"Soul Song"

The Lectionary Gospel passage for this Sunday is Jesus' interaction with the Pharisees and Sadduccees, about Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. He then goes in and asks them what they understand about the messiah. What it means to them. On a lectionary discussion board I go to frequently, this story was shared. I find it a beautiful illustration of soul, and how when we know to whom we belong, we will live out a life of loving others as we have been loved. When we get off track, we need someone to remind us again of who we are, and to whom we belong. I love the idea that we each have a soul song.

Soul Song.

"When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few women friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else. When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life. In the African tribe, there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is LOVE, and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another. A friend is someone who knows our song and sings it to us when we have forgotten it. Those who love us are not fooled by mistakes we have made or dark images we hold about ourselves. They remember our beauty when we feel ugly; our wholeness when we are broken; our innocence when we feel guilty; and our purpose when we are confused."Our relationship with God, with our neighbor, is a song sung to our soul. And where "there is love, there is God."

Just my thoughts for this week.