We Take Requests

I just began reading a book by Daniel Levitin, The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature. The title itself sounds a bit highfalutin and got me to guessing right away what those 6 songs might be: I'll Take You There by the Staple Singers would top my list. But, Levitin is not concerned with particular songs. Rather, he lists 6 categories of song that have helped over the millenia to fashion us into the human race that we are. People Get Ready (Curtis Mayfield, 1966) for the 6 categories. Drum roll. The six categories of song that have made us human are: Friendship, Joy, Comfort, Knowledge, Religion, and Love.

This is a great list. In the book, Levitin writes a chapter on each category. I won't even begin a synopsis of each chapter here. Just spend a bit of time with each word -Friendship, Joy, Comfort, Knowledge, Religion, and Love - and notice how it makes you feel. You might add a category or two to round out the list, but I think that pretty much everyone would agree that the list is a good one. And while there is a special category for religion, I find that each category, because it reflects something about what makes us basically human, has something to say about life and faith.

As I said before, there are not 6 particular songs there are 6 categories. So that means that each of us will have our favorite song in any particular category, one that hits home for us. So it is with the music we have in church. Every one of us has a different taste. So, with church music we paraphrase Lincoln, You can please all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time. This is why we need your help. Tell us what you enjoy singing in worship -- we'll sing it. And if we sing something you don't particularly care for, its OK. Your song will come around on the juke box. Diversity is a precious thing, right down to our taste in music. We take requests.

David

Worship and our Life Together

Dear Friends,

"Excited and Enlivened by the Holy Spirit we are Transformed!"
-First Congregational UCC, Santa Rosa -- Mission Statement

In her book Worship for Vital Congregations UCC pastor, Talitha Arnold, reminds us that at the heart of our Sunday morning worship is the presence of God. We open ourselves wholly to the lively Spirit of God. For this reason, our worship is at the very center of our covenant, indeed at the core of our existence. We live and gather together to commune with the Holy One, to find ourselves in the "community of Christ."

As the caterpillar emerges from her cocoon transformed, so we emerge from worship changed and made new. Moving from "me" to "we," we move from alienation and isolation to grow in love for God and neighbor. Like good tea, worship infuses our lives in the love and the grace of God. What a gift! In worship we have all that we need. Even as metaphors mix, the transforming character of worship is clear. Giving ourselves to God in communal worship, we are never the same.

I'll see you in church this Sunday.

Love,

David

Musings Along Life's Way: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Dear Friends,
Last week, just before our youth returned from the National Youth Event in Knoxville, Tennessee, we learned of the tragedy at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. A man entered the church's sanctuary on a Sunday morning and opened fire, killing two people. For those of us who gather each week for worship, this is way too close to home, the violation is far too extreme. As we gather in community we assume that we are safe and that we are able to express ourselves fully in worship, without fear. Such a violent act creates a climate of dis - ease. We join with our brothers and sisters in Unitarian Universalist churches across the country as we contemplate the actions of a week ago in Knoxville. Below is a letter that I sent on our behalf to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation here in Santa Rosa. Blessings, David

Dear Chris and Members of Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Santa Rosa,

It is with great sadness that we received the news of the tragedy in Knoxville which last Sunday took the lives of two members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. We, the members and friends of your sister congregation, the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Santa Rosa join you in your grief. On the day of the tragedy four of our youth were at our National Youth Event at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. They joined with 2100 of their fellow youth and youth leaders in solidarity and prayer for the Tennessee Valley Church. Too, we want you to know that First Congregational UCC is praying for the church in Knoxville, for you and for your denomination in this difficult time.

Since Sunday it has become known that this action by one person was a hate crime directed at the church for its support of progressive causes, causes that our church and denomination affirm and share with you. As John Donne said,
No man(person) is an island, entire of itself
every man (person) is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less …
any man's (person’s)death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind (humankind)
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.
Your grief is our grief. As the bells toll, may we human beings learn to live together with peace, understanding, tolerance and affirmation.
Blessings,


David Parks-Ramage
First Congregational UCC, Santa Rosa