|
Mid-Week Message from the Developmental Lead Minister June 14, 2022 “Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.” -Maya Angelou
Friends, As I write, I am also tying up loose ends before I leave for Ministry Days and General Assembly June 20 – 26. I am looking forward to being in Portland, Oregon with UU’s from all around the country as we gather both in person and virtually to worship together, learn together, and do the business of our association of congregations. After General Assembly, I have a leisurely summer planned, spending time with family in New York and puttering in my garden at home. After a challenging church year, what I look forward to most is unstructured days and time for rest and renewal. I will return to the church office on August 9 ready for what promises to be an exciting church year. While I’m away, summer worship services are in the capable hands of your FUUN staff along with members of the Worship Committee. If you should need pastoral assistance while I’m away, please contact the church office. Brandi Emrys, Office Manager will put you in touch with one of our Affiliated Community Ministers. Until I am with you again in August, my wish for you is that your summer may have days in which there are no problems to be confronted or solutions to be searched for, days in which you find grace and ease, laughter and joy. Yours in shared ministry, Rev. Diane |
|
|
Office Closed for Juneteenth Membership Manager New Office Hours
Starting on July 1, the FUUN Office will now be open Monday-Thursday from 9am-4pm. Members and visitors are welcome to stop by for questions or assistance regarding events, membership, upcoming programs, reserving building space, etc. Or, feel free to just stop by and say hello to our staff. Why I Sing in Choir
by Vickie Jones As part of the process to find a new Director of Music Ministries, choir members and others have been part of conversations with church leaders and staff. Reverend Diane asked us “why we sing in choir?” My silent answer was “I sing in choir so I’ll practice singing” which is similar to the reason I took piano lessons for several decades, so I would practice piano. Because this answer seemed too simplistic and selfish, I asked myself, why is music, in this case through singing, important enough to show up nearly every Thursday, in person or on Zoom, spend hours singing at services or recording on Zoom, and occasionally practicing on my own. I didn’t have an answer, so I starting reflecting. I remembered:
I thought:
But still, why does singing in choir make it worth the commitment? Then I remembered the Nonviolent Communication individual needs of beauty, community, and creativity. When our choir is breathing, enunciating, listening, and harmonizing together, we create beauty and build community for both the smaller choir and the larger faith communities. Individuals also need a form of self-expression. While some people think they can’t sing well, or have internalized that as a “truth,” I think we all benefit from singing. Whether we sing by ourselves, with others, to others, to share our lives, during transitions, to express emotions, or just for general purposes, singing meets our individual and community needs as a universal language that feeds and soothes our souls, through beauty, community, creativity, and self-expression. Selected lyrics from Joe Raposo may provide the best guidance and reason for singing. Sing. Sing a song. Sing out loud, sing out strong.
Why I Became a Choir Geek
by Steve Keil Music has long been a part of my life. One of my earliest memories is picking out tunes on the piano of one of my mother’s friends. When I was 6 or 7 my parents gave me an organ that had buttons for the chords and numbered keys. I started taking piano lessons in third grade and continued through my senior year of high school. I was also a percussionist in junior high band and studied classical guitar my sophomore year of college. I would occasionally play the piano after I quit taking formal lessons, but because of other obligations it was something that became less and less a part of my life. In December of 2015 I decided to sing in the Christmas Eve choir. After the first rehearsal I heard these voices in my head saying that I was going to make a fool of myself. I resolved at that point to just do the best I could do and that would have to be good enough. Michael Ray told me just before the start of the service that I ought to be in choir. I thought, “I just want to make it through the service. I just focused on singing, and the next thing I knew we were getting ready to sing “Silent Night.” I found myself singing the pieces we had sung that night, both out loud and in my head during the following days. It had stirred something in me. I told Jason Shelton that I wanted to join choir in early January. Even though it was a bit of a struggle to get into the rhythm of rehearsals and learn the pieces we were singing, I found myself enjoying the challenge and discovered that I am indeed a singer, something I never thought I would say. I found that it really fed my being in ways I wouldn’t have guessed. I found myself saying “Yes” to a lot of things I thought I would never say “Yes” to. “Yes” to becoming the choir librarian. “Yes” to playing percussion on choir pieces as well as hymns. “Yes” to being in Chamber Choir. “Yes” to singing with the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra, though between illness and the March 3, 2020 tornado I never did perform the piece I had worked hard to learn with the orchestra. I really enjoy making music with the musicians at this church and outside these walls. It was a major disappointment to me when things shut down and our church went to having virtual services and the act of communal singing became a very dangerous thing to do. Having rehearsals via Zoom was not that satisfying, but it was much better than not singing at all. Even though recording our parts online was challenging, Vickie and I persisted and did it anyway. I was asked after Jason’s last Music Sunday directing our choir, if I was going to quit since he was leaving. I said that I was having way too much fun to want to quit. I almost immediately regretted saying that, since I felt that it trivialized my experience singing with the choir. Even though I derive a lot of enjoyment from singing, it goes way deeper than mere enjoyment. It is hard for me to put into words how deeply satisfying singing is for me. I am hopeful that our choir will eventually be back at full strength and be the asset to this church that it long has been. And as long as I am an asset to the choir, you will see me up here singing. Choir Testimonial Twenty-odd years ago, right before I moved to Nashville, a woman introducing me to the city basically said, “Forget about trying to sing here. You won’t be good enough.” I did not have a snappy comeback to that, partly because I was stunned: the woman had just met me, and she’d already judged me without hearing a single note out of my mouth. So, after countless services, gigs, and gatherings, it does feel good having the last laugh when I think about that charming assessment. But, that said, I can appreciate where she was coming from. People do break their hearts in this city over and over again in the quest for attention and applause, and I am not immune to the “not good enough” and “why not me” blues and other variations of feeling unlucky. I’m enormously grateful to be alive, but COVID did close some doors on me. I am in mourning for shows that didn’t happen and connections that have foundered, and not a day goes by for me without moments of abject terror over what we might have to cope or contend with next. But every day also contains the sharp, sweet awareness of life in itself being such a gift, and that gift being magnified and made all the more marvelous by the presence of music, the perspective it brings, and what it lets me bring to others. I like to rock 4- to 40-part harmonies as much as the next madrigals nerd, but on either side of the pulpit, it’s been even more meaningful when using my voice has helped others find enough comfort and courage to add their own voices to a hymn, an anthem, a welcome, or a farewell. The world can sometimes feel as narrow as a single wire-wrapped string, and while Rabbi Nachman says that the important thing is not to be afraid, I don’t actually agree with that phrase. I think feeling apprehensive is natural when feeling outnumbered or exposed or outside one’s usual groove. I think what’s important is to feel the things—and then to sing anyway, because no matter how full or tiny your voice may be, whether you have perfect pitch or have to trust God to put the notes where they belong—when you add your voice, it helps others be brave, and it helps them say “Yes” to life, truth, and love. Choir Testimonial I’m David Haas, and I’ve been a member of your choir for about 16 years. What I love most about First UU of Nashville is our music program, especially our choir.
Voice Still and Small #391—a favorite hymn of Lori Rittle Voice Still and Small is, for me, a precious gem found nested near the back of the hymnal in the midst of responses and chants. It is an invitation to journey inward, quietly listening for the refrains of a soft inner voice. It invites me to discern affirmations of life amidst whatever tumult may be present in my everyday world. I experience a sense of comfort and calm, reach a place of deeper peace by repeating the song as a chant. I am reminded of the Quaker practice of silent discernment. Only in quiet listening will I hear the melodic flow of life. Voice still and small, deep inside all, I hear you call singing. In dark and rain, sorrow and pain, still you remain singing. Calming my fears, quenching my tears, through all the years, singing. The words and music were written by UU minister, The Reverend John Corrado in 1987. Rev. John Corrado is Minister Emeritus of the Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church in Michigan. He retired from full-time ministry in 2009 after serving UU congregations for 42 years. He is also an experienced musician, hymnist, and orchestrator. Note: An updated hymnal uses Rev Corrado’s original words marked above in bold replacing the editors unauthorized changes found in our current edition of the hymnal (dark vs storm, you vs we’ll). |
