PRIME TIME
November 2
Daybreak is the few moments of rising light and building energy. As the sun rises, and night becomes day, we enter into the traditional monastic period known as “Prime.” If you rise to greet the sun or whenever it is that you rise, that is your Prime Time.
Rev. Matthew offers his early morning reflection below.
Meditation on Breathing
Singing the Journey Hymnal #1009
"I wrote the song just after September 11th. I was so filled with despair, and I needed to channel that into some hope. When the call came for Singing the Journey, I decided to submit the chorus as a chant. Susan Peck helped me set it (she actually wrote the descant line).
The song has since taken on a life of its own. It was sung at a student vigil after the Virginia Tech shootings (I know that because of an article in the Washington Post that someone brought to my attention. The text was listed, but no attribution).. It has been sung at rallies all over the place – Phoenix GA (and before, when folks were arrested protesting Arpaio). I have given permission for its use at camps, congregations who put together their own “hymnal”, and youth groups. I have had requests from all over North America, and Europe. I have no idea how and where it is being sung, so I have to let that go.
When folks talk to me about it (like when I sing it when visiting out), they range from parents using it to sing their kids to sleep, adults using it in meditation, hospice choirs. Once, a man told me about how he and his husband had purchased two pigmy goats – they were in the back seat being driven to their new home and making all kinds of noises. The men starting singing the chant and the goats calmed down (I often tell that story and note how the chant it multi-species!!)."
- Sarah Dan Jones
The song has since taken on a life of its own. It was sung at a student vigil after the Virginia Tech shootings (I know that because of an article in the Washington Post that someone brought to my attention. The text was listed, but no attribution).. It has been sung at rallies all over the place – Phoenix GA (and before, when folks were arrested protesting Arpaio). I have given permission for its use at camps, congregations who put together their own “hymnal”, and youth groups. I have had requests from all over North America, and Europe. I have no idea how and where it is being sung, so I have to let that go.
When folks talk to me about it (like when I sing it when visiting out), they range from parents using it to sing their kids to sleep, adults using it in meditation, hospice choirs. Once, a man told me about how he and his husband had purchased two pigmy goats – they were in the back seat being driven to their new home and making all kinds of noises. The men starting singing the chant and the goats calmed down (I often tell that story and note how the chant it multi-species!!)."
- Sarah Dan Jones