Evensong services at JUC are hour-long services of music, chanting, silence, and readings. The music is drawn from UU sources and others, with songs like "Return again," "Meditation on Breathing," and "Ubi caritas" We even sing phrases from longer songs in order to sink in more deeply, such as in the hymn "Wake, now, my senses" repeating the phrase "giving, receiving, as love shows us how," to enter into the reciprocal flow that is connected to love. As a spiritual practice, meditative chanting is practiced in cultures around the world as mantras, songs, and kirtan. The impact of the practice is a quieting and energizing of the mind, an increase in feeling of well-being, and a sense of greater connection to others.

With all of this in mind, my partner David Burrows and I gave workshop presentations on Evensong at the UUA's Annual Denominational Convention called General Assembly (Kansas City) and at the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network Annual Conference (Portland, OR) in which we led participants in the practice of Evensong, focusing on chants and songs that arise from UU traditions. In both of the cases, the Evensong sessions happened to be scheduled on the second to last day of the conference, when attendees were worn down and on information overload. Since the people who attended the workshops had been engaged mentally and intellectually for days, many were in sore need of a non-verbal based experience that only asked for them to be. What people told us after each session is how much they needed this atmosphere, how tired they had been from the grueling convention schedule and the heady and sometimes contentious debates in the larger Assembly and Conference. It was good to come into a place and simply fill up their cup, they said.

David and I also made congregational visits at the end of July, in our first ever "Evensong Tour." We traveled to Southern California and led Evensong services at UU churches in Studio City, Costa Mesa, Pasadena, and Santa Barbara, then to Grass Valley north of Sacramento, and finally to Astoria, OR where former JUC member Kit Ketcham is a UU minister. In some of these congregations, there had not been a regular singing practice, and a couple had dabbled every once in awhile with a "Singing Meditation" event. In each service, when introducing what the hour would be about and how folks could participate, I shared: "You are welcome to sing or to listen, to move your body or stay still, to leave and to come back as you need." And so with each new group we practiced the art and experience of singing, of silence, of listening, and of adding our voice to the common song.

In one California congregation, after the Evensong service when people were visiting with one another, a woman approached me to tell how much she enjoyed the service. She was maybe in her 60s, and had come to Unitarian Universalism from the Methodist church 20 years ago. She shared a bit regretfully that although she fully entered the singing, her body actually wanted to kneel while she was singing, but she hesitated because she didn't know if it would be accepted by her congregational friends nearby. This story made me consider what spoken or unspoken limits are shared in UU community, and I began sharing this story at the beginning of Evensong services in order to explicitly give permission to follow the inclination of body movement during meditative singing. I was delighted a couple of days later, when during an Evensong service a person arose and began walking slowly about the room while singing - their movement reminded me of walking of a labyrinth, another spiritual practice. 

Back at JUC, I have been receiving messages that as a result both of the Evensong workshop at General Assembly and the Southern California tour, two congregations have begun holding Evensong services on their own. We practice Evensong at JUC on third Tuesdays, from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. in the Willis Chapel. It is ok to listen, to sing, to move, to be. Come to be restored, to be lifted up, and to feel more connected.