This Christmas season I find myself thinking about the Good News. Partly because, as I think we all are feeling, I need some good news to shore up against the onslaught of bad news -- not just in the headlines, but also just the "normal things" that are a function of reaching the age of what my dad calls "the departure zone." A lot of people I love have received hard news this year. Feels like we're too young for these things, but it seems not!
So I'm thinking about the old puzzle of the "new evangelization," which is how to tell the weary post-Christian world what it thinks is old hat but is actually ever new and genuinely Good News, the answer to the heart's deepest longing. And I'm pondering what it means to receive this news and receive it well.
So, you guys, on that theme, you must listen to this!
Here's a gorgeous old French carol,"The Kingdom" (in spite of what the title in the video says), and it's a conversation between Susan and Catherine. Susan says she's seen the King's new baby, and Catherine wants to see him, too, imagining the pomp and splendor of the thing. But Susan has a very different report. The melody and the lyrics are each so tender....
Updated to post the lyrics in full, though for some reason they want to post as a picture and not text.
