Beloved Friends,

Music is one of the most important aspects of worship. It is said that the deepest truths cannot be expressed in words, and one of the transcendant messengers of truth is music. Folks who gather to help create the choir are ministering to an unspoken aspect of the human spirit which gathers each Sunday. Folks who come to UUCSC seem to want to explore the mysteries of life, and it is through music, dance, and sound meditations that we explore and celebrate truths that transcend spoken words. Our music program is an integral part of experiencing what it is to be a human being and we invite the congregation to explore along with us.

Every faith tradition uses music to create a non-physical container for physical and emotional experiences. The Native Traditions of the world use pulses on drums or djerido to create opportunities for entraining the heartbeat, bringing all who gather into a sympathetic unity. The traditions of the Divine Feminine draw upon the heartbeat and the sounds of mother's lullabye, as well as vocalizing anger and pain without words. The Hindu sciences have refined sound to the point where there are particular musical scales (ragas) that are used to influence human physiology, and these scales are used for particular times of day or specific seasons of the year. The famous Buddhist chanting has given the world an opportunity to experience the capacity of the human voice to sound two notes, and to resonate with a brainwave pattern in alpha states, highly creative and peaceful...truly a gift to humanity. The Zoroastrian tradition enlightens the sounds of words themselves with hidden meanings that resonate in our bodies...each word carries a sound meaning, as well as an intellectual meaning. The forms of Jewish arrangement of words within a science of numbers encodes sound truth in yet another way, and the body prayer tradition of Davoning or the vocal tradition of Nigun gives movement and voice to emotion with a purity beyond the intellect. The Christian mysteries further explore the evocative quality of sound from the simplicity of Jesus body prayers through the complexity of Beethovan's symphonies, opening the human heart to divine presence. The Zikr tradition of Islam allow the human being to concentrate with such intensity upon the sound of a phrase that he or she transcends the limitation of the individual and remembers divine inspiration.

The above description is a simplistic journey through some of the worlds spiritual traditions and how each might use sound to explore human experience of the mysteries. Spiritual traditions have built upon and borrowed from the foundations and refinements of sacred sound practices through time. What we have now is a rich tapestry of living sound which weaves together a new possibility for humanity. We can experience the artistry of our own divine spirits. This is how music has become a ministry within the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of South County.

The choir rehearses one Thursday evening per month, where we have a chance to explore in depth some of the experiences available to us behind the musical traditions of the world. On the Sunday services when we are singing, we gather at 9 AM to practice the songs for that service. If you like to sing, or would like to try please join us, whenever you can. It is a "pick-up choir" and all are welcome....always and all-ways. We sing for the joy of singing, and it is that spirit of life which carries the songs we share.

For further information please contact our music director, Rev. Cynthia Burke at 401-783-6562 or cburke0@cox.net.

Beloved blessings,
Cynthia

BIOGRAPHY

Rev. Cynthia Burke: BA, Med.; has been an educator, performer and consultant on interfaith and multicultural issues for over twenty five years. She has taught at the Omega Institute and Brown University; traveled to Nicaragua as representative of International Sister Cities Project; presented her work with Paul Horn, Dr. Bernie Siegel, and Paul Winter. She is program director for "Dance of the Seven Veils", co-director of "Celebration of Culture", author of A Blessingway, and mother of three sons. Her most recent travels were to the mysterious, sacred island of Delos in Greece. "Cynthia is a subtle but powerful whirling dervish of a teacher !!!"

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