Love’s One Desire – Song Stories from the upcoming album release, Remain in Love.
This is the 2nd in a series of song stories from Remain in Love, the album I am currently working on. I am so excited to share with you some of the journey and background of each of these songs. I am in the process of fundraising for this album, so if you’d like to partner with me and know more about this current project, I would be most grateful. You can do that here: Remain in Love Project.
Love’s One Desire is a line from a remaking of an old song I began over a decade ago. It was around 2004 and I was at a music conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Canadian singer-songwriter, Steve Bell, was giving a workshop on song-writing. I had begun to realize that I had a longing to write music but had no idea of where to begin. Steve shared with us something that really impacted me. He said that songwriting is like planting your own garden…and that we needed to get over the fact that we would never create some unique plant that no one has ever created before. What was important was to gather the plants that were meaningful to us and create our own garden from what we loved. Somehow, this analogy ignited a sense of possibility in me and I knew right away there were two plants that I wanted to bring together to make a little garden.
I had been learning about the dorian mode and falling in love with its sound. The dorian mode is an old scale that moves from D – D without adding any accidentals. The minor scale is older than the major scale, the tonality of much of our Western music. The modal system is the framework that the minor scale emerged from and has many unique tonal qualities that our Western ears find ‘new’. I loved the way the Dorian mode moved.
I had also been greatly impacted in the years leading up to this with the Lord’s prayer. When I went through a deep personal crisis in 1998 I sought out help through an Episcopal church in Decatur, GA. There was an elderly woman who asked if I would like to pray with her and I said yes. I thought she would say a prayer from her heart, but she took out a prayer book and asked if I wanted to say the Lord’s prayer. I had never used a prayer book before and a written prayer felt awkward to me. I resisted that option, feeling that it was a cold and stale way to meet a person in crisis. However, since there was no other possibility in that moment, I said yes. What happened as we began to say the words of the prayer together was that each line became deeply meaningful for me. I realized this text held a pathway through my crisis. I could cry out for daily bread. I was invited to a pathway of forgiveness. This prayer carried me for years. It has been and continues to be a gift for my soul.
So in 2005 as I sat in Steve Bell’s workshop, I realized I wanted to explore writing the prayer in my own words and combine it with the dorian mode, which I then did and recorded on the REST album (2006 – now out of print).
This personal version of the Lord’s Prayer became very meaningful to me and I was able to share it in many evenings of sung prayer over the following ten years.
Then in 2012 I came upon a book by an Aramaic scholar, Neil Douglas Klotz. Neil has such a love for language and explains how the Aramaic language is the language that Jesus would have spoken the prayer in. He also expresses how nuanced, metaphorical and alive the Aramaic is – and how much we have lost in translation. Neil’s work on the Lord’s prayer opened up my understanding even further to the intent of the prayer and I found that changing some of the phrasing opened my heart to new ways of understanding and experiencing.
And so, it is now being recorded in a fresh, beautiful, alive way – inspired by the work of Neil Douglas-Klotz – and I am so excited to share it. ‘Your will be done’ is changed to ‘Love’s one desire unite with ours’. This been a powerful prayer to pray these past few weeks. When I feel confused, overwhelmed, lost, unsure of what to do, I begin to pray this prayer. ‘Love’s one desire unite with mine. Love’s one desire unite with ours’. These words shift my energy and focus. I get excited to be with Love’s one desire. That is the only place I want to live – so let me surrender to whatever that is and let go of how I think things ‘should’ be. This one phrase awakens my heart to trust and surrender at the same time.
I’ve included all 3 versions below…the new, the one I wrote from 2005 and the traditional one I spoke in my crisis 19 years ago. Can’t wait for you all to hear this!! Love Cathy
Prayer Journey (the Lord’s Prayer – 2017)
Creator, Radiant Love, Breathing Life of All
Your name lives within, Your name lives within, Your name lives within my soul
May Love reign here, May Love reign here, May Love reign in me
Love’s one desire, Love’s one desire, Love’s one desire unite with ours
Grant us what we need, grant us what we need, grant us what we need today
Release us, release us, release us from our shame
As we forgive, as we forgive, as we forgive too
Liberate us, liberate us, liberate us in the way of Love
Beauty and mercy, glorious harmony, Love’s eternal song shall sing on
Amen, amen, amen
© 2017 Cathy AJ Hardy
Creator (from 2005)
Creator, Redeemer, Friend
Holy, holy, holy is your name
Your will be done, your will be done, your will be done here
Your kingdom, your kingdom, your kingdom come
Provide all, provide all, provide all we need
Forgive, forgive, forgive us Lord
As we forgive, as we forgive, as we forgive too
Deliver us, deliver us, deliver us Lord
Power and glory, power and glory, power and glory are yours
Amen, amen, amen
© 2005 Cathy AJ Hardy
Ancient Text
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed by thy name
Your kingdom come, Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive those who debt against us
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
Amen
