Melodies Pleasing to G-d, an event at Kings University College, London, Ontario

On January 31, I had the distinct honor and great blessing to be the keynote for a very special evening at Kings University College in London, Ontario. It was an event that brought together members of the London community's Abrahamic faiths to share the chant of each their respective traditions. As Fr Murray Watson explained in his introduction, it was an evening to sample, to "taste" the beautiful and distinctive chant and cantillation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While the presentations were hardly a comprehensive sharing of each tradition's chant, they served beautifully to provide a window into the common sharing of chant; the unique styles and articulations of prayer and praise to the Divine as understood by each faith tradition. The evening was sponsored by the Centre for Jewish-Catholic-Muslim at Kings University College. http://www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/centres-kings/centre-for-jewish-catholic-muslim-learning/ I served to thread the program, first talking about the role of chant in all world traditions and then laying the foundation for each presentation. I would like to share with you a few of my more general remarks, made during the evening.

 This evening we will witness the great variability of musical styles and articulation  within and among faith traditions. The key religious texts in all the world’s religious traditions are almost always sung or chanted or in some tonal performance rather than merely read aloud. For each of these traditions the chanting or cantillation of holy texts brings them alive, makes them indeed “living texts.”

 

Dr. Guy Beck writes in his book, Sacred Sound, that from the beginning of their respective traditions, devout prophets, chazzans, cantors, priest, friars, ministers, mullahs, imans, pundits, gurus, swamis, ragis, roshis, monks, shamans, and others have chanted and sung, Jewish psalms, Qu’ranic verses, Islamic calls to prayer, Hindu slokas and bhajans, Sikh shabads and Buddhist Suras. Oral practice from its earliest times was often upheld as statutory and formally sustained within the traditions themselves.

As Hebrew scholar Joshua R Jacobs notes, “Jewish law requires that ritual texts be chanted”. According to Dr. Beck, "the Qur’an in Islam is not considered authentic when it is studied in translations or read silently. The highest accolades are given to those who memorize the entire text in Arabic, demonstrating their skills in unaided oral recitation. Buddhist sutras and mantras are always chanted or intoned aloud, as are the important Sikh prayers or songs. For thousands of years Hindu dharma (law) forbade the writing or reproducing of certain holy texts. The Vedas are believed to have been passed down orally for three thousand years. The chanting and hearing of sacred verses and mantras still constitute the most common form of access scriptures for the multitude of pious in Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.“ Before Vatican II in the 1960’s Gregorian chant with its Latin text also played a similar role in the liturgy of the Catholic Church across the world.

Chant has the power to find common ground between spiritual paths and the chant of other traditions can move us deeply; for chant offers the direct experience of what we read in our sacred texts. Chant is the doorway to the Divine. "Whatever the mode, whatever the rhythm or tune, by whatever name holiness is invoked, in the living, breathing vibration of chant, one can find G-d.'" (Gass 2000)

This age of global interconnectedness in which we live, made possible through technology and travel is also one of “interspirituality” writes, Wayne Teasdale in The Mystic Heart (2001). “When we examine the relations among religions today, we find traditions increasingly discovering and pursue the real experience of community, especially among individuals. Throughout history, members of different traditions have entered deep, meaningful dialogues, which rose out of amicable relations between the communities.”(Teasdale 2001) They also come together to chant.

 That is just what happened that evening as we listened to Greek Orthodox and Taize chant from representatives of Christian traditions, from two Jewish cantors and from two young men who shared recitation from the Qur’an and the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer. It was all deeply moving and joyous. I was deeply moved by the beauty of the chant and the willingness of each group to share their chant out of their ritual context. At the a member of the  audience asked about the possibility to visit, the Greek Orthodox Church, the synagogue and the mosque, to learn and hear more.  The bridge was being built this evening by those presenting, and the rabbi, Iman and priest were pleased to extend invitations to whomever wished to visit and learn more about their respective traditions.

 I learned so much during the evening and I was deeply moved and feel as if perhaps this is one of the most important events I have ever had the privilege to participate in. It was a significant time of sharing. I concluded the evening with the following:

 This is been a very wonderful evening, an opportunity to share the beautiful and diverse chant from the three Abrahamic faiths. It has been an opportunity to understand a bit more about the unique expressions of our sacred texts. Indeed, while the chant, as you have witnessed, is indeed unique, the sacred languages and styles of express, diverse, ; whether in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hindi, Sanskrit, the expression of our hearts love or supplication to the Divine is common among faith traditions across the world.

 

In the contemporary world there is great interest in chant and as a result of this global and digital age, has transcended ritual borders with creation of Taize chanting events in churches across the world, in recording of Gregorian chant , Hindu Kirtan concerts, sacred Hebrew chanting circles, recordings of such sacred Arabic chants as the Adhan, and so much more. In the contemporary world of chant there is an interconnection, with the East influencing the West in using chanting as an entry into deeper contemplation and joy. All the manifestations, even those that have transcended ritual boundaries are rooted in the core chant practices of traditions. Tonight we have had the opportunity to experience the beauty and the mystery of these chants, to share our antiquity through our chant lineage.

But there is something in my opinion that goes more deeply and underlies the importance of such a gathering as this evening’s. While Br Wayne Teasdale has spoken of this as an age of interspirituality, where globalization and transportation has provided us with an opportunity to know one another in new ways, in Jonathan Sach’s Dignity of Difference, he has taken the idea of globalization a step further. I would like to quote Rabbi Sach’s and in doing so I think you will understand the deeper impact of our coming together this evening.

'The world’s great faiths arose in the so-called “axial age” of civilization, long before the rise of modernity. Yet, there is much that a range of religious voices can add to the collective conversation on where we are, or should be, going. Faced with fateful choices, humanity needs wisdom, and religious traditions alongside the great philosophers, are our richest source and our greatest hope. They are sustained reflections of humanities place in nature and what constitute the proper goals of society and an individual life. They build communities, shape lives and tell stories that explain ourselves to ourselves. They frame the rituals that express our aspirations and identities. In uncharted territory, (as we are in the postmodern world), one needs a compass and the great faiths have and can continue to provide that compass to unite us rather than divide us.'

When we understand not just our differences but where we meet, we can begin to chart the course for humanity in significant ways. This evening,we met in an evening of chant, which I have been deeply honored and blessed to participate.

We ended the evening with a meditation for peace, called Harmony, which is the previous post on this blog. At the end we chanted together, united as one voice: May harmony descend upon the earth and peace and love prevail. It is through evenings of this type of profound sharing, when religious leaders and members of their congregations are open and willing to share their beautiful and distinctive traditions, in this case their respective chants, that we can see one another in a new light, through the beauty of the musical expression of our prayer practices. When we understand not just our differences but where we meet, we can begin to chart the course for humanity in significant ways. I am convinced that chant and chanting can help us to accomplish this vital goal.

I am very grateful to Fr Michael Bechard, Chaplain at Kings College for the invitation to be a part of such an important and significant evening. I remain deeply moved by the experience and likely changed in some way I do not yet understand .