Unity in Music and Song

by Jon Jelfs One of the ways unity is experienced is through song.  This morning I was playing and singing a song that goes: "Do you believe in the power of the music?" Some of us have been thinking about the extraordinary power of music whether it be in worship or other contexts. Thinking of unity between faith traditions, I have come to appreciate chants from the different faith traditions. It was hearing a Sufi chant for the first time, some years ago, that helped me to realise that the Presence invoked by the song was the same as that I had experienced in Christian worship. This led me on a journey of exploration of unity in diversity among the faith traditions which eventually drew me to interfaith ministry.

One particularly beautiful musical expression of interfaith harmony in song is 'Harmonic Temple'.  This is a collection of chants in four part harmony using short texts from a broad spectrum of spiritual traditions. When sung repeatedly in an open-hearted manner, a special ambience develops; a feeling of being in a Sacred Space created by the sound of the harmony. I think something to experience in Liverpool sometime in the coming months?