TOO’s Annual Love Song Service
Just in time for Valentine’s Day….
Why has this service become such a beloved part of Temple Or Olam’s own liturgical year?
It’s fun, for one thing. We sing everything from Cat Stevens to the Beatles, from Elvis Presley to Leonard Cohen.
We confess: At TOO we enjoy discovering creative and innovative ways to express our spiritual life. This is one event that has had proven success in doing just that.
Fun and lightheartedness – these things are at a premium in a world that so often presents us with grief and sorrows. But it’s not just all serendipity. There is depth to this service.
That depth comes from the kavannah that grounds what we are doing. Each song we choose is sung according to the cycle of Hebrew prayers that we chant each Friday night.
Example: How do we begin a traditional Kabbalat Shabbat service? With songs about the delight we find in being together, in enjoying the world. Shabbat Shalom, we sing. Hiney ma tov: behold, how good it is to be brothers and sisters! We might be Feelin’ Groovy in just the same way.
The passionate prayer Yedid Nefesh includes this gorgeous line: “You light up the universe, my soul is faint with love and longing for you.” It’s another, older way to say I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.
We choose love songs we can imagine singing to God. They are songs of thanks and songs of praise. They offer us a chance to put our innermost spiritual longings into words.
The V’ahavta commands us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength. I need your love… eight days a week might be sung, with the right kavannah, as a variation on that command.
We look forward to this service every year because it gives us a new way to pray ancient prayers. Through the Love Song service we learn, again, that there are songs that encompass the varied yearnings we might offer during the Amidah. We reinvest in the hope of Aleynu by singing John Lennon’s Imagine. We acknowledge that to understand the sheer power of God’s oneness what the world needs (now) is love, sweet love.
Our Love Song service is a learning opportunity. We can rediscover the beauty of our liturgy through words of modern songwriters. After all, they are expressing the same longings, the same hopes, the same desires of the heart as the author of Adon Olam.
Please join us! After all, Love is all you need.
Date: February 12
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC
