Harold Friedell was well known as a performer and educator, teaching at Juilliard and Union Seminary. He was a composer of a large number of choral anthems and solo organ pieces and was a prominent leader in the American Guild of Organists. His anthem, Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether, is probably his most famous work. The text is by hymn-writer, Percy Dearmer.

Friedell named his hymn tune, Union Seminary, where incidentally, he served on the faculty. Today’s prelude is an organ setting of Friedell’s piece arranged by Gerre Hancock, who studied Union and who served as organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue in New York from 1971-2004.

When I was thinking of what to write this week, I was struck by the anthem text’s use of the word tether. Tether is “to tie (an animal) with a rope or chain so as to restrict its movement.” How can the spirit’s tether, which seems restrictive, make any sense? I’ve always thought of the spirit as being unrestrictive, untethered, and unrestrainable. It is, but to find it, you have to restrict the flesh and decouple from noise, material form, people, and desire. There are also themes of being restricted in our communion anthem, from Psalm 16. The words “I shall not be moved,” and “My flesh will also rest,” stick out in my mind.

One of my favorite books is The Untethered Soul, by Michael Singer. His premise is about the freedom we have not to be restricted by our circumstances, and that we have this powerful ability to transcend all of our problems by relaxing, stopping, curtailing and restricting the chattiness of the mind. He speaks about stepping back and freeing yourself from suffering through transcendence, which is another word for stillness. He’s also the author of another popular spiritual book, The Surrender Experiment, which has similar themes of unconditionality and the total acceptance of that which we cannot control.

The human spirit is not containable, although some would argue that the body is a kind container for the spirit. It is, but the spirit extends, beyond the limits of the flesh. It unfolds into the oneness of God, which is untethered to limits or restriction. It’s this open potentiality of the spirit that we should be tethered to, not to the restrictive thoughts of the mind. The flesh is restricted, the spirit is not, but one cannot exist without the other, and the wisdom of God binds these seeming dichotomies together as one. And our composer today, Harold Friedell came along and animated that inexhaustible truth with music. This piece has a memorable, expansive melody, a timeless shape, and a free-flowing harmony that illustrates this wonderful union of body and spirit, animated by the source of all creation.

What would our world be without great poets and musicians to help us make sense of all of this? So many people are missing out of soul-unfolding experiences, like worship and creative thinking. They go through life with a general malaise, tethered to stuff. I’d rather be tethered to spirit, that part of me that’s tethered to nothing tangible. That’s where sustained vitality and aliveness flow through me, and all around me. I am tethered to nothing but that which binds it all together in mysterious union  – God’s unconditional love. Soli Deo Gloria!