Sent via email by Keith March 1st:

Hello (and farewell) UUSS friends!

Exactly one year ago, on Sunday March 1st, 2020, to kick off pledge month, we sang “Walkin’ on That Heavenly Road” by Greg Gilpin together on the front steps of Main Hall. Two Sundays later, we were sheltering in place. Little did we know then how fitting some of the lyrics would be:

“Children don’t get weary, children don’t get tired . . . No matter the way or how heavy the load, keep on walkin’ on that heavenly road!”

So it seems fitting that we remember the past, celebrate the present, and look to the future. My last Monday Music Moment will be a kind of 1 year anniversary “double album,” with some extra good stuff!

Biblical moment: Writing 40 Moments reminded of that special number in the Bible. 40 days and / or 40 years stories involve Moses, Elijah, Israelites, & Jesus, and highlight trials, tests, perseverance, and transformation. (Maybe Covid will be gone in 400 days?!?)

Spiritual moment: You have already provided that for me and each other through Barbara’s and Christopher’s and Lucy’s and Roger’s and Irina’s sharings yesterday. . .And through all the music you have made. I also remember well a special moment when we said goodbye to Ina (Dr. Jun pretty soon!), and she cried and Mary Blanchette popped up front from the second row with Kleenex! Had you all said farewell to me in Main Hall, I had planned to have her at the ready for me :) [I sent Ina a gift and letter, as I did to all the staff, and we had a nice email chat. She is doing very well.]

Thankful moment: I can’t thank you enough for your kind words and messages, and the lovely hand tooled pen and pencil box you gifted me. Leanna mailed it to me just two weeks ago (photo below – note the song title!). I’m also super thankful that all my invited close friends and family, including my twin brother, made the time to zoom in to experience yesterday’s BIG DAY. Thanks, Barbara, for sharing that my weekly Moments are being read.

Humorous moment: cartoon in the attached slide show. And I told staff at tech run-through (which btw takes as long as the whole service!) — since I’m retiring, we should change the last verse of the last hymn to “golf calls me on!”

Click to Watch Slideshow

Music moments: When I turned the radio on this morning on the way to Upper Room take-out meal prep (photo below, black beans for 170 dinners) I heard this gorgeous arrangement of “How Can I Keep From Singing?” (3 min) by the a cappella men’s chorus Cantus. How’s that for timing?

I found this one @ seven months ago, and knew I had to save it for my last Moment. It’s a stunning performance of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” (4 min) by a large chorus of Wisconsin high school and college altos and sopranos. I love it in part because of my many years of teaching young people, and my love for folk / Gospel / old hymns. I also knew it would be a teachable music moment for you all, as you see what can be done with hard work! e.g. — memorizing music, hand holding, lovely smiles and energy, clapping on the off-beats, ‘bending’ the ‘blue notes’, and singing without conductor or piano! (Watch the tall, middle soloist subtly cueing with her head and probably squeezing hands of her trio partners) I think of us as a circle, and still feel connected even if we aren’t holding hands together just yet!

And finally, because this is my last edition, I include a remarkable extended, reggae-ish cover of CSNY (Crosby Stills Nash & Young for those not of my ‘era’ : ) ): “Teach Your Children.” I re-discovered “Playing for Change” during this Covid time, and love all their wonderful global music-as-healing-and-connecting repertoire. I’ve included a couple of theirs in recent Music Moments.

Namaste, Blessed Be, Amen, and thank you.

Keith