Spirituality

Stepping Out of the Boat and Into a Bolder Lent

Steve · February 20, 2025 · 2 Comments

Last week, I was reading and praying with the story of Jesus walking on the surface of the Sea of Galilee, as found in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 14:22-33). It’s a well-known, frequently illustrated story, and one that I have been reading and trying to imagine since I was a child. The rough, roiling waves and the darkness of the fourth watch of the night (somewhere between 3 and 6 a.m.) all came alive for me as I imagined myself sitting scared in the boat (likely seasick, too). I could see (finally!) Jesus walking across the waves towards us and then stretching out his hand and inviting Peter (and me) to come walk beside him. It’s dramatic stuff.

It’s a story that illustrates the power and divinity of Christ, of course. It follows another extraordinary story of the feeding of five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Lest we begin to think this Jesus is just another wise rabbi or perhaps some kind of prophet, we are given stories to remind us (once again) that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. They are stories that call us into action ourselves, reminding us that lives of faith are not for the faint-hearted and lukewarm.

As 21^st-century, scientifically literate readers, we are faced with decisions to believe (or not believe) in what we know to be impossible. Water cannot just become wine. A few pieces of food cannot feed a multitude of hungry people. We are heavier than water and will sink if we step out of the boat.

And yet we find ourselves being beckoned to boldness of thought and action when we accept the call and mantle of Christ. The call to discipleship is the call to see more than meets the eye and strive for more than seems possible.

With lent approaching in less than two weeks (Ash Wednesday is March 5), I’m beginning to think about what it means to live more boldly. Lent seems a good time to begin to explore this possibility more fully, to dip my toes into the water of a life in Christ that will challenge and transform me even further.

I usually head into Lent with the best of intentions but not always the best and most challenging plans. So sometimes my meagre efforts fail a few weeks in, a little like Peter slipping beneath the waves when the water gets tough. In the midst of all of this contemplation, I am reminded that Lent is a time of both “fasting and feasting,” as the American motivational writer William Arthur Ward wrote in his now-famous prayer:

Lenten Litany of Fasting and Feasting

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ within them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of sincerity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.
Fast from instant gratifications; feast on self denial.
Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Trust in God.
And finally, fast from sin; feast on the abundance of God’s mercy.

Let’s begin here: Lord, give us the courage to step out of the boat, to go beyond the minimal trappings of lent “sacrifices” and find opportunities to be more for you and bolder in our walks of faith.

Bonus Track: Here’s a song I wrote many years ago with my friend Jim Russell and performed with my band, Nathanael’s Creed. It’s called “Step Out of the Boat.”

Money, Money Everywhere and Not a Buck to Spend

Steve · February 3, 2025 · 1 Comment

Here’s a question for you: What’s a bar with no name in the middle of nowhere with approximately 90,000 one-dollar bills stapled to its ceiling and walls really worth?

The past two weeks, Sue and I have been escaping the Midwest winter cold in the Florida Keys. Saturday, after a week in Key West, we were driving back toward the mainland with a planned stop in Key Largo for another week. An audio touring app we were using suggested a short side trip on Big Pine Key to a place called the No Name Pub. As the pub’s website says, “It’s a nice place if you can find it.”

We thought it sounded like a nice diversion (as if we needed a diversion from the beauty of driving along the 113-mile U.S. 1 Overseas Highway that runs the length of the Keys), so we exited as instructed and followed the app’s disembodied voice out onto the backroads of Big Pine Key, where we even caught a glimpse of some of the iconic and diminutive “key deer” that call the island home.

We pulled up in front of the pub, where a sign confirmed for us that we had, indeed, found it. Inside, as we had been told, every conceivable square inch of wall and ceiling was covered in autographed one-dollar bills. According to the app, there was an estimated 90,000 of them, deposited there by grateful barflies over the past 30 years or so. My head started to spin.

The whole thing prompted a conversation in my head about the worth of the building. Was it really worth $90,000 more than its real estate value? Were the bills still legal tender when written all over? Do the owners of the pub periodically take some of the bills down and then allow it to fill back up? Were they raising money for a good cause? Just what is the purpose and plan here? Inquiring minds needed to know! I sent a photo to my friend John (a retired banker) who questioned what the $90K in flammable paper might do to insurance rates. Imagine it all going up in flames!

According to an article I read on the bar’s website, there’s no purpose, no scheme, no underlying cause beyond the obvious. It’s just a celebration of a good thing. The owner of the pub doesn’t feel like the money belongs to him, and there are no plans for periodic removal. The money just “is,” a gift from those who pass through, a sign of appreciation for a cold beer and a hot pizza in the midst of a long drive. I think maybe he’s on to something.

The “stuff” of our lives is so often held up and measured by its monetary cost and perceived economic value, like many a photo I saw in Key West of Papa Hemingway with one of his prized trophy marlins. My initial thought of calculating the value of the bar was perhaps natural but it was the wrong question. Sometimes we are meant to just sit back and enjoy a cold one while contemplating the collective generosity of those who have come before us and left something behind.

And I think to myself, “what a wonderful world.” It would be a good place to be if we could find it.

What’s in Your Suitcase?

Steve · January 19, 2025 · 2 Comments

In an interview this morning on CBS Sunday Morning (always a part of my Sunday morning routine before I head off to church), veteran actor Steve Guttenberg told of his harrowing and narrow escape from his Los Angeles-area neighborhood that was hit hard by the Palisades wildfire, leaving desolation in its wake.

Putting himself in danger, Guttenberg stayed in his neighborhood as the fire raged, helping his neighbors and moving cars so emergency vehicles could get through. At the end of the interview, Guttenberg reflects on an image of his neighbors, fleeing the fire with their most important possessions:

“The truth is,” he said, “no matter how big your house is, no matter how much money you have or how expensive your car, at the end of it you’re walking down the street with a little suitcase of a few things you saved, and you’re looking for someone to tell you where to go, right?”

The story, like so many we have heard over the past few weeks, led me to consider the question: What would go in my suitcase if fire (or tornado or rising water) was bearing down on me? There are practical considerations, of course, like important legal documents and maybe some treasured photographs or family heirlooms, things that just can’t be replaced. But beyond those few essentials, what matters?

In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, we are challenged over and over to consider what is most important and valuable to us. In the meditation called “The Two Standards,” we are asked to consider the opposing values of Christ and the evil one by imagining ourselves standing under the “standard,” or the “banner” of Christ, on a wide medieval plain that also holds the banner of evil. We are asked to consider where we would stand. Now that might seem like an easy call for a person of faith. We’re going with Christ, right? Simple decision.

But it’s more difficult and complex than that. For the enemy doesn’t say, “come stand with me over here on the side of evil.” Rather, he says, “come stand with me over here, under the banner of wealth, comfort, honor and esteem.” That’s a lot more attractive, and the allure of those things can lead us into the realm of pride. It’s a way of living, writes my friend Fr. Joe Tetlow, SJ, that eventually leads us to acclaim: “Look at all the stuff I have! Look at me with all this stuff! Look at me!”

Christ asks us to take the opposite approach in this meditation — he calls us to embrace a poverty of spirit, a self-giving and dignified humility,” says Fr. Kevin O’Brien is his version of the Spiritual Exercises titled “The Ignatian Adventure.” The gentle Christ wants only what is best and life-giving for us. He wants to liberate us from our stuff so we can love and serve God and all those around us. For if we’re holding on to our stuff so tightly that we can’t open our hands, there’s no way we can help others.

Material wealth and comfort are not evil in themselves, of course. But when all of our focus, passion and time is given over to them, something is out of whack. We need to question our motives and our priorities. We need to ask, as O’Brien suggests (and I paraphrase):

Am I generous with what I have?
Do my wealth, comfort and possessions get in the way of other priorities?
How attached am I to my stuff?
How does my stuff define me?

Or maybe we should ask: At the end of the day, when the fires rage or the water rises: What’s in my suitcase?

A Song of Hope and Peace for the New Year

Steve · December 29, 2024 · 4 Comments

from left, Phil Cooper, Steve Givens and John Caravelli

Happy New Year’s to all of you who take the time to read my posts from time to time or visit my website. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to engage in this ministry of creativity and sharing of the good news of God’s love and presence in our lives. I hope and pray that something I create helps bring you just a little closer to this truth.

As we conclude 2024 and look forward to the coming New Year, I am praying for more peace in the world, in our nation and in our communities. St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” This year, amidst whatever disunity, fear and confusion enters our lives, let’s all remember to live our lives high on the mountain of God’s love and hope for the world. Let’s remember that, in the end, we all belong to one another, whether we agree with one another or not.

Over the past few weeks, my musical collaborators and I composed and recorded “New Lang Syne,” a song of hope and peace for the New Year. It’s a new take on “Old Lang Syne,” with new lyrics and music by me and my friends John Caravelli and Phil Cooper. The lyrics are below and a music video is available at the link below.

See you in 2025.

Steve

New Lang Syne
Traditional, with new words and music by John Caravelli,
Phil Cooper and Steve Givens

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Should old, dear friends escape our thoughts
and memories fade from our minds
Should all our early days be dimmed
And our pasts be left behind.

For all those days now gone, my friend,
For all those days now gone,
Let’s raise a glass to kindness still
For the sake of days now gone.

And when our hope begins to fade
And if our faith is stilled.
Let’s find that kindness deep within
And share it with the world.

For anger never serves us well
And hate divides our souls
And war, it never ends all wars
But leaves us weaker still.

If all the lives around us
are not seen in God’s own light
We cast such shadows at the risk
thinking we alone are right.

Our freedom lives in loving those
Who we have never known.
And peace lives deeply in our hearts
When it is not ours alone.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Are You Ready for Christmas?

Steve · December 21, 2024 · Leave a Comment

This is the question, it seems, that we hear most often this time of year, and it has many meanings and intents. When I was a kid back in the ‘60s, it meant: Are you excited for the presents you’ll be getting? I was always ready for that. (see photo below, circa 1975!)

Now, it mostly seems to mean: Have you done all your shopping, wrapped all the presents, sent your Christmas cards and planned your menus for the family gathering? Have you made your list and checked it twice, or maybe three times? We may be exhausted by the time Christmas day dawns, but we’ll be ready. But are we really?

All of this can leave us feeling a bit like Martha in the story in Luke’s gospel (Luke 10:38-42). Like Martha, we are running around like crazy getting ready for the coming of Jesus, making sure everything is just right, when all the time Jesus just wants us to sit with him and listen, as Martha’s sister, Mary, is doing. “Martha, Martha,” Jesus says, “you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

I love Christmas morning around the tree with the kids, their spouses, and the grandkids. I don’t want to lose that for a second. I know that the looks on their faces when they open their gifts only happen with my wife’s carefully prepared shopping lists and our treks together out to malls and stores. We’re going to grocery shop today so that we’ll be ready for breakfast on Christmas eve when they all arrive, eyes bright and shiny and full of expectation. So, yes, we’ll be ready for THAT Christmas.

But Sue and I are also trying hard to make time for quiet, for prayer, for reflection on what this ancient story means. We’ve made our annual advent retreat. We know we need to find some time each day to sit at the feet of Jesus and just listen, watch, and wait with urgent expectation for the next line of the story, the next stage of our lives, the next coming of Christ. And that’s the point, isn’t it? Jesus wasn’t born just once, in a stable in Bethlehem some 2,000 years. He is born again and anew in us each Christmas, each day, each moment of our lives, if we just sit still and wait.

So sometime between now and Christmas, give yourself the gift of time with Jesus. Sit in silence with Luke’s short Nativity narrative — the whole thing is just the first 20 verses of Luke’s second chapter. Put on some of your favorite carols or pick up a book of advent and Christmas meditations. Give yourself permission to do nothing for an hour or so. Choose the better part.

Note: If you click through to my website, you’ll see I’ve posted three Christmas songs I created with my collaborators and friends John Caravelli and Phil Cooper over the past few years. Hit play and enjoy.

Around the Fire:

After this Night:

Christmas to Me: