called Choosing Carefully: Ten Teasers from the More Voices.

CURRENT commercial: SUMMERTIME ~ TIME for MUSIC

Looking for Spirit-filled music for personal or group worship settings? Wood Lake Publishing distributes the music of Cheryl and Bruce Harding, Linnea Good, Jim and Jean Strathdee, and Jim Manley.

Order your copy of More Voices Songbook and the More Voices Audio CD set. Explore the richness and depth of this collection of 225 songs. With the CD hear all the songs in the collection.

Go to our website at www.woodlakebooks.com to find out more!

Jim Strathdee: We Are What We Sing

“The ingredients we put into our songs of faith inform our spiritual journeys, our relationship with the divine, the way we understand the world, the vision and purpose of our lives…”

“There’s no way to peace. Peace is the way.”

Jim and Jean Strathdee are internationally respected concert artists, composers, and worship/song leaders, who have written over 400 songs, hymns, and anthems, including I am the Light of the World and What Does the Lord Require of You. Their music is sung by faith communities on five continents, offering a message of unity and compassion, justice and healing. Jim writes the following:

Recently, Jean and I participated in a symposium entitled “We are what we sing.” Just as “you are what you eat,” the ingredients we put into our songs of faith inform our spiritual journeys, our relationship with the divine, the way we understand the world, and the vision and purpose of our lives. As long-time church musicians responsible for leading our congregations in song, we do our best to choose carefully.

In this symposium, we were asked if we find “praise choruses” useful for the progressive (or the emerging) Christian movement. In answering this, Jeanie referenced the two parts of the “great commandment” – to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul; and your neighbour as yourself. She said there is nothing wrong with expressing our gratitude to God for the gift of life through these short repetitive songs of praise, piety, and love. The problem is that generally the choruses sing of only the first half of the commandment. They usually do not sing of loving our neighbour, or of the many ways we are called to love God’s world. We need to also find choruses that express the whole of our biblical faith.

The allure of these songs is their easy accessibility and repetitive nature. They hearken back to the ancient chanting found in all religious traditions, where, after a while, the song we’ve been singing to God is actually singing us. When this happens, we can experience a deep personal integration, unity, and connection with the divine.

I would suggest Linnea Good and Keri Wehlander’s “Like a Rock” (More Voices #92)

Like a rock, like a rock, God is under our feet.
Like the starry night sky God is over our head.
Like the sun on the horizon God is ever before.
Like the river runs to ocean, our home is in God evermore.

What does the Lord require of you?
What does the Lord require of you?
To seek justice and love kindness
And walk humbly with your God.

Bruce and Cheryl Harding have created many beautiful songs in this style, several of which are included in More Voices. Here’s just one example:

Bread for the journey, food for the way.
Cup of God’s blessing, tomorrow, today.

If I had time and space here, I would love to speak of many themes and essential songs – songs I can’t do without, songs without which I would be utterly shipwrecked and unable to navigate the turbulent, troublesome waters of authentic worship and faithful living – songs about God and Jesus, the body of Christ, creation, songs to sing with children – songs that have become my compass. However, here are two essential categories of songs, and examples from each.

Radical Inclusion and Unity
God loves all people. We are called to welcome them. There is no better way to do this than to sing Gordon Light’s “Draw the Circle Wide” (More Voices #145). Here’s the refrain:

Draw the circle wide.
Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song,
no one stands alone,
standing side by side,
draw the circle wide.

We are often asked to lead music for groups of Christians, Muslims, and Jews seeking to find common ground and a way to peace. We would be lost without “Deep in Our Hearts” by John Oldham and Ron Klusmeier (More Voices #154). Again, here is the refrain:

Deep in our hearts there is a common vision
deep on our hearts there is a common song
deep in our hearts there is a common story
telling Creation that we are one.

War and Peace
As citizens of the USA, Jean and I have a strong conviction that the foreign policy of our government needs to be transformed. We need to change from a preoccupation with domination and empire building to a determined passion for the well-being of our neighbours on this planet. When our neighbours have well-being, we will have true security. We need to be known for the quality of our relationships and service rather than for the size and the threat of our weapons. There is a huge gap between these two paradigms and, therefore, lots of work to do. Songs of war and peace, therefore, are very important to us.

For many years, the work of Shirley Erena Murray has been a “tuning fork” for us. Her words ring true for a marvellous variety of faith issues, especially this one. As a New Zealander looking at Americans about to invade Iraq, she wrote the chilling image “hawks are in control of a nation’s soul,” then, hopefully, “evil has no tooth that can kill the truth.” We should listen to our neighbours who, perhaps, can see us better than we see ourselves.

We find our song “Peace is the way,” inspired by a quote from A. J. Muste, very useful today. (Additional words and music by Jim Strathdee, copyright © 2003 by Desert Flower Music, from Stand for What is Right. Used by permission.)

There’s no way to peace, peace is the way.
The strength of love and justice will bring the peaceful day.
The power of forgiveness will wash the blood away.
There’s no way to peace, peace is the way.

There’s no way to love, love is the way
to feel each human heartbeat in all the world today,
to overcome all hatred and melt the fears away.
There’s no way to love, love is the way.

There’s no way to justice, justice is the way
to honour all creation, all peoples have their say,
to end all domination with freedom and fair play.
There’s no way to justice, justice is the way.

There are many more themes and essential songs needed to help us sing our faith together in these times. What’s important is that we keep the faith and keep on singing!

Keri K. Wehlander: Working Theology

“The words we sing and speak become our working theology.”

Keri Wehlander is an author, hymn lyricist, liturgical dancer, and leader of retreats and workshops. Spirituality and the arts provide a primary focus for her work in various settings in both Canada and the US. A passion for making biblical stories and imagery come alive lies at the heart of her work. She consistently seeks to find ways of integrating artistic expression into the life of the church. Her book Circles of Grace: Worship and Prayer in the Everyday has become an invaluable resource for congregations, church camps, retreat settings, and individuals desiring to deepen their prayer life.

In 1854, a hymn entitled “Essay” appeared in Southern Harmony, in a section indicating that several of the selections were “Entirely New.” The first verse of this hymn reads as follows: “See how the wicked kingdom is falling ev’ry day!/And still our blessed Jesus is winning souls away:/But O how I am tempted, no mortal tongue can tell!/So often I’m surrounded with enemies from hell.”

I’m certain that the verse was written in all seriousness, but my response to it a century and a half later was to laugh – and groan. I would not be able to sing those words within a worship setting. They reflect a theology and outlook quite contrary to what I believe.

The language used within worship reflects particular understandings of the nature of God and of how one expresses the life of faith in both attitude and relationship. In other words, the words we sing and speak become our working theology.

Hymns from another generation can have meaning and impact for future generations, but we need to be clear about the working theology they present. One of the reasons I have a facsimile of the 1854 edition of Southern Harmony is because I am drawn to so many melodies contained within that collection. I found the music for my hymn “Each Blade of Grass” in this hymnal. When I originally sang through the melody, I thought to myself, “We need to be able to sing this again.” As I listened to the tune, it felt like it was meant to be a creation hymn. In working on the text for the hymn, I was intentional about trying to present each part of creation as an integral piece of the whole. As I wrote the words, I hoped to reflect our current understanding that a new relationship with our environment is both necessary and possible. And so this hymn was shaped by both an old melody and a new theology.

I do believe that the words I write will matter. I have no set predictions as to how they will matter, but I believe they will have an impact. I believe that these words are part of a larger effort to weave a story of this generation of faith together, so that we can articulate the challenges and calling we are discovering as we journey the 21st century. Some of the words we choose now, no doubt, will become quaint and outdated in the future. It is our hope, however, that some of them will shape the way for us to move forward into that future with imagination and integrity.

Each Blade of Grass (More Voices #37)
Words Copyright © 2005 Keri K. Wehlander (www.creativeworship.ca)

Each blade of grass,
ev’ry wing that soars,
the waves that sweep across a distant shore,
make full the circle of God.
Each laughing child,
ev’ry gentle eye,
a forest lit beneath a moon-bright sky,
make full the circle of God.

Each silent paw,
ev’ry rounded stone,
the buzz that echoes from a honey’d comb,
make full the circle of God.
Each fire-brimmed star,
ev’ry outstretched hand,
the wind that leaps and sails
across the land,
make full the circle of God.

Each icy peak,
ev’ry patterned shell,
the joyous chorus
that the dawn foretells,
make full the circle of God.
Each cosmic hue,
ev’ry creature’s way,
all form the beauty
of this vast array
making full the circle of God.

Shirley Erena Murray: A Hymn-writer's Perspective from "Down Under"

“If we are still singing personal salvation before care of the earth and each other, there’s a huge chasm.”

Shirley Erena Murray is a hymn text writer and hymnal editor now living in Raumati Beach, New Zealand. Her work appears in over 50 collections worldwide, and her hymns have been set by more than 30 contemporary composers. Her themes range from the Church Year and the sacraments, to inclusiveness, personal faith, non-violence, and ecology. She has worked as a teacher, parliamentary researcher, and producer of radio hymn programs.

Doing Theology Upside Down in the Southern Hemisphere
It’s a winter Sunday here in New Zealand, but early summer for those of you who live in the Northern Hemisphere. Those of us who live in the Southern Hemisphere have to do upside-down theology because “the Story” that we all share was lived, told, and written in different seasons on the other side of the world. Think of Christmas in high summer. Easter when it’s autumn! So much of the traditional Christian imagery goes out the window of relevance when lived in a different season of the year.

“Snow-free carols” reflect the climate of our environment and thought. Easter is a time of burning leaves and planning for the winter. To reflect the reality of our own environment we have had to create our own new hymns.

Dream a Dream (More Voices #158)
Words: Shirley Erena Murray, 1996, copyright © Hope Publishing Company

Dream a dream, a hopeful dream,
as children do on Christmas Eve,
imaginings, surprising things
to hold and to believe.

Dream a time, this Christmas time,
when no one’s hungry or afraid;
that weapons go and harvest grow,
that friends are met and made.

Dream a peace, our planet’s peace,
the greening of the earth at play,
the holy ground where life is found,
where God has touched the clay.

Dream a gift, the Christmas gift
that changes everything we see:
the shimmering of angel wing,
the Child, the Mystery.

Going Beyond the “Old Chestnuts”
It’s so important that we choose our words carefully. When old theology, which is totally irrelevant to contemporary life, is set in amber the result is exclusion. If “Amazing Grace” has become the “one size fits all” theology for ordinary people, how poverty-stricken are we? I feel passionate about many aspects of the writing and use of hymns, but especially about the timidity and laziness of worship leaders in introducing new ones!

God Weeps (More Voices #78)
Words: Shirley Erena Murray, 1994, copyright © Hope Publishing Company

God weeps at love withheld,
at strength misused,
at children’s innocence abused,
and till we change the way we love,
God weeps.

God bleeds at anger’s fist,
at trust betrayed,
at women battered and afraid,
and till we change the way we win,
God bleeds.

God cries at hungry mouths,
at running sores,
at creatures dying without cause,
and till we change the way we care,
God cries.

God waits for stones to melt,
for peace to seed,
for hearts to hold each other’s need,
and till we understand the Christ,
God waits.

Peace, Poverty, and the Care of the Earth
The big three issues facing humanity, not just the church, seem to be peace, poverty, and care of the earth. In my own way of writing and thinking, peace has always been the dominant and most difficult theme. It is at the heart of everything Jesus lived and worked for. But without a healthy planet, and healthy people, peace is unlikely. If we are still singing personal salvation before care of the earth and each other, there’s a huge chasm. Don’t we listen to scientists and doctors, as well as theologians?

This thinking led me to begin writing “green” hymns, trying to connect the beautiful creation with the destructive spirit that threatens it. When Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth came around, it seemed time to try another green hymn and this is what I would offer to the readers of CopperHouse Current:

Look in Wonder
Words: Shirley Erena Murray, November 2006, copyright © Hope Publishing Company

Look in wonder, hold in honour
all the beauty of the earth!
World, surrender to her splendour:
God’s own blessing for her birth;

sense and savour every colour,
every season, sun to star,
see the measure of this treasure,
all we nurture, all we mar.

look in horror, look in anger –
these are life-streams we destroy!
tree and river gone forever,
bird and flower dead to joy.

God, unnerve us, God, forgive us:
how we plunder, waste and war!
Give new meaning to earth’s greening,
that the beauty thrives once more.

Linnea Good: Beyond Words

“We need to allow for a broader message to be given through our music styles – not just the words that accompany it.”

Linnea Good is a singer-songwriter, musical animator, and educator whose life’s work is to help people celebrate their lives – especially through music. From the house of her Canadian culture, community, and Christian faith tradition, Linnea travels extensively, seeking connections between the new and the old, the head and the heart, between male and female, children and adults, between those who pray and those who act. This, she believes, is the challenge of our time in the house of faith – to bring together that which is broken and that which we have forgotten was ever one in the first place.

My dad had a stroke last March and it took all his words away. Nouns, names, precision, context, lyrics… To the distant hearer, what he says (in his usual forthright and blustering way) is all English. But drawing nearer, you can hear that the words are not really what they mean to be. They are leaps of faith, a mis-connected Lego of phrases, paths leading into dead ends and wildernesses of meaning. He retraces his steps and the path is gone. “Perhaps your mother can tell you what I meant.”

“In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word WAS God.” I once wrote a song – the first song I ever wrote for the church, actually – that began with this. How I adored those words! I live for words. They rattle hard, ringing into my bowl at breakfast; I feed upon them all day long. I have chosen to live out my faith in a denomination that loves words as I do – with an obsessive clinging that borders on an addiction.

Our worships worship words. They are packed full of words – calls, approaches, intercessions, sermons, announcements, mission anecdotes, hymns in perfect meter, anthems, all silences filled. We carefully tend our words, weeding them, allowing imagery to blossom and others to die off or be outright discarded. We have begun to examine critically the images we employ in our songs of faith, knowing that they have the greatest of all impacts on the shaping of the individual and on the collective ways we see God and act in the world. It is good that we do this. It is our gift to the community of faith – our attention to the varied garden of words.

But there is more to the music of faith than words. Recently, I came upon a hymn contest that asked us to write a hymn based on Process Theology. “Process-relationship theology,” it reported, “sees the universe as creative, inter-relational, dynamic and open to the future, with God as relational, present in every moment of our lives and in all entities and levels of being. Preference will be given to hymns with existing hymn tunes.” How can we do this? How can we express a new perception of Mystery in the old wine-skins of music?!

We divide our hymns up into words and what we call “settings” – music that is a kind of bucket that transports the words and meaning. Not much attention is really paid to the importance of the theology of the melody-harmony-rhythm-tempo that accompanies these words; we understand theology to be entirely conveyed through Word. Yet the tune, the speed, the hardness and softness of the rhythm, the cultural style of music all contain within them a message. When we sing great words about the unfettered, Holy Spirit rushing into our lives and unseating us with its power but sing it to a foursquare hymn “setting,” we have created a conflict. I believe the message we have really shared is this: “We wrestle with God’s power in this church and we win.”

We need to allow for a broader message to be given through our music styles – not just through the words that accompany it.

We need to let go of words in favour of communication through other senses.

We need to let go of our words in favour of silence – to create redolent spaces that allow us to hear. Clearly, a worship tradition that does not allow for pregnant pauses does not expect any births in their midst. A dinner host who talks the whole time does not expect that her guests can hold their own conversations with one another – or can not cope with what is said silently. We are that host in our worship services (and board meetings and potluck suppers…). And the cram-packs of prayer that we offer as greeting to God belie a fear of letting go – and of letting God speak in our collective lives.

On Father’s Day, I phoned my dad from this other end of the country, to see if words alone could be enough. “Oh darly, how adore-ful to hear of you.” With his words missing, he has become effusive, more loving – somehow more my dad. All of this is deeply bittersweet to me, but somewhere held within it, I perceive a calling to a deeper place of connection – some place beyond words.

Dan Damon: Putting Words into the Mouth of God

“Old tunes carry theological messages. It is not just the text that carries the good or bad news.”

Dan Damon is an internationally published writer of hymn texts and tunes. He is pastor of First United Methodist Church, Richmond, California, and serves as adjunct faculty in church music at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Dan plays piano in clubs in the San Francisco area. He has toured Zimbabwe with the Jubilate Choir from the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and is currently working on a collection of African songs with a church musician in Zimbabwe.

I wrote “I Have Called You by Your Name” for my ordination, but it was not sung for my service. I remember marching in to be ordained to the tune ST. GERTRUDE, which once carried the text “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Although we were singing “Forward through the Ages,” all I could hear was the old militaristic hymn clanging away. Old tunes carry theological messages. It is not just the text that carries the good or bad news.

I Have Called You by Your Name (More Voices #161)
Words and music by Daniel Charles Damon, 1995, copyright © Hope Publishing

I have called you by your name, you are mine;
I have gifted you and ask you now to shine.
I will not abandon you; all my promises are true.
You are gifted, called, and chosen; you are mine.

I will help you learn my name as you go;
read it written in my people, help them grow.
Pour the water in my name, speak the word your soul can claim,
offer Jesus’ body given long ago.

I know you will need my touch as you go;
feel it pulsing in creation’s ebb and flow.
Like the woman reaching out, choosing faith in spite of doubt,
hold the hem of Jesus’ robe then let it go.

I have given you a name, it is mine;
I have given you my Spirit as a sign.
With my wonder in your soul, make my wounded children whole;
go and tell my precious people they are mine.

I have learned that it is not necessarily the best choice to give the congregation the “words of God,” as I do in my ordination hymn. The first choice of well-trained hymn-writers is direct address to the deity, as in Isaac Watts’ “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” I heard a lecture at the Hymn Society Conference one year that listed a few possible voices that a hymn-writer could use. Last on the list was allowing the congregation to speak for God. While it is easy to see the danger in that approach, I hope, in this instance, I have been able to stay close enough to scripture, and humble enough about our knowledge of God’s call on our lives. Although I have a liberal education, I am still a pietist at heart. I feel my relationship with the divine has a personal as well as a communal aspect. After 20 years as a pastor, I still feel the call of God on my heart.

Tim Scorer: Choosing Carefully - Ten Teasers from the new "More Voices"

“More Voices is a wonderful gift in a time of spiritual yearning and adult faith reorientation.”

Every new hymnbook is a treasure trove of liturgical possibilities waiting to be uncovered and broadcast. At their best, these collections describe for us where we are collectively in our journey of spirit and faith. More Voices is a wonderful gift in a time of spiritual yearning and adult faith reorientation. Here are ten teasers to get you into the collection, where you will inevitably discover your own places of sacred excitement.

1. Let My Spirit Always Sing (More Voices #83)
   Words by Shirley Erena Murray.
   Words copyright © 1996 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
   
   What a gift to people engaged in a ministry of pastoral care! Every line is gorgeously crafted by someone who clearly knows the labyrinthine ways of the heart, and the light and dark of human existence. Just listen to verse 3:
   
   Let your wisdom grace my years,
   choose my words and chase my fears,
   give me wit to welcome change,
   to accept and not estrange,
   let my joy be full and deep
   in the knowledge that I keep.
   
   
2. O God, Why Are You Silent? (More Voices #73)
   Words by Marty Haugen.
   Words copyright © 2003 GIA Publications Inc. All rights reserved. 7404 S. Mason Ave. Chicago, IL 60638. www.giamusic.com. 800-442-1358 
   
   For many years, Marty Haugen has been not only asking the tough faith questions like this one, but also leading people of spirit and faith on a profoundly personal exploration of the significant questions. His exquisite poetic crafting makes all the difference. Just listen:
   
   O God, why are you silent?
   I cannot hear your voice.
   The proud and strong and violent
   all claim you and rejoice.
   You promised you would hold me
   with tenderness and care.
   Draw near, O Love, enfold me,
   and ease the pain I bear.
   
   
3. My Love Colours Outside the Lines (More Voices #138)
   Words by Gordon Light.
   Words copyright © 1995 Common Cup Company. www.commoncup.com. Used by permission 
   
   Bishop Gordon Light has been crafting songs and accompanying pilgrims and pastors for many years. It’s clear that the vulnerability of his own journey has opened up the yearnings of his heart and given him the capacity to put those yearnings into words that are not for him alone.
   
   My soul longs to colour outside the lines,
   Tear back the curtains, sun, come in and shine;
   I want to walk beyond the boundaries where I’ve never been before,
   Throw open doors to worlds outside the lines.
   
   Refrain:
   We’ll never walk on water if we’re not prepared to drown,
   body and soul needs a soaking from time to time.
   And we’ll never move the gravestones if we’re not prepared to die,
   and realize there are worlds outside the lines.
   
   
4. First-born of Mary Words (More Voices #110)
   Words by John L. Bell.
   copyright © 1998 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Used by permission. 
   
   Anything by John Bell is worth a look. I still recall the first time I sang this rhythmical chant that in two profoundly simple lines says more about the significance of Jesus than most hymns of 20 lines.
   
   First-born of Mary, provocative preacher, itinerant teacher, outsider’s choice;
   Jesus inspires and disarms and confuses whoever he chooses to hear his voice.
   
   
5. Creator God You Gave Us Life (More Voices #27)
   Words by Judith Snowdon.
   Words copyright © 2004 Judith Snowdon. Used by Permission 
   
   Imagine a sanctuary full of singers all engaged in a consideration of the relationship between our exercise of giftedness, and God’s mysterious presence in our lives. That’s what Judith Snowdon gives us in these lovely words:
   
   When with our hearts, our hands our minds,
   we share our gifts with all the world,
   our spirits soar beyond the veil,
   to touch the very face of God.
   
   Refrain:
   Through hands that paint majestic skies,
   and voices chanting melody,
   with words that reach beyond the page,
   we comprehend your mystery.
   
   
6. Long before My Journey’s Start (More Voices #63)
   Words by Steven C. Warner.
   Copyright © 1993 World Library Publications, 3708 River Road, Suite 400, Franklin Park, IL, 60131-2158. 800-566-6150. www.wlpmusic.com. All rights reserved. Used by permission. 
   
   The Wisdom literature of ancient Israel offers us an understanding of Sophia wisdom, the Divine’s companion from the moment of creation. Steven Warner gives us words to celebrate that ancient and reclaimed awareness of the feminine aspect of the Divine:
   
   Long before my journey’s start,
   when in my youth I searched in my heart,
   I would pray for her, wait for her,
   Wisdom, my road, my goal, and my star.
   
   When I stretched my hands to the sky,
   when in despair my soul raised a cry,
   I was saved by her gaze, led in her ways,
   Wisdom, my love, the light of my days.
   
   
7. Spirit, Open My Heart (More Voices #79)
   Words by Ruth Duck.
   Words: Ruth C. Duck, 1994; copyright © 1996 The Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, OH. Permission is granted for this edition of the newsletter. No reprints or copies permitted. 
   
   Many of us have been growing to love this hymn over the last couple of years as it was one of the featured hymns in the More Voices Sampler, which preceded the complete More Voices. What an amazing prayer set to music:
   
   Refrain:
   Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
   As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving,
   Spirit, open my heart.
   
   Write your love upon my heart
   as my law, my goal, my story.
   In each thought, word, and deed,
   May my living bring you glory.
   
   
8. I Am the Dream (More Voices #106)
   Words by Curtis Tufts.
   Words copyright © 2005 Curtis Tufts, 178 Greenwood Drive, Spruce Grove, AB T7X 1Y7
   
   How varied are the origins of the words that our hymn poets use to move us to worship! Here Curtis Tufts acknowledges German poet Rainer Maria Rilke as the source for images he has beautifully crafted into this hymn of assurance:
   
   I am the dream and you the dreamer.
   I am the song and you are the rhyme.
   You are the tune sung in ev’ry silence.
   You are the now in the endless stream of time.
   
   I am the bell and you are the silence.
   You are the yearning I cannot curtail.
   I am the blest and you the blessing.
   You are the wilds in which I lose my trail.
   
   
9. Called by Earth and Sky (More Voices #135)
   Words by Pat Mayberry.
   Words copyright © 2005 Pat Mayberry. www.patmayberry.com. Used by permission. 
   
   Looking for a hymn that illustrates the genius of setting sacred word within line and rhythm? No word is wasted in this fabulous celebration of the creation and this call for us to live up to the trust we have been granted as God-conscious beings walking this earth with hope in our bones.
   
   Refrain:
   Called by earth and sky, promise of hope held high.
   This is our sacred living trust, treasure of life sanctified,
   called by earth and sky.
   
   Precious the fire that lights our way,
   bright dawning day.
   Fire of passion, sorrows undone,
   our faith and justice one…
   
   
10. I Am a Child of God (More Voices #157)
    Words by Bruce and Cheryl Harding.
    Words copyright 2002 Cheryl and Bruce Harding www.evensong.ca
    
    Bruce Harding, as Managing Editor of the More Voices project, was the guiding creative force in its shaping. In addition to managing the project, Bruce’s presence can also be found in a number of places in the collection, as lyricist, composer, and arranger. I could happily call attention to any one of Bruce’s song lyrics, but I am especially drawn to the words that Bruce and his partner, Cheryl, wrote for the song “I Am a Child of God.” Every one of the 20 lines invites the singer to answer the question, “Who are you?” with an “I am” response. There is no more effective way to ask people to reflect on the significance and purpose of their lives. How many ways would you answer the question? Bruce and Cheryl propose these for the singer’s consideration:
    
    I am an endless prayer,
    I am a yearning for contemplation,
    
    I am an angry voice,
    I am compassion and consternation,
    
    I am a cry for peace,
    I am commitment and dedication,
    
    I am a song of joy,
    I am the moment of jubilation
    I am a song of joy.

Song from Sea Raven

“The song uses postmodern metaphors based on what is now known about our universe, and at the same time connects with archetypal Goddess and Judeo-Christian imagery.”

Sea Raven is a harpist, singer, writer, and earth liturgist. She’s a consultant for worship, music, and the arts in the greater Washington, D.C., area. For her Doctor of Ministry in Creation Spirituality, Sea Raven created The Wheel of the Year: A Worship Book for Creation Spirituality, in which she offers earth liturgies based upon what is known about pre-Christian Celtic spirituality, postmodern cosmology, and the theology and four-path principles of Creation Spirituality as developed by Matthew Fox.

Following here are lyrics she wrote in 1997 to celebrate the Epiphany to Candlemas season, known in Celtic spirituality as “Imbolc” or Brigid. The song uses postmodern metaphors based on what is now known about our universe, and at the same time connects with archetypal Goddess and Judeo-Christian imagery.

For more information about Sea Raven and her work in exploring how Christianity might change and thrive, visit her website: www.gaiarising.org

Imbolc 1997
Words and music copyright © by Sea Raven, 1997

Tune: Une Jeune Pucelle, French Folk Melody, 16th Century 
 
The full moon shed its silver light on earth this Christmas Eve
A symbol of the Son’s rebirth for those who can believe
From Solstice Night to Brigid’s Night we celebrate returning light
God/dess’ Epiphany, Shekinah, Holy One, Sophia 

Time spirals in unending streams in ever-circling spheres
We will not see this Moon again for many earthly years
But Christ’s mass and Candlemass mark seasons that will come to pass
God/dess’ Epiphany, Shekinah, Holy One, Sophia

Our Earth revolves and circles round our Sun in ordered day
Our Sun traverses its own path around our Milky Way
Ezekiel in trance revealed the galaxies as wheels in wheels
God/dess’ Epiphany, Shekinah, Holy One, Sophia

Our Mother Earth is metaphor of God’s Cosmology
Earth, air, and fire, and water pure, four winds, moon’s trinity
As seasons go our lives also – as above, so below
God/dess’ Epiphany, Shekinah, Holy One, Sophia

Coming Next!

In our Fall 2007 issue:

• New small group program in the Experiencing Series: Experiencing the Bible Again for the First Time, based on Marcus Borg’s Reading the Bible Again for the First Time.
  
• Free to Subscribers: excerpt from the Experiencing the Bible study guide
  
• Why Adult Theological Re-education Matters
  
• Jewish Perspective: The Bible in 2007
  
• Biblical Scholar on “The Bible and Empire”
  
• Program Model for Christian – Muslim – Jewish Dialogue
  
• The Insight Rant: a church leader takes off on a topic of personal passion
  
• Seasons of the Spirit: a curriculum engaged in adult theological re-education
  
• Christian Festival at UK Racetrack Attracts 25,000! Report from Greenbelt.