By Pauline Benetti
Special to The PREVIEW
Unitarian Universalists (UUs) find their spiritual inspiration in many diverse sources from religious texts to nature. This week, member and speaker Stephen Clarke shows us how music is his source, specifically, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
First introduced to this spiritual genius by the Swingle Singers’ recordings in the 1960s, Clarke has since worked his way into a deep appreciation of Bach. In this presentation, some examples from the bulk, heart and soul of his work — his sacred church music — will be shared. Bach’s reputation as the premier musician and composer of all time is rather forbidding, but in these selections we will find inspirations of intimate and heartwarming influences garbed in most flowing and exquisite beauty. This is some of the best of what our cultural legacy in Christian religion has to offer. Come and enjoy the concert.
Clarke, since 1948, has been a walkabout hitchhiker, single father, associate founder of several Rudolf Steiner Waldorf schools, a research scientist with a degree in chemistry and physics, an anti-war activist, and an auto mechanic and shop owner in New Mexico for 30 years. An early physical setback impelled him to “reversal of attention” and a lifelong practice of meditation and transformational path-working according to his various ancestral influences. One of these, the music of Bach, has been a lifelong influence.
Ours is a welcoming congregation; we invite everyone to share in our faith community. Usually, on the third and fourth Sundays, leadership is by Pastor Dean Cerny. On other Sundays, one of our lay leaders will preside.
The Religious Exploration program will start up again in September. For more information, contact Anna Ramirez at afrancis_@hotmail.com.
Find us in Unit B-15 of the Greenbriar Plaza. From North Pagosa Boulevard, turn right onto Park Avenue and right again into Greenbriar Plaza, then turn left and continue around the complex until you see the Unitarian Universalist sign as it faces the mountains. Join us. For further information about the Pagosa UU Fellowship, visit pagosauu.org or call 731-7900.
