singing beloved community in cincinnati

October 02, 2019 by Paul Vasile in News

In September 2019, Music that Makes Community returned to Cincinnati to offer a three-day song leader training workshop centered in African and African-American musical traditions and leadership practices. The workshop also included story sharing inspired by Becoming Beloved Community, a national effort of the Episcopal Church to respond to racial injustice and grow a community of reconcilers, justice-makers, and healers.

The combination of paperless music and story sharing was heart-opening, and many spoke of the workshop as life changing. While pictures only give a hint of what we shared together, we're excited to share some highlights with you!

Thanks overflow to St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church, Christ Church Glendale, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio for their hospitality and support. And a powerful team of presenters and amazing hosts helped make brave space where story and song could be shared.

i cannot dance unless you lead me

September 19, 2019 by Paul Vasile in Music

I Cannot Dance Unless You Lead Me is a layered song based on a saying of Saint Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210-1282), a medieval mystic who shared visions that inspired and shocked her contemporaries for their sensuous, intimate language of relationship with the Divine.

visit to vanderbilt

September 15, 2019 by Paul Vasile in residency, News

Thanks to the invitation of Vanderbilt Divinity School and Dr. Steph Budwey, you can find me on campus this week! Wednesday will be a full and rich day of learning and worship, and I’m excited to be part of ongoing conversations around welcome and singing in community.

our tears falling down like rain

September 01, 2019 by Paul Vasile in Music

Our Tears, Falling Down Like Rain was written for the 2018 Annual Conference of The Hymn Society in St. Louis, Missouri. I hoped it would be a vessel big enough to hold many people’s prayers of repentance, especially those from diverse denominational and theological spaces. It’s essentially a Kyrie eleison (Lord/God, have mercy), a classic penitential text in the Christian tradition, rooted in a verse from Psalm 126:6.

celebrating the journey

August 27, 2019 by Paul Vasile in News, Pilgrimage

I’ve been on an extraordinary journey this summer, a pilgrimage that invited me to step away from familiar spaces and routines and give myself over to the grace of the road.

I’m returning today with a full heart and suitcase, having received incredible gifts along the way: abundant hospitality, lovingly prepared food, soul friendship, new songs, time in stunning wilderness spaces, collaboration and creativity, as well as opportunities to teach, share, and connect with a life-giving network of new and old friends.