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The Concert for Peace has been an annual New Year’s Eve event at St John the Divine Church for 26 years.  The concert was started by Leonard Bernstein in 1983. This year, to commemorate his ninetieth birthday, three excerpts of pieces from West Side Story were chosen to be performed.  My friend and I sat behind the orchestra in old wooden pews carved for individual sitters.

The concert was a beautiful combination of musical performances and spoken word to reflect on for 2009.  Religious leaders from all different faiths spoke briefly on themes of peace, trust, and truth. Harry Smith, one of the Cathedral’s trustees, emphasized that we evaluate our values. He suggested that in these financially difficult times ahead, it would be wise to turn away from trust in things to trust in each other.

Words about truth from Rabbi Jill Hausman struck me in particular. Each person has their own unique truth, she said (and I’m paraphrasing) that is true, but we have to ask ourselves if we are willing to lay down our own truth in order to listen to someone else’s, in the interest of peace between each other. What this brought up for me was the idea that unless we create peace and harmony, we cannot continue to develop. Although tension and strife can cause growth, we are at a point now where our separations are stifling our attempts to build a new world rather than supporting them. It’s time to come together on a higher, deeper level.

This past holiday season, I received a Christmas card from my aunt with a lion and lamb lying down together on the front with a background of blooming red flowers. Most of us have probably heard this phrase or seen the Peaceable Kingdom paintings of Edward Hicks. Both the phrase and paintings are based upon this passage in the Old Testament: Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” Now, it’s obviously not meant to be taken literally, but as a metaphor for harmony between people, cultures, and ideologies.  Establishing harmony is necessary between us if we are going to collaboratively create a new culture, those varied blossoming red flowers. Of course we have come a long way, but we still face subtler forms of intolerance such as excluding certain groups based on values that are dissimilar rather than what we commonly share and value.

“Somewhere” was one of the songs performed during the concert.  Although this song was composed in the context of two warring immigrant gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, this dream to live in a place of tolerance and harmony is a sentiment we can all relate to. We have made great strides since the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s, and although we have much left to do, today I listen to this piece and think about the hope I have in creating my own life according to my highest principles, rather than borrowed beliefs and interpretations that may no longer be relevant.

How does his song inspire you? What are the meanings that this duet brings to mind? Please share your thoughts below.