sacred

Advent is Our Annual Wake-Up Call  

Steve · December 1, 2019 · 4 Comments

“Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42

Here we are once again on the first Sunday of Advent, once again just weeks away from the celebration of the great solemnity of Christmas. Here we are once again entering into a period of preparation for the graces to be received as we contemplate what it means to have a God who is willing to come be on our level, to be Emmanuel and be with us. We are no longer in ordinary time, and it’s clear in today’s readings that something extraordinary is on the horizon.

But it’s also a bit strange, it seems on the surface, listening to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading talk and warn about the end of days just as we begin Advent, just as we begin to focus on those ancient events leading up to his miraculous and extraordinary birth in a manger in Bethlehem. What are we doing here — looking back to the cataclysm of Noah’s great destructive flood and forward to the day judgement?

It all seems so out of place in light of our modern celebration and understanding of Advent and Christmas, which has reduced Advent and Christmas in so many ways into a very different kind of “holiday season” that has become, for so many, nothing more than a race to Christmas day. And today the starting pistol has been fired.   And, in fact, there is so much joy to be found in the celebration of Christmas morning as it has come to be defined by western culture and traditions. There is joy in Santa and gift-giving and gathering friends and family for magnificent or simple meals.

But there is more. Today we are asked to ponder a sleigh-load of big ideas at the same time: Jesus was born. Jesus lived and was crucified and rose from the dead. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. This is not just the beginning of a holiday season. This is the beginning of a great and ongoing story that has the power to change us forever.

Advent is not just a time of preparing for the celebration of Christmas. Advent is a time for preparing ourselves for a new way of living and loving.

“Come Lord Jesus. Come.”

Today’s Word: Dazzled

Steve · July 18, 2019 · 2 Comments

Dazzled 2 — "Dazzled," calligraphy by Jenny Givens Deffenbaugh

“In my deepest wound I found you, Lord, and it dazzled me.” St. Augustine

I write a lot, I realize, about this idea of “finding God.” A good deal of the time, this discovery comes down to seeing the divine in the beauty of the world around us, in the kindnesses of strangers and friends, in the sacred burning bush moments of everyday life. And, to be honest, that’s all pretty easy stuff, as long as we’re willing to sit still, be quiet for a while, and recall these moments of God that happen every day, like clockwork, whether or not we deign to pay attention. But good for us for paying attention. Keep at it, for it’s the beginning of all prayer.

But then along comes St. Augustine, reminding us that he found God not in some eye-widening sunset, not in some breathtaking act of charity, not in some simple moment of prayer, kneeling in his cell or chapel, although certainly he must have found God in those places and moments, just like the rest of us. He found God — and was “dazzled” by God — in his deepest wound.

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

A Psalm for a Day of Waiting

Steve · March 31, 2018 · 6 Comments

Today’s the day we wait. Tucked in at the end of Holy Week, after that final meal together, after that scene in the garden, after betrayal and arrest, after trial and denial, after splinters and nails and thorns and death…we wait for something else. It’s the end of a bad week and we “just wanna feel reborn, you know?”* So we wait for the new day, for a chance to begin again.

And that’s what Easter is for. But here’s the important part. It’s not just about tomorrow. If we live for the new hope of Easter one day a year we have missed the point of everything. The hope of Easter is not just about Jesus rising from death, although that is where we begin. We begin outside of Jerusalem, huddled in a small room somewhere, hiding from and for our lives. We begin in absolute darkness, both waiting for the light of day and afraid that when it comes it might leave us exposed.

A New Psalm 8 for the New Year

Steve · December 31, 2017 · 12 Comments

Clouds — A painted sky, Sedona. SJG photo.

As we head into the New Year this cold, cold, cold (did I mention it is cold here in St. Louis?) Sunday morning, I find myself yearning for spring and pondering two of the (many) great mysteries of life: First, why are we so gifted with the beauty, bounty and intricacy of the world around us? And second, in the midst of all this signal of God’s glory—small and hidden as we are as minuscule beings in the vastness of the earth and universe—who are we that God is mindful of us?