Religious Education Update: February 25, 2007

May This Light Shine

Today the children will be introduced to their new songbooks, May This Light Shine. Many of the children at UUP already love to sing. A particular favorite of theirs is the Louis Armstrong song that Florence taught them, "What a Wonderful World." Today, they will learn some new songs that other UU children have enjoyed with their congregations. An example from the songbook is this beautiful work that the UU Children’s Choir sang at last year’s General Assembly in St. Louis, Missouri:

Let there be light,
To drive away the darkness.
Let there be wisdom,
To shine on the unknown.
Let there be love,
To heal our aloneness,
Let each of us be a light for one another.

Children’s music can be incredibly powerful. As a chaperone for the UU Children’s Choir last summer, I had the great joy of hearing 90 young UU’s raise their voices in song in a lovely cathedral. The last song of the concert, "Then I May Learn" moved most of the audience to tears.

I remember that after the concert the young choristers were excited and exuberant. They had sung from their hearts, made beautiful music, moved the audience, and deeply touched their own souls. They rode back to their dormitories in large yellow school buses, glowing with joy. On that warm summer evening, they rolled down the windows in the bus, and serenaded St. Louis with their concert music. They just couldn’t stop singing. Later, back at the college dormitories, the children calmed down in a UU children’s worship service and then went to their beds, very tired but still glowing. It was a night to remember for all of us.

Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education