Gatherings at Neil’s

Fri 23 Dec 5:30-9:30

Sat 24 Dec ~730*

Where? Neil’s address in text (Oakmont)

RSVP.
A ‘maybe’ & estim. headcount fine (to ensure enough provisions).

  • 100% kid-friendly.
  • Bring anyone you wish.
  • No theme, rules, dress, expectations, or requests.

Who else might come? Text Neil.

*The Christmas Eve gathering’s start time depends on when we return from Our Lady of Joy where I’ll sing with the parish’s contemporary ensemble. Prelude music ~5:30, mass 6pm. It would be wonderful to have you there. Repertoire (YouTube playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYCa2OvbyDLuLnF0PkkqsKxhm0R4yW5Hw

Christmas Carol paradoxes 6 – James Taylor?

[1.5 minute read]

My goodness, Christmas carols are loaded with contrasts and paradoxes. And so am I. Good and bad. Deserved and undeserved. Earned and unearned. Beautiful and ugly.

Not what you think:)

Scholars debate facts about the historical Jesus, including his birth, the nativity. Let’s grant for a moment that it is entirely fabricated; why did the authors present it? That too is debated. But we have it. And it is wonderful mythology. Largely because we know how the rest of the story goes, the plain-born baby and the adult Yeshua and the timeless Logos are tied together through time and life – a lifetime. It makes it easier to imagine this baby loving us, even as a newborn.

We usually think of ourselves loving a sweet baby. But this song flips that on its head, and it is “baby” who loves us so sweetly.
…

I close my eyes at night
Wondering where would I be without you in my life
Everything I did was just a bore
Everywhere I went it seems I’d been there before
But you brighten up for me all of my days
With a love so sweet in so many ways

I wanna stop and thank you Baby, yes I do
How sweet it is to be loved by you
Just like honey to the bee, Baby
It’s like sugar sometimes
Feels so fine

I needed the shelter of someone’s arms
And there you were
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs
And there you were
With sweet love and devotion
Deeply touching my emotion

You were better to me than I was to myself
For me, there’s you and there ain’t nobody else

…except everybody and everything being sweetly loved by you.
I am being loved

.

Neil D. 2022-12-07

Share your favorite carol lyrics and the paradoxical mysteries they raise inside you, below, please!

Librarian of the Monarch Chorus

The owner’s name is Jimmy (not really; I asked, but names here are changed). He serves tables and washes dishes. He suggested a cup of ice with my Brisk from the fridge.

Glancing at the menu, “What do you recommend?” I asked. It’s all good he says.

I answered, “Burger?”

“You want everything on it, right?”
Right. He didn’t push fries – just asked.
Sure. He shouted the order to the girl behind the counter.

“Out for a ride?” Yep. Where you riding from? Oakmont, but not really sure where I’ve been today. “Those are the best rides aren’t they?”
Yes, yes Jimmy they are.

I pointed my camera at the QR code on the Town Days poster, “My kids might think this is the cool way to do this…”

“How many kids you got, Neil?” Three boys. “They out riding too?” One for sure, another wishing.

“Who’s that behind the counter?” Brit and Candace. Daughters of a friend.

I looked at photos of my sister’s family at their daughter’s graduation happening today. Joy. Beauty. Pride. Relief. Hope.

I looked at a photo of a decades-old, small-town newspaper announcing a local young woman away at college being added to Who’s Who. Perfect match to the 80’s hits Jimmy picked on his bistro’s jukebox. She was librarian of the Monarch Chorus. A sob out of nowhere escaped my chest.

I looked up in embarrassment, wondering if Jimmy heard or saw.

On a wall it says, “Music… It’s not what I do. It’s who I am.”

Funny. Two hours ago I think I said, “We aren’t what we have. We aren’t what we do…”

So, ok, I don’t see any reason any of us can’t be Music.

.
Neil D. 2022-06-11

Kay’s Light

Hey Siri. Search for Dunkin nearby… One block past South Broad Street on Locust. Opening at 5:30 in 3 minutes, 6 minute minute walk. One cigarette. Chilly, but I have gloves.

First guy passed, arguing with himself, loudly, his face twisted up in some kind of deep pain.

Wherever steam rose through the sidewalk, a heap of human being lay to stay warm.

A few medical students rode by on bicycles in their scrubs. An apparent local rode by on his antique bike, holding a Giant grocery bag in one hand.

In the brighter lights of an intersection by some historical building, I checked my wallet to see if I had any cash in case I was asked. I liked the faux gas lamp’s faux warmth outside a church dwarfed by buildings on three sides…

“Your gigantic-est coffee please.” “What size?” Sheesh… “What’s the most gigantic size you have?” squinting at the menu, just now locating the undersized S, M, and L. But it wasn’t L.

She answered pleasantly, “Extra large… Cream and sugar?” Yes please. As I waited, the guy behind me in a long, dark raincoat and blinding white sneakers didn’t seem to want to talk, so I checked out all the Christmas decorations and hummed with the carol.

Three blocks, halfway back, she was strolling toward me, carrying a flatscreen TV in a clear plastic bag, talking out loud to no one. Crossing the alley toward me, “Can you spare a smoke, sweetie?”

“Sure… Need a light?”

“I got one. Thanks. Most people just walk by…”

“What’s your name?”

She was already three strides away, looked halfway back over her shoulder, “Kay.”

Kay lit up my dark morning. She doesn’t need a light. She’s got one. Me too. You too.

.

Neil D. 2022-12-02.
From the City of Brotherly Love