Tag: Spiritual Musicians
Hersay: Songs for Healing and Empowerment
"As people of faith, we are already familiar with the ability music has to bring our own communities together, but Katie and Jann go further, to explain how “singing creates unity and builds a foundation for a peaceful and sustainable world..."
Feeling Good and Healing with Tiana Marquez
"Sometimes you need a strong, positive message—repeated with an insistent beat. That’s what the title song on Tiana Marquez’s latest album brings. “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me, and I’m feelin’ good.”
Tender Songs for Tough Times by Mary Ann V
"'Be Kind to Strangers' begins with an upbeat rhythm followed by three notes... which echo later after the words “Be kind” in the chorus. What better message for times like these, even as we interact behind masks?"
Kol Isha from a Whisper to a Song: The Voice of a Jewish Woman
Our tradition encourages, even requires, us to examine things from different angles, to question, and to make sense of ideas in the context of our own time and place.
An Interview with Singer-Songwriter Jennifer Knapp
I’m resisting language in many ways and I’m seeking to find that language that expresses something more. At the end of the day, I don’t think what we do changes who God is, but what we say about it changes how people view God.
Where can I find music and hymns that use inclusive language?
Hymns, anthems, and other songs that don’t jolt women out of their seats are available and becoming more widely used. “I will make you fishers of men” is so last-century.
The Beautiful Not Yet by Carrie Newcomer
My first listen to this album was during the commute between my hospice patients’ homes. I was reminded that there are many points of light and joy in a world that seems so dark and inhospitable to the people of God. We hold on to "The Slender Thread" of our faith and hope, because love always calls us back. Always.
The Beautiful Not Yet: Poems, Essays and Lyrics
Her essays in this volume are thought provoking, the golden prize being her commencement address this past June at her alma mater. She offered three lessons for life: “be kind, be true, and pay attention.” In her essay “Miracle, Light and Considerable Magic” (p. 70), she refers to “the mysterious nature of the Sacred,” the Light that appears in daily moments.
Reclaiming Your Story: Mary Magdalene and Lady Gaga’s “Judas”
Mary Magdalene is a person in her own right. Her real story is remarkable, and can be uncovered through the accurate interpretation of scripture. Mary Magdalene is featured in the New Testament more than any other women, with the exception of Mary, the Mother of Jesus; she’s mentioned in 14 different verses.
The Inscrutable Sacred Thread
“Everyone Is Welcome,” announces a small sign over the door of the gothic brick edifice. It was first placed there to make sure people of color knew it was safe to enter in the sixties; later it served as an indication that people with AIDS were welcome too. Now it whispers carefully to me each time I enter. If the sign were any larger I’d be spooked.
Earth Transformed with Music! Inclusive Songs for Worship
This collection brings timeless melodies, made sacred by years of being sung in worship, and places them firmly in the present with words that make sense and relate to today’s issues. When the words make sense, the message easily rides on the breath right to the singer’s heart.
“A Permeable Life” by Carrie Newcomer
It’s like a sweet cup of a caramel macchiato. The silence of the first snowfall. A porch swing on a perfect spring day. A breeze carried from the surf across your beach blanket. These are the inviting images that came to me as I listened to Carrie Newcomer’s newest album, A Permeable Life. This is Newcomer’s twelfth album, and it will not disappoint those of us who enjoy her music.
weconnect – And There Was Singing
When we sing together, we draw ourselves closer to the Expression of God. God is in each of us, certainly, but She is magnified exponentially, She becomes more Herself, when we express Her presence as a group. The best practice we have, the gateway drug to the magnificence of God, is singing together.
“Mending Broken” Performed by Peyton Davis – Wild Goose 2013
And the lesson of the day? It's never too late for Divinty to make beautiful things happen! I had even decided to toss my field recorder into my backpack Sunday morning, despite the fact that I didn't expect to use it.
So there, in the middle of the Wild Goose parking lot, Peyton got out her guitar, sat down on a rolled up sleeping bag, and played the song. After one aborted attempt, due to incoming motorcycles, we got a good take all the way through without disturbance.
Wild Goose Festival 2013 – Beth Whitney Interview
Last winter at snow camp, a young girl asked me if I would write a song with her. I didn't really feel like it. I was kinda tired and had just pulled a great book off the shelf. It was pretty obvious I wasn't doing anything though, so I agreed. As we talked about what to write, I found the afternoon transforming into a healing session.
Wild Goose Festival 2013 – Beth Whitney
“I had a dream some years back where I saw a sea of people turning into a violent war. I knew something needed to be done so I climbed up on a stage, took a deep breath, and sang with all my might. When my voice hit the crowd, they changed instantly from a blaze of mad hornets into a still and unified people. Who wouldn't want to do that?”
Wild Goose 2013 – Troubadours of Divine Bliss Interview
We were both raised with an awareness of God and our hearts were opened early to that relationship. What a gift to be introduced to that presence. Over the years we have realized even the strongest ingredients that have been added to our soul soup— strict rules, judgment and punishment— have mellowed in the abundance of grace, compassion, and love that have been added since.
We walk in a state now where everything is holy, and there is nothing that can separate us from the miracles offered by the Divine.
Wild Goose Festival 2013 – Troubadours of Divine Bliss
I'm excited to tell you about these women. Because when they sing, I can hear Spirit singing through them. When they talk or write, I can feel the current of Her Love, Grace, and Peace winding through their words. And the most delightful thing of all for me is that I can just see Her moving through this world disguised as these two Troubadours of Divine Bliss.
Commentary on “We Sound a Call to Freedom” Video
The Bible links Sophia (Wisdom) to Christ. The apostle Paul refers to Christ as the “power of God and the Wisdom (Sophia) of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), and states that Christ “became for us Wisdom (Sophia) from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Vision – The Music of Hildegard Von Bingen
Hildegard's words are in Latin, and translated I can glimpse a little of her philosophical genius. But for me, I find the magic in her melody. It's a soft stream flowing over rocks and roots, carrying leaves and tiny insects along, sparkling in sunlight, reflecting the sky.
Gather into One: Praying and Singing Globally
Ultimately, Hawn concludes, the point of engaging in multicultural musical expressions "is not to 'feel good' but to feel again — feel a sense of the holy and an experience of community" which will move us, with all our sisters and brothers around the globe, to shout in renewed, "polyrhythmic" enthusiasm: Alleluia! and Amen!
Kathryn Christian: Mysticism, Music, Marriage, and Ministry
One day I profoundly needed comforting by God, and I needed to be sung a lullaby like a mother and child. So I started strumming around with lullabies in three-quarter time, and then I was thinking of images of God as my Mother, caring for me.
Finding Colleen Fulmer
Known for her social justice/feminist Christian music in the 1980s and early 1990s, Colleen Fulmer seemed to have disappeared from the music scene. EEWC Update decided to search for her.
Songs as Yet Unsung
by Mary Louise Bringle
My vocation as a Christian feminist hymnwriter began accidentally—and perhaps even a bit irreverently. Never let it be said that God...
Praise God’s Name with Festive Dance
She is saddened that so many fear and deny their bodies. "People 'stay in their heads' a lot to protect themselves," she said. "Rhythm gets us in touch with the unconscious and takes us out of our heads.
The Singer and the Song: An Autobiography of the Spirit
But even as I finished the book, I sensed I was only touching the edges of it — the tassels on her magic carpet. MT's largeness of heart and ability to see and relate to Mystery goes beyond anything I can really apprehend. Yes, I understand something of the world of the Spirit, but I am too rational, too linear, too controlled to dive in with M.T.'s abandon.
Everything Is Everywhere – Carrie Newcomer
I think we like music that speaks for us. I often feel Carrie Newcomer's music speaks for me. But after listening to this album many, many times, I realize that it doesn't really speak for me as much as it speaks for all of us. Everything Is Everywhere defines the people we can someday become, and the loving Spirit we, as one people, will someday embody.
Before and After – Carrie Newcomer
Singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer's newest album, Before and After, features a collection of thirteen original compositions—including many contemplative, midlife songs that have grown out of Newcomer's reading and conversations with other spiritual people like Parker Palmer.
but Joy Comes in the Morning – Margaret S. Meier
This quilt of text and music is not a warm, cozy listening experience, though. It is very challenging music and painful text, richly expressing the anger, despair, and, ultimately, courageous healing and hope of survivors of child sexual abuse.
Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse
This quilt of text and music is not a warm, cozy listening experience... It is very challenging music and painful text, richly expressing the anger, despair, and, ultimately, courageous healing and hope of survivors of child sexual abuse.
Carrie Newcomer — Several Albums
A gifted poet, Newcomer writes lyrics that can tell stories or share feelings. Her Quaker beliefs are evident in many of her words, but she doesn't preach at you.
Keepsake — Women’s Voices Blending in Song
This is singable, listenable hymnody that would be appropriate in traditional or contemporary worship services as much as in women's spirituality gatherings. The language and images are inclusive; the melodies are delightful, and the harmonies rich.
Growing into God — CD by Kathryn Christian and Poetry by Edwina Gateley
All of the tracks are superb, but our favorite is "Come Holy Mother" (inspired by Julian of Norwich) which profoundly evokes an image of God's motherly tenderness, as does "Gather Me Under Thy Wings."
Come, Holy Mother by Kathryn Christian
A central purpose of Kathryn's music is to help her listeners broaden their concept of God to include the truth of those scripture passages that speak of God as Mother. The songs on this CD fulfill that purpose admirably.
alone… by 3rd margaret
The music can be experienced on as many levels as there are moments and listeners, but ultimately the album captures Marg's anguish when she learned that although she was trained to be a church musician, in fact the church was not a safe or welcoming place for lesbian women like herself.
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Kind of Okay with It
November 2023 Poetry Selection
It’s the age
of kind of knowing:
As in, I kind of know
what a partridge is...
It’s the age
of kind of knowing:
As in, I kind of know
what a partridge is...
