Steve

Video Post: Psalm for a Day

Steve · March 23, 2019 · 4 Comments

Almost a year ago (March 31, 2018) I posted a reflection about “waiting” during Holy Week, and that post included a new song I composed and performed with my two musical partners, John Caravelli and Phil Cooper. A year later, we now have a video to go with the song, so I thought I would post it here.

Sit with it, pray with it, let it be a reminder that God is present throughout all of our days and nights…

Psalm for a Day

When the morning sun
Defeats the darkest night
I will hope in you, Lord
I will hope in you.
When the sparrow flies
And the flower blooms
I will hope in you, Lord
I will hope in you.

I will accept the peace beyond
All my understanding
And I will find you there
I will trust in you
I will trust in you.

When the evening calms
And the madness fades
I will look to you, Lord
I will look to you.
When the setting sun
Sheds its final light
I will look for you, Lord
I will look for you.

When the darkness falls
And I close my eyes
I will rest in you, Lord
I will rest in you.
I will rest in you, Lord
I will rest in you.

Words and music by John Caravelli, Phil Cooper and Steve Givens.

The Players

John Caravelli, acoustic guitar and BGVs
Phil Cooper, piano and BGVs
Steve Givens, lead vocals

Playing in the Wild Garden of Childhood

Steve · January 25, 2019 · 12 Comments

FOD BAll — At the "Field of Dreams," Dyersville, Iowa. SJG photo.

I recently came across this line of poetry from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda: “Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood.” And, of course, that’s right.

Take, for example, the pick-up games of some variation of baseball (fuzz ball, Indian ball, Wiffle® ball, cork ball, kickball, step ball) of my childhood in North St. Louis in the early ‘70s. These were “wild gardens” in the very best sense, meaning they required no adults, no official field dimensions, no uniforms and very few rules, other than the ever-evolving ones that existed only in our collective consciousness as 12-year-olds.

Life and Death on Display: Midwinter at the Missouri Botanical Garden

Steve · January 11, 2019 · 6 Comments

climatron — The iconic Climatron and its reflecting pools. Opened in 1960, the Climatron was the first geodesic dome to be used as a plant conservatory. It was built following the principles of R. Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic system and has no interior support and no columns from floor to ceiling. It rises to 70 feet in the center, spans 175 feet in diameter at the base, has 1.3 million cubic feet, and encloses approximately 24,000 square feet, according to the Garden’s website. SJG photo.

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” – John Muir

As I write this, St. Louis is in the midst of a winter snowfall that could leave somewhere between 6-12 inches of snow on the ground. It’s beautiful and all that, but I’m not amused.

Just a week ago, I spent several hours of an unseasonably warm day walking the grounds of one of our region’s storied treasures — the Missouri Botanical Garden, better and forever known to long-time St. Louisans as Shaw’s Garden. Named for the merchant and botanical enthusiast Henry Shaw, an Englishman who came to St. Louis in 1819 as an 18-year-old in search of customers for his hardware and cutlery business on the edge of the American wilderness, the “Garden” is today world renowned for its botanical richness and beauty, its architecture and the botanical knowledge its scientists continue to uncover on the grounds and at sites throughout the world.

In a season of giving, remember not to steal…

Steve · December 26, 2018 · 1 Comment

Holy Family Grotto, by Bro. Mel Meyer, SM. Marianist Retreat & Conference Center, Wildwood, Mo.

My next “Faith Perspectives” column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch appeared just in time for Christmas, a reminder (quoting Pope Francis) that “Thou Shall Not Steal” is about more than just not taking what doesn’t belong to us. You can read my column below or online here: http://bit.ly/2rQMm6U [Read more…] about In a season of giving, remember not to steal…

A (Very) Short Story: The Question

Steve · November 24, 2018 · 6 Comments

Path — Mallard Lake Trail. Creve Coeur Lake. SJG photo.

He was walking through the autumn-thinned woods, a carpet of fallen yellow beneath his feet. He put one foot in front of the other, the walk more of an obligation to himself than anything else. Sometimes, he thought, he prayed while he walked, but today he could not gather the will. The woods were silent and empty, as was he.

He walked on, stepping over fallen logs and zagging around occasional puddles from yesterday’s rain. Light cut through the upper reaches of oaks and hickories, casting both beams and shadows on the ground before him. A breeze lifted gently off the stream to his left, and he caught a whiff of dead leaves and rotting logs.

And out of nowhere he asked: “Where are you, God, in all of this?”

And a choir responded.

All he had learned from poetry sang out, “God is in the light and shadow.”

All he had learned from music intoned, “listen to the wind blowing through the trees. God is there.”

From study and reading he heard, “God is in everything. Pay attention.”

From his beating heart he knew that God was deep inside him.

He knew all this and yet could not find God. He could not summon a prayer.

Then a still, small voice said, “I am in your question.”

And he smiled and walked on and, knowing that was right, he whispered, “well, amen then.”