Illuminate the Night Program

December 7 & 8th 2023

Thank you for joining us at Illuminate the Night at the Snowy Owl Theatre. Your presence brings a special warmth to our winter-themed guided concert. (And so does the stage decor provided by the Plant Ally!)

As winter whispers invite us indoors, our event becomes a celebration of musical harmony and friendship. Together, we enjoy original songs, reimagined traditional melodies, and an abundance of singing and laughter, offering a comforting respite during this bustling season.

If you are here live at the show now, feel free to follow along, or better yet, sing along! Your enthusiastic participation enhances every performance, reminding us of the joy and unity that music and shared experiences bring. We are grateful for your presence and hope the memories of our time together linger as a beacon of warmth and joy through the winter.

Warmest thanks, from all the performers:

Benjamin Jay Thomas, Alicia Claire, Josh Hofstead, Jennifer Beauvais, Nora Heath, Holly Blue, Aleah Francesca, Daniel Bertsch, Cora Landgraf, Elliana Thomas, Lucy Thomas, Judy Derpack

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After signing up you'll be redirected to a gift from us to you: a playlist where you can download or stream a selection of original music from tonight's gathering.

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Welcome Message

by Judy Derpack

Jewels

by Barbara MacAfee
Performed by Shine Song Collective

Every time I go into the darkness, I return with fistfulls of jewels

Midnight velvet wraps all around me stars glitter brilliant above

Dreaming darkness, dreaming light

Bountiful evening, bountiful evening, a New Year's carol; a little swallow flew into the household and started to twitter, to summon the master:
"Come out, come out, O master,”

This song is based on a traditional Ukrainian folk chant whose language was thought to have magical properties. This original four-note pattern within the range of a minor third is thought to be of prehistoric origins. The songs sung for this celebration are known as Schedrivky.

The text tells the tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful and bountiful year that the family will have.

~Holly Blue

Carol of the Bells/
Enter the Dark

By Benjamin Jay Thomas

The swallow declares the light, the light is coming

The swallow declares the light, the light is here

The swallow declares the page, the page is turning

We enter the dark with nothing left to fear

Hallelujah

We enter the dark with nothing left to fear

Sweet Darkness

Poem by David Whyte
read by Aleah Francesca

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone,
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your home tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive is too small for you.

Winter’s Muse

by Josh Hofstead and Alicia Claire
Chorus lyrics inspired by Chivito Cowa

As the Darkness sets in
So does the deep dread
inside my chest cavity
There’s gravity and oh god oh god it’s about to get bad
Then there’s the cold
Oh for so long
It hurts down to my toes can’t put it on pause
Tell me when it’s over

ooh ooh ooh

There’s frost on the windshield
More mounds to move
And glorious napping, hours of makeup sleep to consume
I declare a truce
And call in the muse
Let go of resentment
I’d like to make peace with you now and say

CHORUS

May the dark be my friend
May the muse comfort me warmly
May winter be a sacred hut
Of healing and remembering

Solstice Blessing Poem

Poem by Padraig Ó Tuama
read by Jennifer Beauvais

As night stretches here,
day contracts elsewhere.
And in their night, we are
bathed in light. In all nights
there is light; in long days
there can be ache too.

For you, we call the sun
to stand still a while, and
the moon too, and stars, and
the waters and the heavens.
Hells as well - just for a|
second; just for a breath.

May that breath rest you.
And may each breath rest you,
as it has until now, and now
and now. This one, after
that one, after that one after
That.

Slow Down

by Josh Hofstead and Alicia Claire

Lately too much, too fast, tasks and choices
Motion sickness blur
My attention won’t sit still, so noisy
Please turn the volume down

CHORUS:

Slow down
Come here now
Move a little closer
Slow down
step back
And see another side

Finding me in every present moment
one step at a time
How to eat that elephant I’m facing?
Do I open wide or run and hide?

(Slow down
Feel my feelings
Though it might hurt
Slow down and let ‘em through)

Binoculars and microscopes
Far away and way up close
not enough but still the most
Between the poles a ray of hope

Through the trees a whole wide world of forest
Staring back at you
Zoom in close yet still wide angle focus
My cake and eat it too

Zechariah and the Least Expected Places

by Benjamin Jay Thomas

Jerusalem, in the holy temple filled with smoke
Zechariah shuns the news from the angel of hope
Stuck behind an incense cloud of religion and disappointment
God keeps slipping out of underneath
Rocks in alleys off the beaten path
Open both your eyes

Prophets and kings and poets can contribute their work
Just like eggs in a nest are alive with the promise of birds
But the Lord of Creation will not be subjected to expectation
God keeps slipping out of underneath
Rocks in alleys off the beaten path
Open both your eyes

Elizabeth, barren, her knees black and dirty like coal
Her consistent prayers float to the sky and revive her soul
God we will wait though we don't understand
Your redemptive story
God keeps slipping out of underneath
Rocks in alleys off the beaten path
Open both our eyes

Shepherds and Angels

By Benjamin Jay Thomas

The quickening of our hearts was impressive
As this monumental being shook the ground
We were standing in the presence of the Glory of God on High
Standing in the presence of the Glory of God on High
The faceless yet familiar angel beckoned
Terrified we turned the other way
"Do not fear I bring you glad tidings"
"Do not fear I bring you great joy..."
And the angel started flapping her wings
And the sky opened up like a clam
Seven heavenly bodies fell down
Out of the sky and and linked arms they sang...

Uh, huh, yeah, yeah... you and i are gunna get right
Uh, huh, yeah, yeah... everything will be alright
One angel had a flute on her lips
And another started shaking her hips
And the chorus of heaven broke out
Twelve harmonies singing aloud.

Uh, huh, yeah, yeah... you and i are gunna get right
Uh, huh, yeah, yeah... everything will be alright

(Key Change)

Uh, huh, yeah, yeah... everything will be alright
Uh, huh, yeah, yeah... a savior is born tonight

River

by Joni Mitchell
Musical performance by Jennifer Beauvais
Dance Performance by Lucy Thomas

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
Singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on

Justice Will Sprout From the Ground

Benjamin Jay Thomas

The Spirit, Eternal, put all this songs inside my bones
To tell you, the broken, captive and lonely
That all your sorrows and tears
Will spill over
And justice will sprout from the ground

I am the Eternal
Trading your ashes for crowns
I give you your freedom:
Life undivided
Let all your wreckage and pain spill on over
So Justice will sprout from the ground

The Spirit, Eternal,
So magnified by my soul,
Saw me, the lowly and lifted my head
So that all your sorrow and tears will spill over
And Justice will sprout from this ground
Justice will sprout from this ground

Based off of the Revised Common Lectionary readings for Year B - Advent Week 3

Aho Aloha

Lyrics by Alicia Claire
Music by Beth Whitney

CHORUS:

Haleluiah
Salamalekum
Shalom
Namaste
Aho
Aloha

What a welcoming place
Always lets me be me
Just like the oak tree
You’re grounding me

what gentle souls
calm and serene
like a zen master
You’re teaching me

what a loving gathering
Open heart wild spirits
just like the air I breathe
You’re holding me

Definitions

Hallelujah –stems from the Judeo Christian faith to exclaim “rejoice!” A joyous praise in song

Salamalaykum – beyond a greeting, it is an Islamic shared sentiment of “peace be with you and with god”

Shalom –Hebrew for peace and universal flourishing

Namaste –A Hindu greeting originally from Sanskrit meaning I bow to you and see the divine light in you

A ho!- a Native American exclamation of connecting and saying thank you, I agree, amen

Aloha – much more than a greeting, aloha is the Hawaiian giving and exchanging of positive energy

The Lexicon of the Divine

by Jennifer Beauvais

I was terrified the first time
I met God. He loved me, but would punish me,
And my insides were broken and loathsome,
Warped for confession,
And somehow, that other guy, the one surrounded by fire,
Seemed so much more powerful,
He would probably find me first.
The next time I met God, they were the release from a bad dream.
Secret gospels and scholastic studies on translations of
The Good Book
Said less about the slime
And more about the Soul.
The Divine, said the Son of Man,
Is within. Is everywhere.
Skip the confessionals.
Everyone’s invited.
I have a way to find it.
But, by then
It was too late.
And as all truly good paren?ng inspires,
I chose to leave the nest
To find my own twigs,
To build my own Spiritual home.
The next time I met God,
She was an earthy haven
Of Musky soil, granite cliffs
And lakes so still,
I could pet the fish.
It was me and her, Her and I,
And her messages came slowly through my body.
“You are made of me.
If you can perceive beauty,
It is because you have beauty.”
And there was more, as I had yet to touch the sky.
There were parts of the world through which I had not yet seen God.
And the next time I found a God,
It included feathered serpents
Speaking Toltec mathematics,
In a creation story from the jungles.
Then Beating the drum and dreaming in the day, The word “God” left my vocabulary altogether.
It could not describe the mystery
That ran like blood between me,
The stars, my earth, and you.
I could only dance the name.

I still search for a word to speak.
The Tao defines itself as
Being undefinable.
Everything, all at once, more than humans can perceive,
It can only be felt
And sang with in many octaves.
The Buddhas say that
Buddha nature infinitely exists in all things,
Born many times,
In a prism rainbow expression
Of Oneness.
And to recognize this is to stop rebirth,
To end time, and separation,
Because, well,
How can you be born again if you are all things?
So love them all.
Then Jesus reappears and says,
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along!”
And how are these ancient renderings
Different from the scientist who says, that,
Though we may measure how long it took
That light particle to reach us from the edge
Of the universe,
Which blasted into existence
Over two handfuls of billions of years ago.
From that little photon’s point of view,
No time has passed
If the new deity is
The Speed of Light,
Then it just said
In Light’s view,
There is no time
And everything exists at once.
Where have I heard this before?
We are all made of timeless light.
Should we attune to our own glow
And to the phosphorescence within each other,
In the search for God,
Buddha,
Christ Consciousness,
Allah, The Tao,
The Divine,
Who will be describing the truth?

And really, who isn’t?
Because it would take all,
All the words to define it.
And even then,
There aren’t infinite words.

All is Full of Love

by Bjork
Performed by Shine Song Collective

You'll be given love
You'll be taken care of
You'll be given love
You have to trust it

Maybe not from the sources
You have poured yours
Maybe not from the directions
That you've been staring

Turn your head around (turn your head around)
Look all around you (all around you)
All is full of love (all is full of love)
It's all around you (all around you)
it's all around you
All is full of love (all is full of love)
All is full of love (all is full of love)
It's all around you
All is full of love (all is full of love)
You have to trust it
All is full of love (all is full of love)

The Worst Thing

Poem By Chelan Harkin
read by Alicia Claire

The worst thing we ever did
was put God in the sky
out of reach pulling the divinity
from the leaf,
sifting out the holy from our bones,
insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement
through everything we’ve made
a hard commitment to see as ordinary,
stripping the sacred from everywhere
to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
prying closeness from your heart.
The worst thing we ever did
was take the dance and the song
out of prayer
made it sit up straight
and cross its legs
removed it of rejoicing
wiped clean its hip sway,
its questions,
its ecstatic yowl,
its tears.
The worst thing we ever did is pretend
God isn’t the easiest thing
in this Universe
available to every soul
in every breath.

The Light

by Nora Heath

In the darkness
Searching for truth
Searching for who
I really am
There is something
Pulling me through
Guiding me to
Understand

I can see you
I can feel you
You’re made of light
Tonight

I can see you
I can feel you
We’re made of light
Tonight

Oooh ooh
I can see you,
I can feel you
We are the light
Tonight

I Will Find You

Poem by John Roedel
Read by Nora Heath

absorb as much of the light as you can, whenever it falls on you
so that later when you are lost in the midnight of your darkest despair

your tears will glow in the dark like fireflies, and we will come rescue you
I swear, I will find you.

Freedom in the Light