Beth Norton

Deb Weiner, Jeanne Gagne, Jason Shelton

Ken Herman, Leon Burke

Jim Scott

Stan Strickland

Jason Shelton leads a chorus

2111 Rehearsal of "Singing the Future of our Faith"

Presented by the members of the UUA New Hymn Resource Task Force: Leon Burke, Jeannie Gagné, Dennis Hamilton, Ken Herman, Jason Shelton, Barbara Wagner (chair), and Deborah Weiner (staff liaison).

Prepared for UUA.org by: Allan Stern, Reporter; Margy Levine Young, Editor

Singing the Journey rocks!

An enthusiastic unveiling of some of the songs from the new hymnal supplement Singing the Journey was held at a GA workshop on Friday evening. The New Hymn Resource Task Force members, accompanied by a wonderful jazz ensemble and composer/guitarist Jim Scott, presented a selection of songs from the new hymnal supplement. The response from the audience was overwhelmingly positive.

Some of the selections sung were "Szekely Aldas," a traditional Transylvanian blessing; "Let This Be a House of Peace" by Jim Scott; "In My Quiet Sorrow," a song about grieving; "Thula Klizeo," written by the leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo; and "For So the Children Come," a Christmas Eve selection.

The task force provided background on how the new hymnal supplement came to be. In the fall of 2003, UUA President the Rev. Dr. Bill Sinkford appointed a task force of six UU Musicians Network members to create a new congregational hymn resource. This task force sought submissions for the new resource to offer fresh hymns, chants, and songs that enliven worship; music for marking the seasons in the lives of our congregations; and music in a number of different styles including jazz, folk, pop, spirituals, gospel, praise songs, call-and-response, chants, rounds, and traditional hymns.

The task force sought for material that is UU-appropriate and representative of one of the many areas of our devotional life, including music 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.

Over 1,500 pieces were received by the deadline of July 15, 2004, and from that remarkable volume of submissions, the task force selected nearly eighty.

The new hymnal supplement, entitled Singing the Journey, is now available from the UUA Bookstore. The price is $16.

Congregations will want to purchase these supplements, which raises the question of how to pay for them. The task force suggested three approaches:

1. Use existing memorial/music funds to finance the books.
2. Raise money through individual donations, with dedicatory bookplates in each hymnal.
3. Use existing memorial/music funds to "match" funds contributed by the congregation.

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