“I walk it with a reverent air. . .”
Singer-songwriter Peter Mayer writes many lovely songs that speak to many Unitarian Universalists. His “Blue Boat Home,” set to the familiar hymn tune “Hyfrydol,” is a new favorite in the supplemental hymnal, Singing the Journey.
But this piece, “Holy Now,” is one that speaks to a very Unitarian Universalist point of view — how to see the whole world as a holy place, every part of it, rather than just what we might learn from a traditional view of church and religion.
Holy Now
Lyrics by singer-songwriter Peter Mayer
When I was a boy, each week
On Sunday, we would go to church
And pay attention to the priest
He would read the holy word
And consecrate the holy bread
And everyone would kneel and bow
Today the only difference is
Everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy nowWhen I was in Sunday school
We would learn about the time
Moses split the sea in two
Jesus made the water wine
And I remember feeling sad
That miracles don’t happen still
But now I can’t keep track
‘Cause everything’s a miracle
Everything, Everything
Everything’s a miracleWine from water is not so small
But an even better magic trick
Is that anything is here at all
So the challenging thing becomes
Not to look for miracles
But finding where there isn’t oneWhen holy water was rare at best
It barely wet my fingertips
But now I have to hold my breath
Like I’m swimming in a sea of it
It used to be a world half there
Heaven’s second rate hand-me-down
But I walk it with a reverent air
‘Cause everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy nowRead a questioning child’s face
And say it’s not a testament
That’d be very hard to say
See another new morning come
And say it’s not a sacrament
I tell you that it can’t be doneThis morning, outside I stood
And saw a little red-winged bird
Shining like a burning bush
Singing like a scripture verse
It made me want to bow my head
I remember when church let out
How things have changed since then
Everything is holy now
It used to be a world half-there
Heaven’s second rate hand-me-down
But I walk it with a reverent air
‘Cause everything is holy now
Source: Peter Mayer, “Holy Now,” from Million Year Mind
Tags: music, Peter Mayer, poetry, reverence, songs
