Harvard Divinity School

Meditation | MUSIC: Xavier I. Sayeed, MTS I and Eilaf Farajallah, MTS I

Five Prayers: A Pageant of Formative Sounds and Souls

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587sLife.

From the Islamic Tradition | The Qur’an, Surah Nur, Chapter 24, Verse 34–35

Read by Reem Shaikh, MTS II

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

وَلَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكُمْ ءَايَـٰتٍۢ مُّبَيِّنَـٰتٍۢ وَمَثَلًۭا مِّنَ ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْا۟ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَمَوْعِظَةًۭ لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ۞ ٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ مَثَلُ نُورِهِۦ كَمِشْكَوٰةٍۢ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ ۖ ٱلْمِصْبَاحُ فِى زُجَاجَةٍ ۖ ٱلزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌۭ دُرِّىٌّۭ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍۢ مُّبَـٰرَكَةٍۢ زَيْتُونَةٍۢ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍۢ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍۢ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِىٓءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌۭ ۚ نُّورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍۢ ۗ يَهْدِى ٱللَّهُ لِنُورِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَيَضْرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْأَمْثَـٰلَ لِلنَّاسِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌۭ

Indeed, We have sent down to you

clear revelations,

along with examples of those

who had gone before you,

and a lesson to the God-fearing.

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

His light is like a niche in which there is a lamp,

the lamp is in a crystal,

the crystal is like a shining star,

lit from ˹the oil of˺ a blessed olive tree,

˹located˺ neither to the east nor the west,

whose oil would almost glow,

even without being touched by fire.

Light upon light!

Allah guides whoever He wills to His light.

And Allah sets forth parables for humanity.

For Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things.

Meditation | Hine ma tov, a round from the Jewish tradition

Sung by the HDS Choir

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

Hine ma tov uma na’im

Shevet achim gam yachad

Translation:

Behold how good and how pleasing it is

for us to sit together in unity.

From the Pagan Tradition | A Winter Solstice Blessing

Chanted by Natalia Schwien, MTS II

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

A fire is burning

The long night draws near

All who need comfort

Are welcome by here

We’ll dance ‘neath the stars

And toast the past year

For the spirit of solstice

Is still living here

We’ll count all our blessings

While the Mother lays down

With snow as her blanket

Covering the ground

Thanks to the Mother

For the life that she brings

She’ll waken to warm us

Again in the spring

The poor and the hungry

The sick and the lost

These are our children

No matter the cost

From Traditions of the Afrikan* Diaspora | Regla de Ocha-Ifá, an AfroCuban Spiritual Tradition

Chanted by Nadia Milad Issa, MTS I

*Preferred spelling of the student representative.

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

Text on-screen at beginning of reading:

Translations of Yoruba chants are highly exclusive to men Akpwón, an issue central to Nadia’s scholarly research. A rough translation, provided by one of their elders, of what they are singing follows.

Yemayá is the Ocean and the universal mother.

The Mayo is one of the names to refer to Yemayá.

Oraye is the call to all people across the world to work together in community.

Bambi is a power of Yemayá.

Sung text:

Yemayá mayo, Yemayá mayo.

Yemayá mayo awoyo kuekue Ilé.

Oraye Bambi Oraye, Bobo raye Oni Yemayá,

Oraye Bambi Oraye O, Bobo Raye Alawa Bocheche.

From Those Who are Claimed by Multiple Belongings | “In Praise of Fire” by John O’Donohue

Read by Jessica Young Chang, MDiv II

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

Let us praise the grace and risk of Fire.

In the beginning,

The Word was red,

And the sound was thunder,

And the wound in the unseen 

Spilled forth the red weather of being. 

In the name of the Fire,

The Flame

And the Light:

Praise the pure presence of fire 

That burns from within

Without thought of time. 

The hunger of Fire has no need

For the reliquary of the future;

It adores the eros of now, 

Where the memory of the earth

In flames that lick and drink the air 

Is made to release

Its long-enduring forms 

In a powder of ashes

Left for the wind to decipher.

As air intensifies the hunger of fire,

May the thought of death

Breathe new urgency

Into our love of life.

As fire cleanses dross,

May the flame of passion

Burn away what is false.

As short as the time

From spark to flame,

So brief may the distance be

Between heart and being.

May we discover

Beneath our fear

Embers of anger

To kindle justice.

May courage

Cause our lives to flame,

In the name of the Fire,

And the Flame

And the Light.

Communal Invocation | Adapted from the poetry of Hafiz

Read by Kerry A. Maloney and Xavier I. Sayeed, MTS I

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

One:Light will someday split you open even if your life is now a cage,

All:for a divine seed, the crown of destiny, is hidden and sown

on an ancient, fertile plain you hold the title to.

One:Love will surely burst you wide open into an unfettered, blooming new galaxy

All:even if your mind is now a spoiled mule.

One:A life-giving radiance will come; the Friend's gratuity will come.

All:O look again within yourself, for I know you were once

the elegant host to all the marvels in creation.

One:From a sacred crevice in your body a bow rises each night and shoots your soul into God.

All:Behold the Beautiful Drunk Singing One from the lunar vantage point of love.

One:That One is conducting the affairs of the whole universe

All:while throwing wild parties in a tree house—on a limb in your heart.

From the Jewish Tradition | “The Light of the Spirit Never Dies” by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Read by Madeline Levy, MTS II

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

There’s an interesting question

the commentators ask about Chanukah.

For eight days we light lights,

and each night we make

the blessing over miracles:

she-asah nissim la-avotenu.

But what was the miracle of the first night?

The light that should have lasted one day

lasted eight.

But that means

there was something miraculous

about days 2 to 8;

but nothing miraculous about the first day.

Perhaps the miracle was this,

that the Maccabees found one cruse of oil

with its seal intact, undefiled.

There was no reason to suppose

that anything would have survived

the systematic desecration

the Greeks and their supporters

did to the Temple.

Yet the Maccabees searched

and found that one jar.

Why did they search?

Because they had faith

from the worst tragedy

something would survive.

The miracle of the first night

was that of faith itself,

the faith that something would remain

with which to begin again.

from 8 Short Thoughts for 8 Chanukah Nights

https://rabbisacks.org/8-thoughts-8-nights/

From the Buddhist Tradition | Attadiipaa Sutta (A Lamp to Oneself)

Read by Liem Nguyen, MDiv II

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

Monks, be a lamp unto yourselves,

be your own refuge, having no other;

let the Dhamma be a lamp

and a refuge to you, having no other.

Those who are lamps unto themselves...

should investigate to the very heart of things:

‘What is the source of sorrow,

lamentation, pain, grief and despair?

How do they arise?’ 

Here, monks, the uninstructed worldling.

Change occurs in this man's body,

and it becomes different.

On account of this change and difference,

sorrow, lamentation, pain,

grief and despair arise. 

But seeing the body’s impermanence,

its change-ability, its waning, its ceasing,

he says ‘formerly as now,

all bodies were impermanent

and unsatisfactory,

and subject to change.’

Thus, seeing this as it really is,

with perfect insight,

he abandons all sorrow, lamentation, pain,

grief and despair.

He is not worried at their abandonment,

but unworried lives at ease,

and thus living at ease he is said to be

‘assuredly delivered.’

From the Traditions of Queer Spiritualities | Excerpts from “Poem of Perfect Miracles,” by Walt Whitman

Read by Vivian Trutzl, MTS II

Seasons of Light is hosted by Harvard Divinity School's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life under the direction of Christopher Hossfeld, Director of Music and Ritual, and Kerry A. Maloney, Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The full video recording of Seasons of Light 2020 can be found on the HDS YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVuYb9d7tCc&t=587s

TRANSCRIPT:

Why! who makes much of a miracle? 

As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles, 

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, 

Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses

toward the sky,

Or wade with naked feet along the beach,

just in the edge of the water,

Or stand under trees in the woods, 

Or talk by day with any one I love—

or sleep in the bed at night

with any one I love,

Or sit at the table at dinner with my mother, 

Or look at strangers opposite me

riding in the car, 

Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive,

of an August forenoon,

Or animals feeding in the fields,

To me, every hour of the light and dark

is a miracle,

Every inch of space is a miracle, 

Every square yard of the surface of the earth

is spread with the same,

Every cubic foot of the interior

swarms with the same;

Every spear of grass—

the frames, limbs, organs,

of [people] men and women,

and all that concerns them,

All these to me

are unspeakably perfect miracles.

— Whitman, Walt. Excerpts from “Poem of Perfect Miracles,” Leaves of Grass (1856), whitmanarchive.org.