House of Memory and Hope
A "Body of Work," no. 16 -- We Rest in the Being
Hi! Welcome to “A Body of Work.” It’s the occasional Tuesday space here on “Living in a Body” where I dig deep into Hal history and pull out a musical gem. Be sure to click the Soundcloud or YouTube links below to hear the song “House of Memory and Hope.” I hope you’ll enjoy and share this post with a friend. Thank you!
Rev. Steven Protzman arrived at the UU church of Kent in August of 2018. On that summer Tuesday, he and I had our first one-on-one meeting in his office to discuss the upcoming services. He asked if I had any good music ideas for the service commemorating 150 years since the church building was built. I didn’t have any good ideas. But with a mix of trepidation and trust, I took a deep breath and said, “I’ll write a song for it.”
That afternoon, I called my favorite songwriting partner
and we got busy. We ended up writing a beautiful song called “House of Memory and Hope.” It’s full of simple statements of where we might find our home. We ask the question of the meaning of words like Love and Peace and God and Beauty. We sang of the importance of rest. My favorite line of the song sings, “We rest in the being… here.”One line toward the end of the song repeats “Our home is the moment. We gather.” It occurs to me that the only time to make myself at home is this moment. The only place to find my home is in wherever I am. And the best time to gather is now. We gather with the people. We gather with the wildflowers. We gather with all the beings of the earth. In this moment, we gather to find love and beauty and peace and rest and home and God in this spinning, chaotic world.
I hope you’ll listen. Find links and the full lyrics below.
House of Memory and Hope
Our home is the Love that sustains us.
Do you know what I mean when I say Love? (2x)Our home is the beauty between us.
Do you know what I mean when I say Beauty? (2x)It’s our time of living here
in the house of memory and hope.
She’s seen us through the changes
in the timelessness of ages.We rest in the living
We rest in the loving
We rest in the being
hereOur home is the Peace that defines us
Do you know what I mean when I say Peace? (2x)Our home is the God that delights us
Do you know what I mean when I say God? (2x)We rest in the living
We rest in the loving
We rest in the being
here.Our Home is the moment
We gather, we gather
Our Home is the moment
We gather, we gatherDo you know what I mean when I say home?
Do you know what I mean when I say, come home?
This is so deeply touching. So grateful to hear it. I, too, deeply miss serving our faith . Blessings on you.
Hi Hal. Thanks for sharing. I hadn't heard "House of Memory and Hope" before and really like it - I like the words and message, the melody, hearing you sing, seeing you play, thinking of you and wishing you well.