This beautiful canon was composed by Jacques Berthier of the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic community in France that prays for reconciliation and peace in the world. The distinctive chants and songs used at Taizé often set simple phrases (usually lines from Psalms or other pieces of Scripture) repeated until they work their way into the rhythms of the heart, a form of “praying without ceasing.”

This tune can be shared without printed music two ways:

1. Sing the canon from beginning to end, then line out each section of the canon using call and echo until the group is confident. Combine the phrases, then divide the group and cue one at a time. 
2. Divide the group into three sections and teach one phrase of the canon to each. While the melody won't migrate around the group as it does with a canon, this strategy can be helpful when time is limited.

"Da pacem cordium"

Translation:
Give peace to every heart.

Copyright for the piece is held by GIA Publications, Inc. so you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.

Shalom chaverim is a beautiful Israeli folk song that can be sung as a simple melody or as a three-part round. While literally translated "Peace, friends," the word shalom has more depth and richness of meaning than can be contained in any single English word. Hebrew scholars suggest something closer to "comprehensive well being" but that's difficult to set to music. 

Begin by inviting the community to repeat the text in Hebrew. Line out the melody until the group is confident, then divide the group and try it as a round. Leaders will often invite a step or swing from side to side, accenting the buoyant rhythm of the tune.

The piece is useful as a welcoming, blessing, or sending song, and is a wonderful way to invite the group to connect visually or kinesthetically through gentle bows, handshakes, high fives, fist bumps, or hugs. 

The Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia has written a thoughtful blog post about how she shares the song in her context.

Hebrew:
Shalom, chaverim.
Shalom, chaverim.
Shalom, shalom.
L'hitraot, l'hitraot,
Shalom, shalom.

English singing translation:
Farewell, my friends. 
Farewell, my friends. 
Shalom, shalom.
Till we meet again, till we meet again.
Shalom, shalom.

This beautiful chant was written by Miriam Klamkin, a teacher and coach connected to EarthSpirit, a pagan community which gathers together throughout the year to celebrate connection with the sacred Earth. It was brought to the MMC community by The Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia.

"Peace in my heart.
Peace between our hearts.
Peace at the heart of the world."

This "peace" was written by Benjamin and Tamika Jancewitz who teach it in the video at an MMC event in Baltimore 2015.

Ruth Cunningham wrote this setting of a Celtic blessing, a variation or simplification of the beloved St. Patrick's Breastplate, and it was brought to the MMC community by Ana Hernandez. The song works beautifully as a blessing, prayer song, or as a gentle Passing of Peace. Gestures, as modeled in the video below, can also help a community experience this prayer with their bodies. 

The focus of the song can shift easily from 'me' to 'you' to 'us,' slowly widening the circle of intention. It can also be treated like a zipper/pocket song, with variations offered alongside or instead of 'Christ.'

"Christ be with me, Christ before me,
Christ to the right of me, Christ behind me,
Christ to the left of me, Christ above me,
Christ below me, Christ within me." 

Alternative text:
Love be with me...
Peace be with me...

Teaching note from Donald Schell: When I'm leading this song, I sing a minor scale (1,2,3,4,5) to myself and drop down one note (7 below 1) to find the starting note. I begin with people standing and ask them to "do what I do and sing what I sing" and I encourage large gestures - big arm motions, stepping forward, moving whole body and from center. The gestures help people learn the song including the sequence of directions'

I usually begin with singing the whole "Christ be with you" and have people echo phrase by phrase (overlapping slightly). Usually I'll do a second iteration (choosing to substitute 'me' or 'us' for 'you') still singing call and echo, phrase by phrase. Just ahead of beginning the third iteration (shifting pronoun again), I say, "sing with me" and the shift from call and echo to simple melody in unison.

This song is originally from Ghana, and the version we've sung at many MMC events is from a setting by Marty Haugen and Marc Anderson. You can find the sheet music and a recording of the song at GIA Music.

This contemplative, layered setting of Psalm 65 by psalmist Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan is a dialogue between two phrases in different languages.

Dumiyah
Tibi silens laus

Hebrew translation:
Silence

Latin translation:
For you, silence is praise

Richard's music is licensed through CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you print the text or music for your community.

Peace, Salaam, Shalom was written by Emma's Revolution (activists and singers Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow) after September 11, 2001 and it quickly became an anthem of the peace movement. It sets the word 'peace' in English, Arabic, and Hebrew, offering a powerful interfaith message that has been shared at protests, religious services, and in other community contexts.

"We were moving from NYC to the Washington DC area over September 11th, 2001. When the only response from the government and the corporate media was “war and retribution,” we wrote “Peace, Salaam, Shalom” and sang it at an impromptu peace march in DC that week. Less than a month later, we led the song at the first peace rally in NYC after 9/11, where over 10,000 people sang with us for the three hour march, all the way from Union Square to Times Square."

Emma's Revolution asks groups, organizations, schools, churches, etc., that use their music to pay a one-time, sliding scale fee of $75-150 for use of the song in perpetuity. See their website for more information.