Midnight, Christians

December 17, 2009

I am trying to observe Advent joyfully, but I find it is not always easy to rejoice. Anxiety, guilt, and doubt do all they can to shut out the light of joy. I wish I knew how to deal with these feelings better.

When I really  hear the Christmas story, when I’m able to believe it, I think it is the most beautiful story I know. I especially love the story as told by St. Luke. I love Mary’s Magnificat and the angels’ announcement to the shepherds. I also love the story as it is told in the classic Christmas carols – all poems about the Incarnation. Luke’s gospel and the carols are familiar; I have known them all my life. While I look forward to hearing them every year, I also like discovering new stories, new songs, and new poems that give me a fresh perspective on the story. Yesterday I discovered this: a direct translation of the carol we call “O Holy Night,” as it was originally written in French. In French it is called “Minuit, chretiens,” which translates to “Midnight, Christians.” It is beautiful, rich with theology, and it helped give me a fresh perspective on an ancient story.

English Translation of Minuits, chrétiens

Midnight, Christians, it’s the solemn hour,
When God-man descended to us
To erase the stain of original sin
And to end the wrath of His Father.
The entire world thrills with hope
On this night that gives it a Savior.
People kneel down, wait for your deliverance.
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer!
The ardent light of our Faith,
Guides us all to the cradle of the infant,
As in ancient times a brilliant star
Conducted the Magi there from the orient.
The King of kings was born in a humble manger;
O mighty ones of today, proud of your grandeur,
It is to your pride that God preaches.
Bow your heads before the Redeemer!
Bow your heads before the Redeemer!
The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave,
Love unites those that iron had chained.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude,
It’s for all of us that He is born,
That He suffers and dies.
People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer

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Posted by Elise

Joy at Advent

November 30, 2009

Advent began yesterday. I love this season, and I intend to spend it joyfully. I have been contemplating this idea all week: Since God sent his Son to be with us and be our Savior, our reasonable response is joy.

Wendell Berry wrote, “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”* There is so much injustice and hurt in the world, and we cannot ignore that. Still, as we reach out and love our neighbors, we can be joyful. I think maybe I’m preaching a bit, but I am preaching to myself. Too often I think that it is not right for me to be happy when there is so much sadness all around. But when I consider all the facts, joy wins. Because I believe that, along with all the news stories, this also is a fact:

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

With this in mind, all week I have been singing the chorus to “Joy Is In Our Hearts” by Sara Groves. You can listen to the whole song on her MySpace page. This song is dedicated to International Justice Mission. I think it is a great example of considering all the facts, reaching out in love, and being joyful. “For good reason, joy is in our hearts.”

I have also been repeating these lines from the poem “The Vision of the Shepherds” by W.H. Auden. By the way, Auden’s For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio is excellent Advent reading. You can find it in collections of Auden’s poetry. (I don’t think it is sold as a separate volume anymore.) I love whole poem, but here is the part I’ve been thinking about especially:

CHORUS OF ANGELS

Unto you a Child,

A Son is given.

Praising, proclaiming

The ingression of Love,

Earth’s darkness invents

The blaze of Heaven,

And frigid silence

Meditates a song;

For a great joy has filled

The narrow and the sad,

While the emphasis

Of the rough and big,

The abiding crag

And wandering wave,

Is on forgiveness:

Sing Glory to God

And good-will to men,

All, all, all of them.

Run to Bethlehem.

 

SHEPHERDS

Let us run to learn

How to love and run;

Let us run to Love.

 

*The Wendell Berry quote is from “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” The Country of Marriage, 1973.

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Posted by Elise

Here Be Monsters

October 21, 2009

210361_halloween_pumpkin_2I have been thinking lately about what makes a good story and why stories matter. A few weeks ago, I was at a writing conference where a speaker named Brian McDonald addressed this topic. He said we tell stories because they contain survival information.

This makes a ton of sense to me, because I think that a key element of a good story – the book you can’t put down, the movie you can’t turn away from – is a sense of danger. And danger stories teach us how to survive.

This is probably an overly simple formula, but I think it holds true for the most part:

Danger + Characters You Care About = A Great Story.

The second part of the formula is as important as the first. The following formula is just as valid:

Danger + Cardboard Characters = I Don’t Care.

This is why I dislike most action movies; the characters are not that interesting. But when fully realized characters are in great danger, I’m at the edge of my seat. And that is why I love good fantasy and science fiction. Because in good sci-fi and fantasy, as in all good literature, the characters seem real. They compel us to care about what happens to them (even if we don’t like them). I particularly love sci-fi and fantasy, because the dangers that characters face can connect with deepest parts of our imagination and get in touch with our most primal fears.

And this brings me to monsters. Because if stories contain survival information, then the monsters and villains of sci-fi and fantasy teach me how to survive my fears. These stories show me that fear’s greatest tactic is deception. If I can identify deceit in the words and actions of Screwtape, Darth Vader, or Coraline’s other mother, I am better able to recognize the tactics of deception in real life.

Monsters also warn us of what we might become. Gollum was once a creature much like a hobbit. Darth Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, Jedi knight. Their stories teach us how to avoid their fate and stay human. They remind us that our decisions determine who we will be.

So if you find me digging into monster stories around Halloween-time, it doesn’t mean I’m going over to the Dark Side; I’m just gathering survival information – and enjoying some well-told tales.

1041773_dragonRemember this:

“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”      

– G.K. Chesterton

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Posted by Elise

I know I’m not a hopeless case

August 22, 2009

My 5-year-old friend Caleb loves the song “Beautiful Day” by U2. He goes around singing like a rock star, “It’s a beautiful day – skafuldjifeelak! It’s a beautiful day!”  

The first time I heard him, I laughed, “I’m never quite sure what Bono is saying right there either.”  

Caleb gave me a patronizing look and replied slowly and clearly, “He says, ‘It’s a beautiful day, ska-ful-dji-fee-lak.’”  

I can’t argue with you, Caleb.

Later I went home and looked in the CD liner. Turns out the lyrics are, “It’s a beautiful day, the sky falls and you feel like it’s a beautiful day.” So, pretty close.

I love the song too: it’s a true rock song. I have it on CD, but I especially love it when I hear it on the radio. The heartbeat pulse at the beginning always makes my own heart leap with hope. But for me the best part of the song is the line, “I know I’m not a hopeless case.” I need that affirmation. I need to believe that I can change, that God will complete the good work he’s started in me.

Once, when struggling to find hope for myself, I wrote this chorus:                 

               You fear that you’ll only repeat the same scene,

               Or roll like a stone to the doom that you dread –               

               The future you see when you look straight ahead.

               But you don’t have to be what you always have been.

This is essential to what I believe: I am not a hopeless case. Neither are you.

********

In the interest of sharing the hope, here is U2 performing “Beautiful Day.” Enjoy!

By the way, if you’re not sure you like U2 – if they’re too epic/mainstream/popular for you – I’d recommend watching one of their concerts on DVD, because they just might change your mind. They are at their best live.

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Posted by Elise

Viva!

July 13, 2009

 IMG_2361

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viva la vida. Live life. Or, Long live Life! Join the life revolution, the rebellion against death and the cycle of death.

Last night as thousands of paper butterflies soared across a starlit sky, Chris Martin sang:

          Tonight maybe we’re gonna run

          Dreaming of the Osaka sun

          Oh oh

          Dreaming of when the morning comes

For me it was a radiant moment. I reached up to catch the butterflies that swarmed overhead, under the stars, against the backdrop of the Columbia River Gorge. When “Lovers in Japan” faded into “Death and All His Friends,” a few butterflies still fluttered above, and my heart settled into the shimmering afterglow of hope that follows exuberant joy.

Hope is the souvenir I take from the moment of joy, because in joy I find assurance that the things I believe are true. To quote U2, the other competitor for world’s most epic band, “Laughter is eternity if joy is real.”* It seemed to me (whether Coldplay intended it or not) that last night’s concert was all about eternity – and about embracing the present moment, which is so closely related to eternity. All evening, John Donne’s famous sonnet echoed in my head: Death, be not proud.

When the last song was over and the band left the stage, I gathered butterflies from the grass around me. They are just pieces of paper; they cannot conjure up the same joy I experienced last night. But they are souvenirs that remind me to hope – to keep dreaming of when the morning comes.

   One short sleep past, we wake eternally,IMG_2378

   And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

              - John Donne, Holy Sonnet 10

 

* “Get On Your Boots,” No Line on the Horizon

P.S. If for some reason you haven’t downloaded your free, live Coldplay album … do it now. It is so very good!

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Posted by Elise

Creativity and the Fourth of July

July 4, 2009

I wrote this poem last summer after spending the Fourth of July with friends at Lake Stevens. It is dedicated to those of you who were there, sharing your creativity through music, dance, and fire poi. You reminded me that art is meant to be shared. You were joyful and spontaneous; you were living in the moment; you were so beautiful. Thanks for being who you are. This poem is my response.

July 4th, 2008 - On Lake Stevens 

 

The dancers dance on the dock

On the lake

As the drum beats in the dark

And musicians playFireworks

On the deck

Of the house by the lake

 

A fire burns on the sand

By the lake

And fire flies from the hands

Of dancers on the dock,

Whirling in time

To the music from the deck.

 

Dark boats stop

On the lake in the dark

To watch the dancer on the dock

Fling fire from her hands.

 

The dancers dance in the sand

And musicians play on the deck

And drummers drum on the dock,

As fire flares in the sky

And cracks above the dark lake.

 

© Elise Morrison Siegel 2009

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Posted by Elise

Take it with you

June 13, 2009

Yesterday, the last day of a tough workweek, I treated myself to a latte. “I am always amazed at how much better coffee makes me feel,” I told my sister Lindsey that night.

Lindsey agreed, “It’s because it gives you something to look forward to, and then you savor it for as long as you can. It’s this thing that you get from the outside world, and you get to take it back into work with you.”

I had never thought of it that way before, but it made a lot of sense. So often, the things I have to do – working, cleaning, running errands – feel tedious and tiresome. They can break me down. It really does help to have a little something to take with me. Usually the things I bring with me are stories, songs, or art.

I brought two stories  and a poem with me this week. One was Shakespeare’s  The Tempest, which I saw performed by Seattle Shakespeare Company last Saturday. I wrote in my journal afterward:

Good theatre always makes me grateful to be human. Tonight it was Prospero, realizing that even as ruler of spirits, master of magic, holding his enemies in the palm of his hand, he was prisoner of his own unforgiveness. I loved watching as he laid down his power, his right to revenge, and became free – fully human once again. Vulnerable and alive.

And so the play came with me this week. Go see it! The production runs for a few more weeks. The music, set, and costumes are beautiful, as is the story.

The other story I took with me was the novel Crooked Little Heart by Anne Lamott. I read it hungrily; I so wanted to know what was going to happen, and I loved the characters. It was a very human story, told well. That’s what I like in a novel. The book’s title alludes to Auden’s poem “As I Walked Out One Evening”  – one of my favorites. And so that poem has also come with me this week, rattling around pleasantly in the back of my head. Read it here, then take it with you as you go on your way.

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Posted by Elise

Why It Matters

June 1, 2009

Wild RoseRecently I’ve had a lot of conversations with family about the future – goals, plans, dreams. It’s got me thinking, and I find that I’m unclear as to what’s next.

This morning I listened to Add to the Beauty by Sara Groves. I can’t think of an album that more clearly resonates with what I believe about love, beauty, and the Kingdom of God. As I sing along to the title song, I mean every word: “I want to add to the beauty, to tell a better story, shine with the light that’s burning up inside. And this is grace – an invitation to be beautiful.” That might be the best definition of grace I’ve ever heard.

The song that has been on my mind over the past couple of days, though, is this one. Because as Jeremy and I plan for the future, I can’t help but consider my life-long dream of being a writer. Creative writing rarely makes money; I don’t know if it will ever be a career, and that can be discouraging. So why do it? This song reminds me why it matters.

 

Why It Matters

By Sara Groves

 

Sit with me and tell me once again

Of the story that’s been told us

Of the power that will hold us

Of the beauty, of the beauty

Why it matters

Speak to me until I understand

Why our thinking and creating

And why our efforts of narrating

About the beauty, of the beauty

Why it matters

Like a statue in the park

Of this war torn town

And its protest of the darkness

And this chaos all around

With its beauty, how it matters

How it matters

Show me a love that never fails

Some compassion and attention

Midst confusion and dissention

Like small ramparts for the soul

How it matters

Like a single cup of water

How it matters

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Posted by Elise

Favorite Poem Project

May 20, 2009

I love poetry. I love discussing poetry. I love hearing people tell their stories in their own words, in their own voices. When I stumbled upon the “Favorite Poem Project” website several months ago, I felt like I’d found a treasure.

Take a few minutes to explore the site. The 40-some short videos feature different Americans reading their favorite poems and explaining the significance of those poems in their lives. It’s quite powerful. Enjoy it.

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Posted by Elise

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