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For the Weaving of Our Lives
Hymn composed by
Amanda Udis-KesslerContextual information
This text was written for a UU worship service on interdependence several years ago. It was set to a traditional tune to make it easier for congregants to sing it immediately.
Warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom (a kind of frame) while the horizontal weft is drawn through (inserted over and under) the warp thread. In my hymn text, it is the stable “warp” of love that holds our hearts in place, while the weft of faith is added through our actions of weaving our lives, alone and together.
A skein is a wound ball of yarn with a center pull strand from which it can be unraveled. The use of “skein” in the hymn text thus takes some liberties with the common use of the term, but I liked the image of the interdependent web of all existence as a tangled ball of yarn in this context.
This text was written for a UU worship service on interdependence several years ago. It was set to a traditional tune to make it easier for congregants to sing it immediately.
Warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom (a kind of frame) while the horizontal weft is drawn through (inserted over and under) the warp thread. In my hymn text, it is the stable “warp” of love that holds our hearts in place, while the weft of faith is added through our actions of weaving our lives, alone and together.
A skein is a wound ball of yarn with a center pull strand from which it can be unraveled. The use of “skein” in the hymn text thus takes some liberties with the common use of the term, but I liked the image of the interdependent web of all existence as a tangled ball of yarn in this context.
Tune Name
DIX
Tune Name
Text Meter
7.7.7.7.7.7.
10.9.10.9
Song Composer
Amanda Udis-KesslerHymn Arranger
Composer Background information
Amanda Udis-Kessler (she/her) is a hymnwriter, songwriter, and sacred music composer with over 150 free-use pieces on her website. Amanda also writes progressive liturgy and trains congregations in deepening liturgical inclusiveness; she has three traditionally published books on sociology, religion, and ethics. An antiracism trainer and creativity trainer, Amanda delights in expanding joy and working against suffering. She is the Transitional Pastor at Vista Grande Community Church UCC in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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Lyricist Background information
Amanda Udis-Kessler (she/her) is a hymnwriter, songwriter, and sacred music composer with over 150 free-use pieces on her website. Amanda also writes progressive liturgy and trains congregations in deepening liturgical inclusiveness; she has three traditionally published books on sociology, religion, and ethics. An antiracism trainer and creativity trainer, Amanda delights in expanding joy and working against suffering. She is the Transitional Pastor at Vista Grande Community Church UCC in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Arranger Background information
Arranger Website LinkLyrics
For the weaving of our lives on the loom of joy and grace,
Warp of love that holds our hearts, weft of faith we add each day:
All creation hears our song. We are woven kind and strong.
For the thread that each of us offers to the world’s design,
Fabric of a thousand hues, heart and hand and soul and mind:
All creation hears our prayer as we weave a world of care.
For the web that binds us all gently in its tangled skein,
Baby’s cry and prophet’s call, strands of peace and strands of pain:
Dear creation, may that we yet repair your tapestry.
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