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STLT#413, Go Now in Peace
If you are a fan of a film or tv show with highly quotable lines, you may find yourself giving the next line almost out of habit: “Inconceivable!” “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.” “To make a long story short…” “TOO LATE!” “My father hung… Continue reading
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STLT#412, Let Hope And Sorrow Now Unite
Gentle readers, there is a chance I will let you down today. You see, I am feeling utterly and totally uninterested in where this hymn came from, who wrote it, and why we sing it to this tune. Which is kinda funny, because that’s exactly what my mom would have me do: activate another part of… Continue reading
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STLT#411, Part in Peace
Hmmm. I really don’t have much to say, because I don’t know how I feel about this one. (Also, I’m squeezing this reflection into a day full of fall house cleaning.) What I can tell you is the lyrics, by Sarah Flower Adams (of Abide with Me fame), set to the Charleston tune (which you… Continue reading
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STLT#410, Surprised by Joy
A dozen years ago, I sat in a workshop at a UU Musicians Network conference talking about music as pastoral care. The leader (whose name escapes me now) talked about her prison ministry. She told us that she goes to a women’s prison, and one of the first thing she has them do is sing… Continue reading
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STLT#409, Sleep, My Child
When I was a little girl, my mom would come to tuck me in every night and sing lullabies to me. Now I’m pretty certain some of the songs weren’t actually lullabies, but many of them were. She had a rich alto voice, and she loved to sing. At one point, she put the songs… Continue reading
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STLT#408, Wonder of Wonders
Last night, friend and colleague Peggy Clarke told me this practice is “a source of insight.” Which is funny to me this morning, as I have absolutely nothing interesting to say about today’s hymn. No insight. No brilliant analysis. Not even a good joke… dang. Anyway, this hymn. It’s a decent Brian Wren lyric, set… Continue reading
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STLT#407, We’re Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table
Use this hymn with great care. I cannot stress this enough. Use with care. Really. Give context. Use it in the right context. This lesson is one I learned thanks to friend and colleague DC Fortune, a white minister whose allyship shone brightly the day we sang this at a collegial training as though “the… Continue reading
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STLT#406, Let Us Break Bread Together
I need more opportunities for communion in my life. This is not my way of declaring myself in a particular theological camp. What I am declaring, however is that I recognize the power of what Jesus called for us to do – gather together, with intention, to eat, drink, and remember. To pray together. To work together.… Continue reading
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STLT#405, This Do in Memory of Me
“And I’ll bring you hope, when hope is hard to find.” We sing this incredible line in Come Sing a Song with Me, which we have acknowledged is simultaneously insipid and profound. And while that one isn’t today’s hymn, it is the line that sings over and over in my head even after singing today’s… Continue reading
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STLT#404, What Gift Can We Bring
This song is making me angry today. Normally, I like it – a sweet song for a stewardship campaign, for mitten tree Sundays, for services about mission or honoring our ancestors or gratitude. But today, after another white man with a history of domestic abuse and an AK-15 murdered 26 (or more?) people, including young… Continue reading
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links
Learn more about my ministry at The Art of Meaning
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