Unity in Lincoln Park

By Bob Romano

as featured in the March 2010 issue of Meta Monthly

For spirituality to be truly effective in our lives we need to acknowledge its presence in our everyday lives, not just in a vacuum of Sunday services.  And, for Sunday services to be most effective they should not exist in a vacuum of spirituality, but they should be in a place where, although the primary focus is spiritual, we are able to acknowledge and celebrate our everyday lives.  In a fantasy setting such a mixture of secular and sacred can produce appealing and sometimes hilarious results. Take for example the film Sister Act, in which Whoopi Goldberg plays the role of a nightclub singer who is put under witness protection in disguise as a nun, and given the name Sister Mary Clarence.  In short, Sister Mary Clarence is given the task of whipping the convent choir into shape.  In doing this she succeeds in producing a brilliant choir of nuns who mix popular melodies and rhythms with secular and spiritual lyrics.  The result is a sound so familiar and pleasing to the neighborhood residents that soon the usually empty church is filled to near capacity.  Sister Mary Clarence provided a setting that people could relate to and enjoy while acknowledging their spiritual sides.

Exit Sister Mary Clarence, and enter Rev. Sandy Diamond and the music program at Unity of Lincoln Park.  Rev. Sandy has a love of good music and insists on blending a top notch music program into her services.  In the nearly three years I have been attending Rev. Sandy’s services it has become abundantly clear that she is one down to earth minister.  Her weekly messages and the music she encourages add an everyday-life aspect to our spiritual celebration.  Rev. Sandy has been very successful at tapping into artists from the Chicago area musical theater community and attracting some phenomenal talents to Unity in Lincoln Park.

Rev. Sandy has been known to refer to Unity in Lincoln Park as possibly the smallest of all Unity Churches.  Nevertheless she has employed two powerhouse talents – Michael Mahler as music director and Dara Cameron as soloist.  Both Michael and Dara appear regularly on stage in musical theater productions.  The theater aspect of their backgrounds is apparent in the subtlest of ways.  When performing as a soloist Dara looks out at the congregation frequently with a broad smile on her face.  She does this in such a way as to sometimes give each person the impression she is singing directly to them.  While Michael is accompanying Dara he allows himself to fade into the background and give Dara the floor.  When they sing duets whether Michael is accompanying from the keyboard, or standing with his guitar, they share the floor giving recognition to each other and the congregation.  Not any easy feat, but they make it look effortless.  When it’s time for the congregation to sing Michael and Dara blend in as members of the congregation.

In choosing the songs they will perform each week Michael and Dara pay close attention to the message topics printed for upcoming services as well as to current events.  They cleverly choose from an immense library of folk, pop, rock, blues and musical theater providing enjoyable (and sometimes toe tapping) performances with lyrics tied to the message of the day or sometimes to a current life event.  During the course of January 2010 they worked in Bruce Springsteen’s My City of Ruins in remembrance of those affected by the massive earthquake in Haiti.  Springsteen wrote this song about Asbury Park, New Jersey, a resort town near where he grew up.  He went there a great deal when he was young, and watched it deteriorate from neglect as he grew older.  The song took on new meaning after the September 11^th terrorist attacks, and Springsteen used it as a message to New York City about rising from the ruins.  Michael and Dara gave a stunning performance of this song in which they wrung out every ounce of passion its lyrics had to offer.

After hearing Michael and Dara sing duets over the course of several Sundays during their early days with Unity in Lincoln Park, I mentioned that I would love to hear them sing Mockingbird a la James Taylor and Carly Simon.  They told me that they sometimes jam to that song when they’re in the car.  Time passed and that encounter faded from my memory.

This past November Rev. Sandy set gratitude as the primary theme for her Sunday messages.  Lo and behold on one of these Sundays Michael and Dara launched into a rousing rendition of Mockingbird.  I couldn’t figure out how this fit into the theme, but I was too thrilled to care.  The entire congregation was caught up in the energy of their performance.  They rocked the house.  After the service I learned this fit in with the theme because it was their way of showing gratitude for my appreciation of their talents.

ULP (as we affectionately refer to Unity in Lincoln Park) may be one of the smallest Unity Churches around, but we have achieved as much success as the fictitious church in Sister Act in blending every day life with our spiritual celebrations.  All of this has been accomplished through the vision of Rev. Sandy and our music team of Michael and Dara.  With ULP we can tend to our spiritual needs in a communal setting without checking the rest of our lives at the door…and hear some truly great talents who may at times soothe our spirits and at times rock our souls.

Comments are closed.