"Hymn Of The Month"

This month: "Come, Come, Whoever You Are"

Last month, we began a new practice in our Sunday service, of singing a chosen hymn each Sunday for a month, as a way to truly learn the hymns, and increase the comfort level of singing in our small but enthusiastic congregation. Hymns are often a sore point on many scores, ranging from the sheer stodginess of some of the melodies, to the reminders they bring of the faith practices we have come out of, to the vestigial remnants of language and sensibilities to which we simply cannot relate.

In July, we (that is, Larking About, the UUP singers) chose "Be Ye Lamps Unto Yourselves," a hymn based upon the last words of the Buddha. That seemed to go pretty well.

In August, we have selected "Come, Come, Whoever You Are."

I am so proud to be able to say that I was around when this round was first sung as a round, at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. Lynn Ungar, a fellow member of that congregation's Chancel Choir, set the (adapted) words of the Sufi poet, Rumi:

Come, come, whoever you are
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving
Ours is no caravan of despair
Come, yet again, come

We all loved it immediately, and I got to be the person to write it out in musical notation (not to say that Lynn, an accomplished musician, couldn't have done it herself--I just felt like it and beat her to it).

Here's what the book Between the Lines: Sources for Singing the Living Tradition (Skinner House Books, 1998) has to say about the song, which has become hymn number 188:

"Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana (1207-1273), Sufi poet, was born in Afghanistan into a long line of scholars, jurists, and theologians. When he was thirty-seven he met a wandering holy man, Sham al-Din of Tabriz. With Shams he discovered the inner Friend, the soul, the Beloved, a constant reminder of Gold's presence. He subsequently wrote some 30,000 verses as well as the epic Masnavi-ye Ma'navi. This text has been adapted.
Lynn Ungar (1963- ) is a Unitarian Universalist minister... She is the author of the 1996 UUA Meditation Manual, Blessing the Bread.

Larking About will gladly accept nominations for future hymns of the month. September is currently under discussion!