Christmas

Today’s Word: Re-gifting

Steve · December 21, 2013 · Leave a Comment

‘Tis the season for re-gifting,
fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.
Tins of fruitcake are uplifting,
fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.
One more year to re-deliver,
fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.
Just remember last year’s giver!
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

I don’t know the etiquette of re-gifting, although I’m sure Miss Manners could teach me a thing or two. But it’s that time of year when, let’s admit it, we sometimes look around and see what we might have that we could offer to others. A gift card we never used, that duplicate toaster oven we never returned, the proverbial ugly Christmas sweater…

Or maybe we give from our own treasures: A book or painting we have that someone else has always admired, or perhaps a family keepsake that perhaps it’s time to pass on. Then again, maybe we can re-gift those most precious things of all, our time and talents. God, of course, is the giver of everything that is good and creative in our lives, even though we tend to call these things “mine.” MY gifts, MY time, MY talents. Carelessly and thoughtlessly, we can convince ourselves that we have earned these things when, in fact, they are pure gifts. No matter how hard we have worked to develop them, build them and use them, our contemplative selves will remind us — in our quiet moments of prayer and reflection — that everything is gift. Our response to the Giver, then, is twofold. The first response is gratitude. The second is re-gifting, passing on that time and talent to someone else in need of something we have. Here, like the family heirloom, we give from our abundance, from our treasure. And God smiles.

Ask yourself in silence: What treasures and talents can I re-gift this year?

A Song for the Season: A Simple Gift

Steve · December 20, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Moon2 — Winter night sky near Springfield, Mo. SJG photo.

Another song from my Christmas CD, “Home Again with You,” produced a few years back with my friends in the band Nathanael’s Creed. Written years ago when collaborator Jim Russell and I played with the Christian folk group Ephphatha, this song was the theme for many of our advent programs back in the 90s. It’s still one of my favorite original songs and the meaning of the lyrics still resonates deeply this time of year, especially these lines:

Are there those not afraid to live by their faith?
Are there gifts as simple as love?

For this recording, Pat Dillender’s exquisite percussion work drives the song and gives it a drive and Latin feel not present in the original version. So thanks for that, Skitch.

To listen, click here: A Simple Gift

A Simple Gift
Words by Steve Givens and Jim Russell
© 2003 Potter’s Mark Music (BMI)
Music by Jim Russell © 2003

The lights of the City of David shine
As a single star pierces the night.
Restless within her a miracle waits
Incarnation of holiest light.

But how can this be? How can she believe?
That an angel came down from above?
Are there gifts so precious they must be passed on?
Are there gifts as simple as love?

Music — Temple musicians in Malaysia. SJG photo.

She rests her head on the arm of this man
Who stood by her though his heart was torn.
Steadfast he searches for shelter and warmth
Soon the light of the world will be born.

But how can this be? How can he believe?
That an angel came down from above?
Are there those not afraid to live by their faith?
Are there gifts as simple as love?

The fear of her labor is now washed away
By the joy of her baby’s first breath.
Deep in the hope of this new life for all
Is a power to rule over death.

But how can this be? And who will believe?
Why the angels now sing from above?
She looks on the face of her child and her God,
He’s a gift as simple as love;

As simple as love.

The players
Lead vocals: Steve Givens
Guitar: Jim Russell
Percussion: Pat Dillender
Bass: Gerry Kasper
*Not sure where Phil Cooper was on this one…either sitting it out or shaking an egg…(or shaking one out and sitting on an egg?)

[If you’re looking for stocking stuffers, the CDs are available for $15, which includes postage and handling. Drop me an email or send a check to: Steve Givens, 51 High Valley Dr., Chesterfield, Mo. 63017.]

Today’s Word: Yes

Steve · December 19, 2013 · 1 Comment

The Annunciation, by Henry Ossawa Tanner (Wiki Commons)

The Annunciation

(Found in Luke 1:26-39, the Annunciation is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus.)

The announcement, the call to her in the midst of sleep,
is the very beginning of the story,
the pinhole of opportunity,
the invitation to grace
the way opening to way.

It is God saying:
“Yes, this is what we will do. We will begin here,
with this one, this girl.
This poor girl from the middle of nowhere.
This will catch them off guard.
Through her we will look like the rest of them,
work and walk among them, be with them,
point them in our direction before they realize it.

This will be, for many, the path of greatest resistance,
not an easy and gentle way,
but a birth and rebirth offered for them,
a way marked by labor and blood,
things unknown to us,
yet necessary for the work we must do in them.
Yes, this is what we will do.
Yes.”

This offer of grace and salvation now extends to us,
The sons and daughters of creation,
and it asks for an answer.
It requires from us the same yes she gave,
Sitting on a rumpled bed
In the middle of the night,
Inviting in the light,
Saying yes.

Ask yourself in silence: To what have I said yes to God? To what have I said no?

A Song for the Season: Christmas to Me

Steve · December 13, 2013 · 3 Comments

Dusting — A light dusting of snow. SJG photo

A little something special for the seasons of Advent and Christmas…another song from my Christmas CD, “Home Again with You,” produced a few years back with my friends in the band Nathanael’s Creed.

Next up is our jazzy “Christmas to Me,” inspired by a beautiful poem by the (now) Rev. Katie Cooper Nix and by the Christmas recordings from pop-jazz heroes like Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett. I know it’s early on a Friday morning as I post this, but this one is perhaps best enjoyed in front of a fire with your favorite beverage and your favorite people…

To listen, click here: Christmas to Me

Christmas to Me

Words and music by Phil Cooper, Steve Givens and Jim Russell, based on a poem by Katie Cooper Nix.
© 2007 Potter’s Mark Music (BMI)

Christmas to me, isn’t the lights on the tree
The wrappings and the bows
A reindeer’s glowing nose.

Christmas to me, isn’t so easy to see
In endless games and toys
For little girls and boys.

And no matter where I go
All the trappings and the snow
It just isn’t merry
It just isn’t Christmas
‘Till I am home again with you.

Christmas to me, echoes the mystery
The sacred holy night
A grace so pure and bright.

Christmas to me, lives in the memory
Of family and friends
A love that never ends.

And no matter where I go
All the trappings and the snow
It just isn’t merry
It just isn’t Christmas
‘Till I am home again with you.

The players
Lead vocals: Steve Givens
Guitar: Jim Russell
Piano: Phil Cooper
Percussion: Pat Dillender
Bass: Gerry Kasper
Background vocals: Phil Cooper and Jim Russell (I think!)

Today’s Word: Beginnings

Steve · December 10, 2013 · 2 Comments

In begins on the road to Bethlehem. SJG photo.

Just received word from our friends “The Merry Keenans” in England (we lived just west of London for about three years in the mid-1990s) that a
Christmas reading I wrote a number of years ago is going to be performed as part of this year’s carol service at our old parish, St. Joseph’s in Gerrards
Cross, Buckinghamshire, this coming Sunday. The choirs will be conducted by Mary Keenan “herself,” and I’m told there will be mulled wine and minced pies in the parish centre following the festivities. Truly, truly wish we could be there. If by chance you live in that beautiful part of the world (in the Chilterns), please drop by and clap loudly. Tell them the colonists sent you.

Here’s the reading…

The Journey Begins

The journey begins, not at Nazareth as Joseph and Mary prepare for their trip to the City of David, but at a time much earlier.

It begins with darkness…and God…and the Word.

It begins at creation, when God called forth light, life and those made in His own image.

It begins with a man and a woman, banished from the garden and crying out for a new
source of life and salvation.

It begins with a son, standing over the slain body of his brother and listening to the sound of blood crying out from the ground.

It begins with a great flood and the promise of a rainbow.

It begins on a mountain top, with a father’s hand ready to sacrifice his son.

It begins with a child, drawn like water from the river by a Pharaoh’s daughter.

It begins with a bush, burning but not consumed, on a small parcel of holy ground.

It begins with plagues and the deaths of first-born children, with years of wandering in the desert, with manna from heaven and water flowing from rocks, with towers of flame and parted seas, with covenants and commandments and temples and sacred meals.

It begins with songs of praise, psalms of thanksgiving, and words of wisdom for those wise enough to listen.

It begins with the words of prophets, warning of coming destruction and telling of the coming of a Messiah.

It begins with a voice in the wilderness crying, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

It begins with the stirrings of life inside a chosen woman.

It begins on the road to Bethlehem…

Ask yourself in silence: Where did my journey begin? When did God enter it?