May Nothing Evil Cross This Door

Today's hymn is #1 in Singing the Living Tradition, and I'll be honest, the title did not draw me in. But by the end of the 4th verse, I was in love.  You can read all 4 verses here.

https://youtu.be/C4rSAIts3MA

Although some UU hymns, including this one, are very different from the hymns I grew up singing in the LDS church, I am often shocked by their beauty.  The topics are different, the use of the language is different, but the Truth shines through, often in ways that I had lost with the oft-repeated tunes of my youth.  Although I railed against it, even in my own life, those LDS hymns had become just words.  We all breathed at the same places, mispronounced the same words, and didn't really pay any attention to what it was we were singing about.  It was an item on an agenda rather than enrichment.  Meeting running a little long?  Cut the hymn.  It doesn't matter anyway.

But stepping into a new church made me really think about the hymns.  Because I'm a musician, I'm familiar with many hymn tunes beyond those of my LDS tradition, but each Sunday at Unity seems to find a way of challenging me with at least one new hymn.  I've made it a habit to arrive early so I can read through the words and do a little solfege in my head so it doesn't seem like sight-reading when I sing with the congregation.  But even then, there are complications. Sometimes, the hymn selected is not in our hymnals and they just print words in the program.  And sometimes even though I've read through the words, the power of Truth that hits me as I sing with the congregation brings me to tears.  I have felt Truth when I've sung before, but there's something different about hearing it come out of your own mouth for the first time while standing in a place where the love is palpable.  The bonus of all this is that it is making me really look at Mormon hymns again for those moments of Truth, the places where I can find my truth and my place again.

But back to the focus of this post, "May Nothing Evil Cross This Door."

By faith made strong, the rafters will
withstand the battering of the storm.

I'll be really honest.  One of the things I love about Unity is this old building.  You can see pictures of the Sanctuary and the Chapel here.   Architecture can carry so much symbolism.  I don't see symbols in LDS Chapels.  I can't stop finding symbols at Unity.  (I'm probably finding things that were never intended.)  When I read the quote above, I saw the structure of the Sanctuary at Unity Church.  I heard again the cloud burst that threatened (unsuccessfully, I might add) to drown out the soloist singing, "If we come together, we can mend the crack in the sky," on Arthur Foote Music Sunday.  (Listen to the whole service or click on "We Can Mend the Sky" here.)  Although many of us do or have struggled with the concept of faith, it was at Unity that I found mine and it is in the process of being made strong.

With laughter drown the raucous shout,
and, through these sheltering walls are thin,
may they be strong to keep hate out
and hold love in.  

Unity Church-Unitarian is a place where I feel safe.  That's a major thing for me. Those walls provide a container for our love and joy to grow and be safe.  But the love doesn't stop at the walls.  They're made of this wonderful material that allows that love to travel far beyond the walls of our church, to stretch beyond our congregation into the larger community and into the world.

This first hymn in the UU hymnal is a blessing, but also a beautiful description of what we aspire to be and do.

Are there places in your life that provide the blessings described here?

Are there hymns or other songs that remind you of those place and your part in creating them?