We Are Light
At West Hill, one of our main “metaphors” is that of light. During our Longest Night service in December, an annual celebration that takes place on the night of the Winter Solstice and has allowed us to discontinue Christmas services, each person in attendance is given a candlewick bracelet and reminded that they are the […]
Trentham: A Hymn for My American Friends
An election night like no other The night ended late. Scott and I stumbled to bed after too many hours of the American election and hearts that were heavy with the result. We weren’t shocked. Not as shocked as some. Perhaps watching it unfold from this northern vantage point had already scared us more than […]
All Roads
For this Sunday, the service is looking at privilege. So my hymn writing challenge veered off in that direction. An abrupt shift in the first verse might be disconcerting but it evidences the kind of “scales falling from our eyes” reality that consciousness raising so often is. And I hope that the song ends with […]
in love, we all belong
I have totally fallen off my “hymn rewrite a week”, but here is one I had written a few weeks ago but didn’t introduce to West Hill until this past Sunday. Yeah, I know. It makes you want to swing a stein as you’re singing the chorus, but I didn’t write the music! The tune […]
love must be learned
A simple but ever so hard truth from American short-story writer and novelist, Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980).