Dear friends,
On July 4, our nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I was in high school in Northern Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital, when we celebrated the 200th. I remember an overwhelming array of parades and fireworks, parties and concerts. At the time, my understanding of the complexity of our nation’s history was limited.
Fifty years later, it feels different. I am older, of course. I have a deeper awareness both of how world-shattering that document was and how far we were then (and how far we are still) from living out the ideals it proclaimed. And we are in a very different place as a nation. We are so divided. The systems that hold our democracy in place are terribly frayed. It is hard to know how to celebrate this year. It is hard to know what it means to be patriotic in these times. How do we express our love and our hopes for our country as July 4th approaches?
At a recent Edwards staff music planning meeting, we acknowledged how complicated it felt – and also how important it is to us to honor this anniversary with integrity and joy, in community. We began talking about music as a way to express our hopes for our country. There are beautiful hymns that take the form of a prayer for our nation. There are lively folk songs that lift up a vision of inclusive welcome. Many of the songs were written by brilliant poets who thought deeply about the challenges our nation faced. Some have language we find problematic; some have been used in ways that seek to silent dissent. We began to imagine celebrating the nation’s birthday by reclaiming these songs as expressions of hope and prayer.
I brought these ideas to a Framingham Interfaith Community Association lunch. The response was enthusiastic; many folks were grateful for a way to come together. An event began to take shape: “Our Voices Unite: Singing for America.” It will be on the Framingham Centre Common, on Sunday, July 12 at 4 pm (see flyer on page 8 for more details). Each faith community is invited to select one or two pieces of music, introduce them with some history and context, lead us in singing, and lift up a prayer of hope.
Our intention is to be non-partisan, interfaith, and open-hearted. We will not focus on what or who is right or wrong; we will center on hopes and prayers for how we might live into the principles and ideals we proclaim.
On the three Sundays leading up to this gathering, our worship services will take a similar form. Each Sunday, we will explore one of these pieces of music: its history, its vision for our country, its resonance with scripture and the principles of our faith. We will sing and pray our hope for our country.
Peace, Debbie