A Blessing of Discomfort

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A Blessing of Discomfort was commissioned by the Algonquin Regional High School Camerata Singers, directed by Kathrine Waters, with funding from the Northborough Southborough Music Association.  The work was written in October and November of 2015.  This was my first time writing for a women's choir, and I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to write for the one at my alma mater.  I was searching for a text to set when I stumbled on a Franciscan Benediction I had been given in college, buried deep inside boxes of things I was in the process of cleaning out.  I love how it is a blessing that inspires action out of negative feelings instead of asking for divine help and comfort, and my hope is that the music makes the message even more inspiring.  I freely adapted the text to make it more poetic and “singable.”

Premiered April 3, 2016 by Algonquin Regional High School Camerata Singers, Katherine Waters-conductor, in Westborough, MA.

Text

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, at commercial messages, at inherited habits so that you may search deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at poverty, inequality, and exploitation so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears for the rejected, the hungry, and the injured so that you may comfort them and bring them joy.

And may God bless you with the foolishness to believe that you can heal the world so that you may do what has never been done.