Original Poetry




 

 

 

Forward Into Light

 

Order of songs:

 

Lumen - Aisles

Forward Into Light

Hold the Light

Light of a Clear Blue Morning

Where There is Light in the Soul

————————————————————— Solo Voci

There is a Light

God is the Light

Light a Candle

O Holy Night

O Nata Lux

Shine the Light

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1. Opening 

 

“God said, ‘Let there be Light’ and there was light; and God saw the light was good.” - Genesis Chapter 1, verses 3-4, the first book of the Old Testament in the Christian bible and the Jewish Torah. In Biblical Hebrew, light is repeatedly used as a positive symbol for showing that redemption, truth, justice, peace, and even life itself “shine,” and their revelation is expressed in terms of the revelation of light. 

 

Hanukkah, which in Hebrew means “dedication” and during which the rededication of the Jewish temple is celebrated, is known as the Festival of Lights.

 

“God is the Light of the heavens and earth” is a quote from the 35th verse of the 24th Sura of the Qur’an, Surah An-Nur, which - translated to English - means “The Light.”

 

We hear the word “enlightenment,” and perhaps we think of the core principles of Buddhism.

 

In Hinduism, light has a special significance during Diwali, its “Festival of Lights,” when the triumph of light over darkness is celebrated with lamps and fireworks. 

 

In almost all of the various indigenous traditions, light is woven into the tapestry of physical and spiritual practices, from the meanings of fire to the array of art forms specific to each. The Maori, for example, are indigenous Polynesian people in New Zealand whose weavers intentionally use the color red to represent light in traditional ceremonial dress. 

 

It is our intrinsic human differences and adopted faith and belief traditions that make us wonderful as a people, as a species. These differences have historically driven us apart, but they can also serve as the LIGHT that illuminates the path into harmonious coexistence.

 

It is this light we celebrate with you this evening. I invite you to sit back. Relax. And enjoy, as Belle Voci presents…Forward Into Light.

 

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2. Forward Into Light

 

This past May, Belle Voci celebrated the anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, with our Pittsburgh premier performance of Andrea Ramsey’s Suffrage Cantata. We had the privilege to perform the piece again for the Allegheny Regional Asset District’s RADical Days in September. It is the last movement of this remarkable work from which we derive the title of tonight’s performance. 

 

One of the quotes that inspired Suffrage Cantata’s lyrics is from National Council of Negro Women leader Daisy Lampkin:

 

“You cannot be neutral. You must either join with us who believe in the bright future or be destroyed by those who would return us to the dark past.”

 

The Light we celebrate at this time of year is inspiring in so many different, beautiful ways. Do we look back to the dark, or move Forward Into Light? The suffragists clearly chose Light.

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3. Hold the Light

 

The Library of Congress describes a spiritual as, “a type of religious folksong that is most closely associated with the enslavement of African people in the American South. The songs arose in the last few decades of the eighteenth century leading up to the abolishment of legalized slavery in the 1860s. The African American spiritual (also called the Negro Spiritual) constitutes one of the largest and most significant forms of American folksong.”

 

When we reflect on the context in which these songs were sung, often as a call and response in the fields of slavery, we wonder how so much joyful music could come from such a dark, terrible situation? 

 

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass once wrote, “ Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slaves represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” 

 

Spiritual music can be described as the Light that powered the slaves through to the other side of darkness, a darkness that is - unfortunately - still lurking in our society today. Together, let’s all hold the light.

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4. Light of a Clear Blue Morning

 

Jesus Christ was not actually born on December 25. No one is certain of the exact date he was born. The first recorded celebration of Christmas took place in 336 AD under the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who had slowly converted to Christianity. The Pope at that time, Julius 1, made it official around 350 AD that Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, on December 25th. 

 

In the United States, Christmas was not declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870, a gesture by President Ulysses S. Grant to try to unite the North and South.

 

The origin and practice of Advent, the four weeks of preparation for the birth of the Christ Child, is less clear. Rituals and readings focus on the first coming of Christ as a baby born to Mary and Joseph, but the penitence and expectation of this season also point toward Christ’s second coming and the need to be ready. 

 

“Be on your guard, keep watch. You do not know when the moment is coming.”  - from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 13, Verse 33, which is often part of services on the First Sunday in Advent. 

 

Color plays an important part in this season of holy anticipation, represented by the color purple in three of the candles of the Advent wreath. A pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete (gow-DEH-teh) Sunday, Gaudete means “rejoice” in Latin. It might seem contradictory during a season of repentant preparation, but it is important to focus on the coming celebration, even in the darkness, to carry us through the long dark night. The long dark fight…to the Light of a Clear Blue Morning.  

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5. Where There Is Light in the Soul  

 

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. 

If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. 

 

—-from a Chinese Proverb

 

Many of us here in Pittsburgh know about the beauty of Chinese lanterns, but there is more to Light in Chinese culture than the stunning displays at the Pittsburgh Zoo in the fall. Lanterns have traditionally been used in Chinese worship, and one theory is that Lantern Festivals are derived from the practice of Buddhist monks who lit the lanterns on the 15th day of the lunar month to honor the Buddha centuries ago. 

 

Another legend has it that thousands of years ago, a monster named Nian, which means “year,” attacked villagers at the beginning of each new year. The monster was afraid of bright lights, loud noises, and the color red, so those things were used to chase the beast away.

 

Whatever truth is at the heart of the Chinese Lantern Festival, at its core, Light is what drives it. If there is Light in the soul, there will be peace in the world.

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6. After Where There Is Light In the Soul and Before Solo Voci 

 

Ancient people believed that astronomical phenomena were related to earthly events, and miracles were associated with the birth of important people. 

 

The Bible Book of Numbers, chapter 24, verse 17 says this:

“I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,

And batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of tumult.” 

The kingdom of Moab no longer existed at the time the Gospels were being written, which tells us that the Star Matthew wrote about in his gospel had been foretold for a very long time. 

When a bright star rose in the East, King Herod of Judea concluded that the prophesied birth of a coming messiah was at hand, so he sent three wise men to verify the birth, claiming that he wanted to also pay homage. When the wise men arrived, an angel appeared to them to tell them that it wasn’t safe for them to return to Herod, and so they fled using a different route. 

 

There are many theories about what King Herod and the Wise Men saw all those years ago, just as we hear about mysterious bright objects and super moons in the sky now. The most likely explanation is a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter like the one that was visible two years ago just before Christmas. Whatever the cause, there’s something so peaceful about the image of rising morning stars as the day breaks in one’s soul.  

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7. There Is A Light 

 

Like the Whos down in Whoville who gather at dawn around the town Christmas tree in Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, music brings people together in a sense of connection and community that transcends the material aspects of the holidays. The inclusive nature of holiday songs in most every tradition and celebration makes them important to each event. A child may like Baby Shark. His teenage sister is into Billie Eilish. Their dad jams to Green Day. And Grandma has Fleetwood Mac on her Spotify playlist. But in December, when it’s time to celebrate the season, none of them can resist singing along to the same songs - Jingle Bells, The Dreidel Song, or perhaps The Seven Days of Kwanzaa. 

 

The composer of our next piece, Coco Love Alcorn, had this to say about her personal musical journey: “After…years of thinking I was chasing down a sound it turns out I was searching for the right feeling. That feeling is connection; connection with the listener, the moment, the music and the spirit.”

 

At the heart of all this music and all Holiday Songs is Light, a representation of the spirit of the season.  

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8. God Is The Light

 

Folk singer Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusuf Islam and chose to become Muslim  in 1977. While on an earlier holiday in Marrakesh, Stevens heard the Islamic ritual call to prayer, which was explained to him as "music for God.” Stevens said, "I thought, music for God? I'd never heard that before – I'd heard of music for money, music for fame, music for personal power, but music for God?”

 

In 1976, Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California, and said he shouted, "Oh, God! If you save me I will work for you." He stated that, immediately afterwards, a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. This brush with death intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth.

 

Muslims maintain the distinction between Creator and creation, between divine Light and earthly light, believing that true illumination is a gift from God that can’t be achieved through human effort alone. It’s a familiar religious theme, more like mainstream western belief that many realize. 

 

A widespread Islamic tradition relates that God created angels from Light and humans from dirt. God…is the Light that sustains both. 

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9. Light a Candle

 

The fire, warmth, and Light of candles play an important part of the holiday season. Christians use candles not only in the Advent wreath but also to symbolize Christ Himself. Hanukkah is a celebration of the revolt by the Maccabees to reclaim the Jewish Temple and the miracle of a tiny jar of oil that kept candles burning for a full eight days, represented by the eight candles in a menorah. Seven candles symbolize the seven principles of Kwanzaa - unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

 

The principles are a reminder of The Memoirs of Glückel (gloo-kle) of Hameln, written by a 44-year-old German-Jewish widow and mother for her fourteen children to enlighten them about her life and community. Her story is a fascinating telling of her bold navigation through frightening and precarious conditions under which the Jews of Northern Germany lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: war, plague, pirates, soldiers, feasts, births, deaths, and all of the very human events that took place around her during her lifetime. 

 

Glückel surely knew the power of hope, the power symbolized by all who light candles across all faiths and worship traditions. The power that opens our hearts.  

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10. O Holy Night 

 

Doors were not always so open to our Christian ancestors. The list is long of leaders and peoples who shunned and punished the early Christians because of their differences from the accepted norms of the times. In moral or spiritual loyalty, Christians refused to offer to Caesar or the state their unquestioned allegiance. Unlike the Romans of the time, who valued idols and rituals, Christians valued internal and spiritual practices over the tangible, and as a result, Romans hurled charges of atheism against the Christians because they worshiped no visible god. Christianity mostly appealed to the lower classes, and as a result, pagan aristocratic social classes loathed them. Christians  didn’t participate in large social gatherings and performances, and because they didn’t patronize artists, sculptors, and painters, or work of idol makers, Christians were blamed for contributing to the decline of the Roman Empire. It is not a myth that some early Christians were fed to the lions. 

 

It’s difficult to relate the violent vision of religious persecution that remains alive and well in the world today to the young, frightened couple who were forced to leave their home in Nazareth and journey to the city of David called Bethlehem for a census, decreed by Emperor Augustus, just as Mary was about to give birth. No matter that that Son of Man was born in a stable. The angels declared to a weary world no less loudly:

 

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on Earth peace to all in whom he delights.” 

— Luke 2: 14. 

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11. O Nat Lux 

 

Who doesn’t love a good redemption story? They’re everywhere…stories of baddies turned good, selfish greed morphs into loving generosity, and ultimate sacrifices that twist the darkest of souls around to the glory of the Light. 

 

Star Wars immediately comes to mind, and there are so many terrific recent TV characters who’ve been redeemed: Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso; Steve Harrington in Stranger Things; Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones; and the entire Rose Family, from David almost to (sort of…!) Moira, from Schitt’s Creek.

 

This beautiful, sweet, quiet piece of music that we will sing for you next, is like a lullaby for Jesus Christ, born of Light, Redeemer of the world in the form of a tiny baby. 

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12. Closing: Shine the Light 

 

An excerpt from the 11th chapter of the book of Genesis:

 

“There was a time when all the world spoke a single language and used the same words… Then they said, ‘Let us build ourselves a tower with its top in the heavens and make a name for ourselves.’ “

 

God wasn’t too thrilled with this, and so He said, “Come, let us go down there and confuse their language so they will not understand what they say to one another.”

 

“That is why it is called Babel, because there the Lord made a babble of the language of the whole world. It was from that place that the Lord scattered people all over the face of the earth.”

 

This Bible story may explain our differences, but it is the Light in all of our traditions and faiths that bring us together despite our differences. We might all celebrate Light in our own ways, but we celebrate it for the same reasons. It is positive, purifying, cleansing, illuminating, warmth in the form of fire, eye-opening and energizing. Without Light in all its forms, our world - devoid of Light’s powers - would come to an end. 

 

The gospel favorite This Little Light of Mine - which is incorporated into our next selection - was first written by Harry Dixon Loes as a children’s song in the 1920s, and it was adopted as an anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s.

 

As Freedom Singer Rutha Mae Harris is quoted as saying, “You can't just sing ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ You gotta shout it.”

 

As you and your families gather this holiday season to share stories, gifts, food and love, no matter what faith you abide by or religion you worship in, please keep in mind that this season is about so much more than Christmas. Remember to keep the Light - in all its forms - at the center of your celebration. 

 

The Belle Voci family wishes you Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Heri za Kwanzaa! And love and Light to you and your families. Good night.