Simple Gifts

 My writing time is short this morning.  One of my colleagues who usually arrives early to unlock is sick today, so I'll be leaving a bit early to get to school to unlock.  So, instead of a long, winding post, let me record last night's success in devotion presentation.

For one of my seminary classes, we sign up for devotion time; each class begins with a brief devotion, and once we were divided into smaller groups, we began to sign up for devotions.  They are brief, which makes it both easy and hard--less than 5 minutes usually.  I volunteered to lead our group in leading last night's devotion.

Last night's class session (and the readings and the discussion threads leading up to last night) focused on both on fasting and on simplicity.  One of my groupmates suggested we do something with the song "Simple Gifts," which appealed to me.  I wasn't sure we could legally show the videos I was finding on YouTube, so I made an alternate plan which involved my spouse playing the violin while I focused the camera on a bowl of fruit.  I liked that video so much that I decided to use it, even though I learned that I could have used something done by professional musicians.

Here's how it went.  My two devotion mates read the lyrics* one stanza at a time, and they did a great job.  Then I played this video for a brief meditation time:

Then I prayed this prayer I wrote:

----

God of our deepest yearnings:

Help us to understand our true hungers 

and empty places.

Fill our grasping hands

with good gifts

----

As I was parking the car after work last night, the first two lines came to me, and I decided it was a good idea to write the prayer down, so that I would feel less anxious about the process.

I was anxious about the technology working, but our plan would work, even if I couldn't get the video to play or to screen share the lyrics.  But the technology worked--hurrah.  Yesterday was a tough technology day with a keypad doorlock that didn't work all of a sudden, and I had to restart my laptop several times to get it to work.  Happily, by the end of the day, the technology demons had moved on to torment someone else.

I am so happy with the way the devotion time turned out--what a nice end to my week of seminary classes this week.

*Traditional Lyrics

'Tis the gift to be simple
'Tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
It will be in the valley of love and delight

When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right


Modernized Lyrics

It’s a gift to be simple
It’s a gift to be free
It’s a gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
It will be in the valley of love and delight

When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right