Voices Found

    Voices Found #51   Loving Spirit, loving Spirit,  you have chosen me to be; you have drawn me to your wonder, you have set your sign on me. Like a mother you enfold me,  hold my life within your own, feed me with your very body, form me of your flesh and bone. Like a father you protect me, teach me the discerning eye, hoist me up upon your shoulder, let me see the world from high. Words: Shirley Erena Murray (1931-2020) Music:  Omni die,  melody from  Gross Catolisch Gesangbuch,  (1631) Luke 3:21-23 is  a lesson for the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C in the Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church Now when all the women and men were baptized ( by John the Baptist),  and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens opened!  And the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus bodily, like a dove.  And a voice came from the heavens, "You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. " Now Jesus wa...

   Many Voices, Many Names Voices Found # 106 Bring many names, beautiful and good, celebrate in parable and story, holiness and glory, living, loving God. Refrain: Hail and hosanna! Hail and hosanna, bring many names! Strong mother God, working night and day, planning all the wonders of creation, setting each equation, genius at play: Hail and hosanna! Hail and hosanna, strong mother God! Warm father God, hugging every child, feeling all the strains of human living, caring and forgiving til we're reconciled: Hail and hosanna! Hail and hosanna, warm father God Words: Brian Wren Music: Robert A. M. Ross Reflection: I will sing of the faithful love of the Fount of Life forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness from across generations. When I declare that your faithful love is established forever; your faithfulness is established in the heavens, [you responded]"I have inscribed a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to the descendants of Bathsheba: ...

  Voices Found #4 Mary heard "Who is my mother? Who is in my family? All who do my Father's bidding, all these ones belong to me." Later on the hill she heard him, "Woman, see your new son there! You, my friend, behold your mother!" So Christ formed new bonds of care. Words: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette Music: Ecce Deus, Alfred V. Fedak  Jesus was a  teen-ager.  Luke tells us about the 12 year old boy trekking with his parents  to Jerusalem for Passover. On the way home, he ran back to the Temple, enraging his parents and testing the limits of their authority. Like all teens, Jesus had to separate himself from comfort of his childhood family find his own way forward.  For Jesus that was the torturous path to his Abba in heaven. At 12, he was living the Sturm and Drang of adolescence. For parents today it may help  to remember that even Mary and Joseph had to contend with a rambunctious  teenager.  Even Jesus had to rebel. Mary said to Jesus." C...

                                                            Voices Found #67 Crashing waters at Creation, ordered by the spirit's breath, first to witness day's beginning  from the brightness of night's death. Words: Sylvia G. Dunstan (1955-1993) By the word of Wisdom were the heavens made, by the breath of her mouth all the heavenly hosts. She gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a  waterskin and stores up the depths of the sea. Let all the earth revere She Who Is Wisdom; let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of her. For she spoke and it came to pass; She commanded, and it stood fast. Psalm 33:6-9 tr Gafney  Psalm 33:1-9 is appointed in the Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church for Christmas III Year C Meditation from Hildegard of Bingen O virtus Sapientia Antiphon 59 by Hildegard of Bingen O virtus Sapientia qu...

Voices Found #36 O mundi domina, regio semine orta: ex tuo jam  Christus processit alvo, tamquam sponsus dethalamo; hic iacet in praesepio, qui et sidera regit. O guardian of the world, descended from royal seed: from your womb Christ has come forth, like the bridegroom from the bridal bed; he lies in the crib, who rules the stars. Words and Music: Magyar Gregprianum,  Posony Antiphoner, 15th c. tr. Susan Hellauer, rev. Lisa Neufeld  Thomas                                               A medieval Magyar manuscript, Eszertom, Hungary, ca. 15th c.   O mundi domina,  an ancient Magyar chant   is sung during the Christmas Eve liturgy.  While the melody  appears in other European manuscripts, this text is found only in Hungary.  It emphasizes Mary's love and care for the world, complementing Christ's rule of t...