One of the great mysteries of life is how we learn to understand another human. Inside each of us is an entire universe, one we can never really know even for ourselves, much less communicate fully to others. And yet somehow we manage to feel connected and, to some degree at least, understood through openness and our love for each other.

Our anthem and offertory selections touch on this experience of connection between humans, connection that bridges gaps presented by the practical constraints of real life and by things that have gone unsaid.

“Dream with Me” (intended originally as a closing song for the character Wendy in the musical version of Peter Pan by Leonard Bernstein) is an invitation for a loved one to meet the singer in a dream to share the love they cannot share in waking life. The music itself has a magical and mysterious quality to it, which comes through in the shifting, ambiguous harmonies and unexpected key changes that appear throughout.

In the Italian song by Santoliquido, “The Horned Owl Sings,” the singer is bringing their loved one into the woods on a starlit summer night, with a secret to share of something they have never before confessed, and a wonderful mystery inviting them to venture ahead together.

 

— Shaylor L.