There was a lot of Silent Worship during that meeting, and several of the Friends used chants as part of their Speaking, and this seemed powerful then, and came back to me this morning as I thought about song. There's an old Quaker chant (like, sixteen hundreds) that got shared around and eventually written down by someone in the 1800s. It has been passed around and the lyrics modified to fit various faith groups.
My personal favorite version, Pete Seeger in the 70s:
The line from that chant that came to me was:
"When Friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing?"
"When Friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing?"
Folk singers have used this so often it has now entered the public domain and become something of a folk standard, but the version you might be most familiar with is the one by Enya, and that's the one I listened to this morning. I have carried it with me in my heart and am glad of this.
Rejoice, Friends.
We are together, come what may.
We are together, come what may.
My personal favorite version, Pete Seeger in the 70s:
