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!
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 . . .
Or any of the St. Lydia’s Prayer Songs
Offering and Announcements song: Zimbabwe Alleluia
Final hymn: Spirit I Have Heard You Calling
“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!
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.
Christian’s sermon of 4-25-22 on Revelation 1:4-8.
Christian’s sermon of 5-1-22 on Revelation 5:6-14.
Jack Holloway’s sermon of May 8, 2022 on Revelation 7:9-17.
Christian’s sermon of 7-25-2022 on Luke 11:1-13.
Christian’s Sermon of 7-31-22 on Luke 12:13-21 (and here’s a visual image that accompanies it).
Christian’s sermon of 8-7-2022 on Luke 12:32-40.
Christian’s Sermon of 8-22-22 on Luke 13:10-17.
Christian’s sermon of 9-4-22 on Luke 14:25-33.
Jack Holloway’s sermon of 9-18-22 on Philemon.
Jacob Slichter’s sermon of 9-26-22 on I Corinthians 1:1-31.
Wolfgang Laudert’s Sermon of 10-16-22 on 1 Corinthians 12.
Christian’s sermon of 10-24-22 on I Corinthians 16:1-24.
Bambi Galore’s sermon of 10-30-22 on I Corinthians 8:1-13.
Amelia Schonbek’s sermon of 11-06-22 on 1 Corinthians 13.
Christian’s sermon of 11-13-22 on Isaiah 11:1-10.
Christian’s sermon of 11-20-22 on Isaiah 35:1-10.
Christian’s Sermon of 12-04-22 on Isaiah 61:1-11.
Christian’s Sermon of 12-11-22 on Isaiah 64:1-9.
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”
“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.
“Wade in the Water” is a powerful African American jubilee song, first sung by enslaved people in reference to the Israelites who escaped bondage in Egypt. Historians believe Harriet Tubman herself sang the song to encourage those escaping slavery to make use of rivers and streams to lose the dogs used by patrols trying to capture them.
Many beautiful versions of the song can be found, including this one by Sweet Honey In the Rock.
Here is a recording by Christian, which offers suggestions for teaching and leading.
Here are lyrics:
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God’s gonna trouble the water
See those people dressed in white
God’s gonna trouble the water
The look like the children of the Israelites
God’s gonna trouble the water
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God’s gonna trouble the water
See those people dressed in black
God’s gonna trouble the water
They’ve come a long way and they’re not turning back
God’s gonna trouble the water
Greetings, beloved song leaders and voices of the congregation,
Here is the menu of music for the 2022 Season of Lent.
Gathering Song:
-or-
Candle Lighting Song: “Here is Bread for the Hungry Soul ”
Table Acclamation: Lent Table Acclamation
AND
Prayer Song: Any of the St. Lydia’s Prayer Songs
Regathering Song: What We Need Is Here
Closing Song: What Wondrous Love is This
Thank you for leading your community in song!
Pádraig Ó Tuama’s sermon of 3-6-22 on Ruth 1.
Naomi Brenman’s sermon of 3-14-22 on Ruth 2.
Amelia Schonbek’s Sermon of 3-20-22 on Ruth 3.
Angela Morris’s sermon of 3-28-22 on Ruth 4.
Debbie Holloway’s sermon of 4-4-22 on Matthew 1:1-17.
Liz Edman’s sermon of 4-10-22 (Palm Sunday) on Luke 19:28–44
