Our hymn is Spirit of Life, #123, sung by Les Tacy, Music Director. “There are some who consider this to be THE UU Hymn”, says Kimberley Debus, author of the Blog farfinge.com. It is certainly very well-known and used regularly in our services at Heritage. On farfringe.com, Debus brings us back to a 2007 interview in the UU World with Carolyn McDade, author of this hymn. McDade reflects on the initiating event, which was a meeting for Central American solidarity:
“What she remembers most clearly was the feeling she had. ‘I felt like a piece of dried cardboard that has lain in the attic for years. Just open wide the door, and I’ll be dust.’ I was tired, not with my community but with the world.”
McDade then drove to her home in Newtonville. “I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement.”
We will be forever grateful to Carolyn McDade’s prayer, and this hymn.
Enjoy the YouTube video Spirit of Life.