I have been meditating on the psalmist’s words “…he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.” (Psalm 78:24-25). This reminds me to look back on 2010 with remembrance and gratitude…for provision, blessings, memories and even the struggles. In the first week of 2011 I have been coming to terms with surrendering the New Year. For me, this means deeper trust, child-like anticipation, sometimes running, sometimes walking, sometimes waiting, and replacing self-sufficiency with dependence on God.

Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite composer. I played and memorized many of his inventions and preludes in high school. I didn’t know that one day I would arrange one of his most known melodies that is still performed at weddings around the world almost 300 years after its composition. It is known as “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” This piece is the opening track on the “December Peace” album in tribute to Bach. One of his great quotes is “The aim and final end of all music should be unto the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

As I arranged the hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” to include original piano with the familiar, haunting melody, this piece became the full expression of the darkness of this world, the longing of the human heart for a savior, and the rejoicing that comes when the good news is embraced.  Isaiah foretold his birth (Isaiah 7:14).  Luke recorded how the angel came down to the shepherds in the field the night of his birth (Luke 2:8-15).  John wrote the last words he spoke before his death on the cross (“It is finished” – John 19:30). The opening and closing three muted strikes of a low E on the piano represent the nails going into the cross, the finished work.  The music in between represents my desperate need of a savior and the rejoicing in God’s gift of salvation to me through Jesus.

Today I had the opportunity to record several selections from “December Peace” on a 1938 Steinway grand piano in Chicago as part of interview with Moody Radio. The song “Shepherds and Stars” was inspired by Luke 2:8-15. I shared how this piece reminds me that we are all like “shepherds in the field” going about our daily lives, much like the shepherds in the story. Just as an angel came down to announce that a Savior had been born to them, God wants to engage with us in life each day, to meet us in our circumstances, to give us a hope that He offers through this Savior that was born for us.

Last night I got to watch and listen to a wonderful Christmas music performance by students from kindergarten to eighth grade. This helped me remember to smile during the stressful holiday season. The kindergarten students ringing their various colored bells on queue made me smile. The 4th graders playing their recorders and surprising us with their kazoos made me smile. The middle school band playing “Joy to the World” made me smile. Tonight I am playing my keyboard for the first time at a large church Christmas tree sale. I think I am going to smile if a chain saw cranks up during “Silent Night.”  🙂

Looking back on Thanksgiving and many blessings to count, I am reminded to be content.  What if I were to exchange the words “thankful for” and “content with” in the same sentence as I count my blessings?  I am thankful for food and shelter.  I am content with food and shelter. I am thankful for the work I have to do. I am content with the work I have to do, etc. This is what the song “Contentment” from “The Voice” CD is about. Learning to be content.  To remember life’s blessings and to have gratitude for life’s blessings along the way. To grow in my contentment.

Very interesting that I “happened” to discover today’s reading from L. B. Cowman’s “Streams in the Desert” (edited by Jim Reimann) . . . “Is there any note in all the music of the world as mighty as the grand pause? Is there anything that can touch our hearts like the power of stillness?”  I love meditations on God’s “gentle whisper” that can only be heard when we find that place to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

A new piano melody has been in the works for a while and is still in process. It will be called “For a Lifetime,” inspired by Psalm 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” I meditate on this verse when life brings “tears of lament” (from “The Voice” CD). I am encouraged that God’s favor, His grace, bring rejoicing in the morning.

The pastor of Mt. Pisgah United Methodist in metro Atlanta has chosen “December Peace” as his sermon title for this Sunday. I will be playing “Discovery,” “Shepherds and Stars,” and “Away in a Manger” with grand piano and visuals at all three services. Each selection will play a part in preparing our hearts for the holiday season: 1) discovering surrender so we can receive the gift of God’s peace and rest, 2) reflecting on the wonder of the scene when countless angels appeared before a few shepherds to announce the Savior’s birth, and 3) the mystery of God’s grace in coming to earth as a child to forgive our sins.