Tuesday, July 27, 2010

All God's Quakers Got a Place on a Committee

We have an event at North Pacific Yearly Meeting Annual Session called Community Night.  It's like an open-mic night, or a a talent show, or a cabaret, but where each performer is a group within the Yearly Meeting: Monthly Meetings, Worship Groups, Preparative Meetings, Quarterly Meetings, the occasional Yearly Meeting committee or two.   

With profound apologies to Bill Staines, here are the results of the efforts of the Songwriting Committee of University Friends Meeting. 



A Place on a Committee

All God's Quakers got a place on a committee
We don't care if you're plain or pretty
You have to be a member for Worship and Ministry
But everybody's welcome on Hospitality

Religious Education is a good one, too
'Cause all our children really need you
Oversight's got a lot of clearness to do
And Building and Grounds has plenty, too

Our homeless neighbors share our worship space
And provide our Meeting with a measure of grace
Social concerns proceed apace
And the dish-washing tends to itself -- NOT!

Please take pity on the Finance Committee
They beg for money and they hardly get any
We value all our other seventeen committees
But nobody talks to Nominating

So we all got together for a Year of Discernment
It lasted eighteen months and it left us in ferment
We talked about our talent and commitments and souls
And how to share our gifts and time and anything we got now

All our Friends got a place in our Meeting
From setting out chairs to standing and greeting
Christian and Jew and Buddhist and Pagan
And all of our potlucks have options that are vegan!


----------------------

Permissions update


The Songwriting Committee had no idea this would be of such interest to other Friends, and is humbled and honored by all the interest that's been expressed.  

After consultation with the Clerk and some of the Elders of the Meeting, I (Stasa) have been asked to say:  

  • Performance: Permission granted by University Friends Meeting for use for religious / spiritual performance only, with attribution to UFM for the words.  (We cannot, of course, grant permission from Bill Staines for use of the tune.  His contact information is here.)  


Thank you, Friends!
at

6 comments:

  1. Liz OppSun Aug 01, 10:37:00 PM GMT+1

    What fun! ...I'd like to share this with the group Nightingales when I have a chance. Does such a request have to go through a committee, such as the Songwriting Committee of University Friends Meeting?

    Blessings,
    Liz Opp, The Good Raised Up

    ReplyDelete
  2. staśaMon Aug 02, 04:24:00 AM GMT+1

    Hee. :) Thanks. It's fine to share, just please request permission before singing it anywhere. (I'm have an email out to determine from whom to get permission for more public sharing by other groups.) Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Liz OppMon Aug 02, 04:54:00 AM GMT+1

    By "singing it anywhere," do you mean in public/at an organized Quaker event like a Yearly Meeting session, as opposed to the spontaneous request during a Nightingales' gathering--which is most likely where it would occur?

    Or are you asking for me to dig out your phone number--or someone else's--at 10:00 pm at night during the traditional Saturday night large group sing, because I want to introduce the parody to the group, but first I have to get your--or someone else's-- permission?

    If indeed the creators of the parody want potential singers of it to ask permission, I would suggest that that be made explicit in your post and that of RantWoman (I saw your post first; I haven't commented elsewhere)--along with whom to contact and by what method!

    After all, parodies are meant to be shared, aren't they?

    Blessings,
    Liz Opp, The Good Raised Up

    ReplyDelete
  4. staśaWed Aug 04, 04:29:00 PM GMT+1

    Liz, what I was asking for was time while I was waiting to hear back from the appropriate Elders in my Meeting. I'd had several requests to perform this and to post it on other websites, to which I honestly couldn't give permission myself. Now that I've heard back, I have added an update to the post.

    I'm sure Nightingales are familiar with copyright law, particularly regarding the differences between what can be sung in rehearsal, what can be sung in religious services, and what can be sung in performance (as well as the whole parody/satire issue).

    In return, I've had several people ask me about the Nightingales, so thanks for the link!

    Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  5. beth ChandlerWed Aug 08, 02:32:00 PM GMT+1

    I love this! It's so true of our Monthly Meeting too--I think I'll share the link to this page on our "discuss" list for some humor.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MorganWed Aug 08, 09:22:00 PM GMT+1

    Have fun! :)

    ReplyDelete

Does something I've written or posted here speak to you? Then please leave a comment!

If you don't have a Google, Blogger, or Open ID account, you can use the "Anonymous" option, but, in keeping with Pagan integrity and Friends' testimonies, please do sign at least your first name.

Comments are moderated. Your comment will once it has been approved.

Due to a recent attack by a spambot, I have reinstated the word verification. If you are having problems with this, feel free to drop me an email at stasa dot website at gmail dot com. I am sorry for the inconvenience.