I read that its been 40 years since we've seen a full moon at Christmas time.
That's a lot of Christmas' Pasts!
A few years after that last moon, I spent a handful of weekends at a drafty old monastery overlooking Lake Erie. It had been a religious convalescent home in its day. But now there were only two people left as caretakers of the impressive, mansion-sized complex and the sprawling lakeside grounds. One was a gregarious young anglican priest and the other a shy, but fun loving novice from the same order. I'd befriended the two while I was in town on a business training assignment and volunteered a few hours as they needed.
One freezing December night they invited me to dinner and told me to bring my guitar.
They introduced me to another twenty-something, Fr. Phil Bennett. He had a razor sharp sense of humor and kept us in stitches with his dead-on vocalizations of "Rosanne-Rosanna-Danna" from Saturday Night Live. After watching the sunset from the spacious dining hall, we made our way through echoing hallways toward the chilly gray stone chapel.
I can't recall much about the chapel itself, but oh, how our guitars and voices rang in the natural acoustics of that space. Phil and I had both been writing Christian songs and we traded them back and forth for hours until we just couldn't play another note. Phil had an amazing sense for melodies and lyric phrasing. And he had traveled just enough to weave in some unforgettable characters and settings.
Of Phil's songs that I've played regularly in the decades since, my favorite is his Advent song called "Rejoice O Daughter of Zion." I never wrote down the notes and I can't locate the scratchy old cassette we had left recording on the cold chapel floor. But I know it like an old friend and sang it from memory again this past Sunday at the 10:45 service.
But surprise! I also learned something new this Advent - something as old as the last Christmas full moon.
When our bible study read through last Sunday's scripture passages, I realized I was seeing the core biblical elements of Phil's beautiful song. ZEPhaniah 3:14-18 and Luke 3:10-18
Read them yourself and compare to his concisely adapted lyrics:
Rejoice O Daughter of Zion, rejoice and be glad.
Rejoice O Daughter of Jerusalem, for your Lord has come.
Your Lord comes to you.
John baptized you with water.
But He will baptize you, with Spirit, and with Fire.
Rejoice O Daughter of Zion, rejoice and sing.
Rejoice O Daughter of Jerusalem, and behold your King
Your King, draws nigh.
Like the recurrence of a full Christmas moon, I wonder now if this same combination of Sunday scriptures had come up in the Christmas cycle before I met Phil. It was a once in a generation full Christmas moon back then - and a once in a generation chance to enjoy brand new music with new friends in a drafty old chapel. I've shared that song now with thousands of people and many congregations - I hope you'll also find something new this season to appreciate and share - right up until the next full Christmas moon!
What do you believe?
