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Sunday, December 21, 2003

Singing the Living Tradition II.

by Philocrites

This just in:

The Unitarian Universalist Association is producing a new supplement to its current hymnal, "Singing The Living Tradition" . . .

In the fall of 2003, UUA President Bill Sinkford appointed a task force of six UUMN members to create a new congregational hymn resource. This task force is currently seeking submissions for our new resource. The following elements have been identified by the Task Force as the general needs for the supplement: Fresh hymns, chants or songs that enliven worship; music for marking the seasons in the lives of our congregations.

This general description includes many types of music in genres including but not limited to: jazz, folk, pop, spirituals, gospel, praise songs, call-and-response, chants, rounds and traditional hymns. Topics should be UU-appropriate, and can be representative of one of the many areas of our devotional life. The task force is especially interested in materials highlighting the spirituality of the BGLT community, earth-centered and non-Western theologies, both male and female spirituality, and the music of cultures traditionally under-represented in our communities. Also of interest is music for liturgical celebrations such as Water and Flower Communion services, Weddings, Funerals, Ordinations, RE [religious education] events, Youth services, and the annual Canvass.

I'll be revising a few of my hymns for this project. If you or someone you know has a gift for congregational song, I hope you'll participate, too. Weirdly, this project was announced on December 19, and the deadline for submissions is February 2, so there's no time to delay.

Copyright © 2003 by Philocrites | Posted 21 December 2003 at 1:12 PM

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4 comments:

Philocrites:

December 21, 2003 01:47 PM | Permalink for this comment

Speaking of Unitarian Universalist songs: An AP story is making the rounds today about the Unitarian origins of "Jingle Bells" and the battle between Medford, Mass., and Savannah, Ga., over where exactly James Pierpont was living when he wrote it.

Jay Lavelle:

December 25, 2003 11:30 AM | Permalink for this comment

Oh Lord, protect us.... Other than the Anglican hymns from the Twenties (Vaughn Williams, Holst et. al.), the grey hymnal is a god-awful mess of unsingable hymns, sentimental poetry and political rants by people who -- it would seem -- never spent a day in church or a minute in prayer.
And while we're talking about the grey hymnal, is there a good reason why there are no selections by Thomas Merton or Simone Weil in the back?

Richard Hurst:

January 1, 2004 05:26 PM | Permalink for this comment

Why do we live in this Orwellian world where the denomination (yes, it's a denomination, it has a *name*), targets overwhelming white "Cultural Creatives" for membership and then insists on writing a hymnal for a much more diverse group of people who don't actually occupy the pews? What am I missing?

Carey Schug:

April 5, 2004 08:37 AM | Permalink for this comment

FYI: The deadline for contributing new hymns has been extended to July 15. http://www.uua.org/publications/newhymns/

BTW, I totally don't understand Jay's and Richard's comments. I presume they are not UUs. We (and my dad's UU church) have a VERY diverse group of members and regular attendees, including blacks, gays (including the assistant minister in my dad's church, who is a lesbian), wiccans (well, only one that I know of), people who feel close to and pray to God on a daily basis as well as "humanists" (some of whom describe themselves as athiests). Maybe Richard has seen a UU church that is all White, but I am sure you could find all individual churches that are all white in just about any denomination. Or, is OK for other faiths, because they preach separation and distrust of those who are different?



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