Today at UUCV we’ll be commemorating National Transgender Day of Remembrance.  (What’s that?  Take a look, but not if you need to put on your happy face any time in the next few hours.)

I am pleased about one thing: I’ve used Namoli Brennet’s music in worship enough over the last year that I feel okay about using more of it today.  (I try not to fall into the trap of using Jewish music only on Yom Kippur, African-American music only in February, etc…..)  The choir is singing “We Belong,” from her sophomore project Welcome to the Afterglow; I’m doing a solo version of “I Belong,” from 2011’s We Were Born to Rise (probably my all-time favorite of her albums, though the newer ones are catching up); and I’m doing pianistic noodlings based upon a couple of her other pieces as offertory and prayer underscoring.

I’ve sat here trying to come up with words to describe how much I respect Namoli for a long time now, but probably the best way to give you an idea of how amazing she is, is to just give you a taste of her music.  So, here it is.  Listen.  Feel.  Remember.