Music Mondays: Draw the Circle Wide, Music by Mark Miller; Lyrics by Gordon Light

January 31
"Draw the Circle Wide," Music by Mark Miller, Words by Gordon Light

I know this is a day late, but life things happened that made it hard for me to post on Monday.

Welcome to the first 5th Monday of the month! When I was a teenager in church choir, we used to have fundraisers for our choir tour every 5th Sunday. When I conceived of the idea to focus on songs from different decades each month, I decided that on every 5th Monday in a month (happens quarterly), I would upload a song that *I* wanted to do for my own enjoyment. So this week, you get to hear “Draw the Circle Wide,” music by Mark Miller. I had the incredible fortune (and pleasure) of working with Mark while I was in seminary, as he was the resident musician (and professor) of the chapel at that time. Not only is he an incredible musician and composer, he is a fantastic human being, and I will be forever grateful that I got to know him and experience his music firsthand for those seminary years. I also took several of his classes while in seminary and really enjoyed them, as well.

Anyway, I chose this particular song for a few reasons. 1) I love the harmonies and wanted an opportunity to sing them again. 2) It’s been in my head lately, and I wanted to work on it. 3) I feel like it’s a good concept to keep in mind as we head into the rest of the year. These pandemic years have been hard on pretty much everyone. We’ve had to isolate in ways that we never imagined, but in the midst of it, and all the pain and difficulties that the pandemic has brought for people around the world, we need to remember to draw the circle of love and inclusion wide. There were times in my childhood when I felt excluded, and that made me really sensitive to others’ inclusion. I remember times when I would be standing in a circle talking with people and notice someone standing on the outside. I would say, “Hey everyone! Widen the circle so this person can join!” We need to practice being aware of these people standing at the edges as adults and in our world, as well.