by Music Director David Brown
With my impending once-a-year opportunity for the Music Director to give a sermon, I had a difficult choice to make: About what am I most fired up right now? I think it would be difficult for any of us to choose in this moment, but I do have a few personal crusades. Rising to the top of the list—narrowly superseding such gentle material as Jewish anti-Zionism—emerged men. Yep, that’s it. Men. Of course, we’re all watching our basic civil liberties disintegrate before our eyes under the circus-fascist regime in DC—but folks who look like me benefit from a far slower decline than most. We continually face the threat of legislation—the so-called SAVE act—that expressly rolls back women’s and transgender voting rights. Nearly a third of Gen Z men believe that women should submit to their husbands. More than two-thirds of Americans—up from only about halfof Americans a decade ago—outright reject a nonbinary view of gender. This is where we are in 2026. Meanwhile, we are practically hammered with the refrain that “Men are being left behind.”
And perhaps to some extent it’s true; ultimately, patriarchy behooves nobody—not even men ourselves. But to cry, “Men are being left behind”. . . right now . . . is about as tone-deaf as “All lives matter”: Objectively not incorrect, but profoundly misleading and implicitly demeaning of the oppressed. I’m all fired up, and I know how many of you cisgender men in our community share my angst on behalf of those who do not enjoy our privilege. In fact, it is largely thanks to my MLUC upbringing that I Iearned a healthier masculinity that defies convention. Patience. Emotional expressiveness. Gentleness. Compassion. And perhaps most important, the role of elevating those without power. It’s up to us; we have the power. We will never topple systemic misogyny, homophobia, or transphobia without the most privileged among us on the front lines.
Accordingly, we’ve planned an exciting, thematic array of music to express such themes of feminism; kindness as true strength; rejecting the gender binary; and a proliferation of positive, compassionate, gentle masculinity—and we could use your help. The MLUC Band will be playing, joined by members of the MLUC Choir, and you are invited to sing with us. We need backup singers to accompany Kaitlyn Waterson, singing Laura Bell Bundy’s “American Girl” and Nathan Surles, singing John Lennon’s ubiquitous “All You Need Is Love”; and we want a full choir of voices to herald the most peculiar of meteorological phenomena: Paul Jabara’s & Paul Shaffer’s “It’s Raining Men!” We will meet this Saturday, July 11 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room to rehearse with the Band, then convene the following morning at 9:30 a.m. before the service. No singing experience is required—and absolutely all voice types are welcome!
Together we will sing hymns #170: “We Are a Gentle, Angry People,” and #1031: “Filled with Loving Kindness.”
See you Sunday!