A Dream Within a Dream

Jeanne Zuniga, with excerpts from Dr. Susan Dill

Music Service with Dr. Susan Dill & First UU Choir & Musicians was held on May 18th, 2025. Watch the full-length service below.

Mystery. Possibility. Invitation. This is the essence of dream work, and the first quiet whispers to any powerful change in life and within ourselves.

While much of our time is measured and consumed by physical or logistical needs, there is also a paradoxical and ineffable yearning to remember who we are, both as an “individual” and as the collective consciousness of Being. This is the mystery that calls us to dream, to wonder if there might be something else beyond our five-sensical, three-dimensional existence. The mystery of the unknown beckons us to release our assumptions and expand into possibility.

I am new to the community of First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, and in the year since I have been welcomed into the congregation, I have been especially privileged to learn and collaborate with our musicians in this call to dream. The music service, organized and planned for March 18 of this year, was a first for me, but a treasured tradition in the community.

“Gonna Build a Mountain” performed by First UU Children’s Choir

Our talented conductor, Dr. Susan Dill, labored patiently but persistently to teach us new challenging pieces while thoughtfully composing a presentation of music, rich with symbolism, poetry, and direct messages to dare to dream. She shared this about the opening hymn, “Come, Sing a Song with Me”:

It's important to understand the symbolism of a rose in religious contexts in order to grasp the full meaning of these lyrics. The rose is a multifaceted symbol, often representing love, beauty, and divine grace. In Sufi poetry, roses are linked to spiritual wisdom. The rose's thorny nature also symbolizes the trials and sufferings of life. So, when we share a rose in the wintertime, we are sharing a symbol of resilience, hope, and a promise of new beginnings, even in the face of harsh conditions.

William & Emilia Westney perform “Les Cloches”

And if you were paying very close attention, you might have noticed that Dr. Dill was wearing a beautiful red rose pendant around her neck as she spoke these insightful words. The service included a variety of compilations between vocalists and instrumentalists, both young and young at heart. Emilia (soprano) and Bill Westney (pianist) prepared an art song that depicted a positive dreamscape with the lyrics of “Les Cloches” by Paul Bourget, after which the children’s choir energetically sang the song, “Gonna Build a Mountain.”

Jaime Ramirez performs Paul Simon’s “American Tune”

But not all dreamscapes are aglow with beauty and love. Broken dreams are dreams, plans, or goals that didn’t come true. Psychologist, Julia Cameron, tells us that by grieving and honoring unrealized dreams with self-compassion, we can “metabolize” the pain and prevent emotional and psychic “scar tissue” from building up and blocking us. Otherwise, these unhealed wounds may cause us to lose faith in ourselves and hesitate to pursue, or even name, new dreams. With aching sincerity, the First UU choir reminded us to be gentle with our losses as they sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical Les Miserable.

Dreams are also a subject that the great American poet Langston Hughes returned to over and over in his works. His poetry provides an unqualified warning to hold on to dreams even if they never come true. Their loss brings pain, incapacity, and emptiness; therefore, they are a vital source of pleasure, strength, and sustenance. Three selected poems were poignantly read to illustrate this point, followed by Jaime Ramirez on the piano with “American Tune” by Paul Simon.

“Push Play” written & performed by Chris Gillis, with First UU Worship Band

Such works of art cause painful questions to arise, bringing disquiet and disillusionment as an important step to recognize the call to dream anew. Before we can truly heal, there often must be an unraveling, rife with grief and heartache. We must face the harm that we have done, embrace that which we have suffered – and name our part in it, yielding our judgements that separate us from one another.

And so, the work of dreaming leads us to the precipice of change, an urgent invitation for creativity, collaboration, and hope for the future. Our church is a wonderful community of support for those who dream of a just and loving world. We encourage each other to be generous in giving of our time, talent and treasure, all in a context of trust. “Push Play,” a song written by our very own Chris Gillis, was performed by the Honest Sirens as an encouragement to stay centered when life gets tough and it is difficult to keep our dreams alive. The band also performed John Lennon’s well-known “Imagine” as many in the congregation sang along in memory for this dream to be still more fully realized in the world around us.

John Lennon’s “Imagine,” performed by Honest Sirens

The choir’s first song was a soul R&B song often considered a civil rights anthem, titled “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, and led by Mark Rockymoore as the featured soloist. The lyrics depict a harsh world, but we hold fast to the inevitability of and the hope for change as we bravely press on in the faith and hope of dreaming.

The final choir anthems “All of Me” and “I Dreamed a World” were taken from a larger work called “A Vision Unfolding” by Kyle Pederson. He had the following to say about this work.

“In 2021, seven choirs around the country commissioned me to write an extended work, centered broadly around themes of social justice. I didn’t want to write a big work around these themes merely from my own perspective, so I reached out to Shanelle Gabriel, an African American poet, spoken word artist, singer/songwriter from New York City. Our conversations turned to ‘what sort of vision do we want to cast for the audience and the singers?’

“A Change is Gonna Come,” by Sam Cooke, performed by Mark Rockeymoore & First UU Choir

“We determined that, at the core, we hoped to re-articulate and explore what our country has stood for in its best moments. In our foundational texts and speeches, we find powerful declarations of a nation rooted in equality, freedom, justice, and inclusion. Shanelle and I wanted this whole work to be invitational—to be reminded of the compelling vision that we live into in our best moments, and to be invited to say ‘yes’ to more of that.”

“All of Me,” from “A Vision Unfolding,” performed by First UU Choir, with Carlos Gonzales on violin

These last two songs were particularly challenging, but also a grand finale of hope and determination to dream on. The poetic wonder of Jaime Ramirez at the piano brought the music service to completion, while choir voices poured forth in whispered pianissimo to vibrant forte under the calm, but passionate guidance of Dr. Susan Dill. The choir gave its all to call forth the dream, and the congregation rapturously transmuted a resounding “yes” with the openness of their hearts. We weren’t perfect, but we were one, and that, I believe, is the essence of the dream.

“I Dreamed a World,” from “A Vision Unfolding,” performed by First UU Choir

Whether you are a singer or sound technician, a pastor or poet, an Earth goddess or environmentalist, each of us must find our way to the refrain “I have a dream.” These words, echoed throughout the decades by the likes of the Reverend King and Abba, are never more powerful than when you live and love with your whole being into the Wholeness of Being - or, as Edgar Allen Poe eloquently tripped over, the dream within a dream. This life is but a dream, sweetheart, but it is the dreaming that compels us to listen, to learn, and to expand ever more into infinite love.