Missa Brevis Pro Serveto: A Mass for Unitarian Universalists
Rev. Frances Dearman, text
Tobin Stokes, music
This Sunday, we will celebrate our May Music Sunday by presenting this work, which takes the traditional short form of the Latin mass but replaces the traditional text with what Frances Dearman calls “words that Unitarian choirs could feel good singing in Latin.” Dearman describes this newly crafted Latin text as follows: “We lift up individualism, but also the beloved community. We recall Latin as an elitist language, but also international. We express yearning, but also affirmation and truth. We seek essence and permanence, but also diversity and the temporary…. We value the humanist, atheist, agnostic posture no less than the deist, theist, mystic. Using concrete imagery, and leaving room for folks to find their own way, we have attempted to craft a vehicle in which all can place some trust.”
We hope you will be able to join us as we present this piece in worship as a part of our month focusing on pluralism.