December 31, 2020. Every year, I find that the majority of my Christmas music remains unplayed and unsung. There is so much music, and the season is short. As I was refiling music earlier this week, I happened upon three songs that I wish I had found an occasion for this year. So – I decided to make an occasion. This edition of Peace Musical Meditations is the result. Below, you will find links to three short songs. I hope you will find time over the next week or so to listen to all of them. They are pondering songs for me. Perhaps, along with the nativity set visuals, they can be this for you as well.
Welcome to Our World
This is a beautiful, pensive musical invitation to the Christ child to come to inhabit our world – to endure the difficulties that will come to bring us healing and peace. The visual for this music is a little nativity set made in Peru. Even the animals appear to have welcoming personalities!
https://youtu.be/Q_U5ks8CNGA
A Cry in the Night
We commonly think of homelessness as a simple lack of structural shelter. This song suggests that most of us wrestle with a broader and deeper feeling of homelessness – a sense that we are often not assured of our own worth and acceptance – that we are not at home with God in God’s world. The song proposes that Jesus was born to invade our homelessness with the home-feeling presence of God. The visual for this music is an engaging little nativity set from Haiti. The backdrop for the nativity set is a wood carving of a street scene in Haiti.
https://youtu.be/tckbHk5n_6I
A Star Shone Bright
You may find yourself singing along with this familiar English folk tune. The text expresses a longing for the light giving power of the star of Bethlehem to once again come to guide us through the difficulties of our present day. The little nativity set that forms the visual backdrop for this song usually hangs from one of our lights. The pieces fit together like puzzle pieces in the shape of a crescent moon with an oversized star hanging in the center.
https://youtu.be/YaQFDICOrt0
Blessings,
Dave