And, On THAT Note...!

Well hello again, Dick Foth here and what a grand week this is. It is the run up to Christmas, which will be on Sunday the 25th. But before that, we have this interesting thing called the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day of the year, the longest night. It's like one of my favorite times because I look forward to it because now the days incrementally, minute by minute, are going to start getting longer for us, at least in this part of the world. The late Paul Harvey, storyteller, Pirexelons by the way, often had a section of his radio broadcast called Poperie, a collection of things that had an insight and color to his message. And this week, this podcast is going to be a Poperie. In past weeks, we've explored the baby shape of Advent a couple of weeks ago, that is when the giant lies down, when God the giant lies down in baby shape so I can touch him, have access. And then last week, we talked about light as God's signature. Today, a collection, Poperie, there's that fancy word again, memories and moments, going to have two conversations, actually, one with kids and it's a reprise of a conversation from a few years back when I sat with preschoolers, early childhood folks at their early childhood center and we talked a bit about Christmas, that's one conversation. The other conversation are with four friends that, to whom I will introduce you in just a few minutes. But for our regular listeners, as we get started, I want you to meet another friend. His name is Aaron Santamire and he lives quite a waste from where we are. We're in Colorado, northern Colorado, about 5,000 feet. Is it about 6,000 feet and a bit to the east, like 8,800 miles to the southeast to be precise? Right on the equator, my friend Aaron and his family live in Nairobi, Kenya. Aaron grew up in West Virginia and has lived with his wife and two kids in Africa for over 20 years. He's one of my more interesting friends in this and all of my other friends here, I'm not saying you're not interesting, I'm just saying that Aaron has this unique piece to him. He's a PhD in nursing from West Virginia University and his specialty over the years has been, I think the word is right, epidemiology, it has to do with dealing with skin diseases and for numbers of years, he was in Madagascar working with folks who had leprosy. So he's worked, he and his family worked in West Africa, Madagascar now, Nairobi and back. A couple of years ago when COVID was going strong and really shut things down, he had it on his heart to start a podcast called Clarity, the podcast and it has to do with teaching and inspiration and he has guests on each week and it's downloaded, I understand now by folks in over a hundred countries around the world. He shares encouragement with them each week and I've gotten to be part of that along the way, certainly a gift to me. So he talked to me a while back and invited both and friends to Hitchhike if you will on his podcast this week and so we are here, we're doing his podcast this week and his tagline is always so here we go. Well, as we say to you, Aaron and your listeners around the world, so here we are. Welcome to Aaron's friends from wherever you're listening on this Christmas week. Want to read a scripture from the Old Testament, the Hebrew writings from Isaiah the prophet, speaking to the nation of Israel back in the day and this is the language of Isaiah 9 verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness on them, light has shined or has light shined and that word to shine really means to flash, to come upon one suddenly if you will. We're very familiar if we've been around Christmas or congregations for any number of years, you've heard this Isaiah text and oftentimes we'll hear the next part of it a few verses down, which reads like this, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. As we listen to this around the world, this whole theme of quality government that brings peace and justice and righteousness and just keeps going and goes on forever, what a hope is that along the way. So I called this today popery and by definition, popery is a mixture of things. Those of you probably ladies mostly know what a popery is, it's where you have dried petals and herbs and and it brings a fragrance to the space in which you have the bowl with a popery in its set. But it also can mean especially a musical or literary medley. That's what this is. Think back with me on being a child at Christmas, if you will. A child's of Christmas has a wonder to it, doesn't it? I mean, it's winsome, it's pure joy in a lot of ways. I don't know what the first Christmas is that you remember. But for me, my first Christmas would have been in the country of India in the town of Bangalore, now Bangaluru. I'm guessing it was around 1947. We had come to India post-war in the fall of 1945, right at the end of World War II. I have no idea where my parents got a fur or pine tree. I don't know, but they had one. And the thing that I remember most about it, besides getting a really terrific metal wind up fire truck that I played with endlessly from months afterwards, outside on the paved area, outside our house. The thing I remember most was the snow. Say snow in Bangalore India. Well, it wasn't real snow, of course. It's the kind of snow you made back in the day from a soap. I don't even know if they have this kind of soap anymore. It was ivory soap. They have that, but it was called ivory snowflakes. And I think you use it for washing clothes. But if you take that that soap and you whip it up like you would whip cream, it has a thick consistency. And then you spread it on the branches of the trees. And when it dries, it hardens. And it looks like snow. I'm serious. And the only downside to it was the your whole house smell like soap for the next three weeks. So that's my my most memorable early Christmas. More recently, of course, I went and sat with some children at an early childhood center with a dear friend of ours named Barb Melby. Now retired, but she taught early childhood for almost 30 years. And she invited me to come and sit with her children because I wanted to make a podcast of recording of an exchange we had with them about the idea of Christmas, giving and all sorts of other things. It was the first time that these little mostly four-year-olds had a chance to exchange gifts. So that in and of itself is a is a mind-changer. And it's a different way of seeing things. But there are a couple of pieces of this that I love. One is the exchange with them about giving or getting gifts. And the other was just, you know, I love to hear little kids take a run at singing. And so both of those things are included in this clip you're about to hear. I am sitting with a group of four-year-old friends. Are you all four? No, I'm four. I'm four. I'm four. I'm four. I'm four. I'm four. I'm three. Okay, we got three. A couple of three. A couple of threes. Okay. Okay, so we're going to go around the circle. I'm going to point it and you say your name. Okay. Flakey. Twesting. Furby. Ali. Samara. Ain't three. Andrew. River. That's a bird. Lily. Barb. And Dick. So here we are. I'm sitting here with Mrs. Melby who's your teacher in this class. And we want to just ask some questions about Christmas. I even wrote them down on a card just a little bit. So I'm just going to toss one out. So here's the first question. What is the best thing about Christmas? You get the open presents. Presence. You get the open presents. Two for presents. Yes, River. Well, there you go. Okay. So we've got presents. We got Jesus's book. So do you do you like getting presents? Yeah. Yeah. Do you like giving presents? Do you like giving presents as much as getting presents? That's a hard question, isn't it? Let me just say this. Many of us listening have conversations all the time with all kinds of people about all kinds of subjects. But if you haven't had the chance to sit with 89 four-year-olds and just talk about anything, I don't know if we even know how to spell the word delightful. But this is delightful. Anyway, I got to the end of the conversation and I asked them before I left if they'd consider singing a song for me. And so this is what they sang. Music is one of my favorite subjects about which to have conversations with people whether they're four years old or 44 or 94 for that matter. Somebody told me the other day and I can't remember who said it. I think it might have been Sid Augustine who talked about song when he said once sung twice prayed that there's something about putting melodies to words that just sticks in our psyche. It doesn't it deep in our spirits, our souls, our heads. Recently I had a chance to sit with four friends all of whom are involved in music in different ways, even though they have day jobs and other things. And Richard and Robin Flores, our dear friends and Richard, is the producer of this program. And he hails historically from Bolivia and then from California. And he met Robin along the way. Where did you meet Robin, Richard? And veteran California. Metter in California. And they have a wonderful family and live here in Colorado. And then Matt and Mandy Pots. He's an HP engineer and they have also a wonderful family and they do music together. So he's just sitting around talking and chatted for quite a while as a matter of fact. And we're just going to give you some clips of that. And please understand this is not slick or curated. This is just friends around the table having a conversation. And I brought up the subject of just wherever you go in the culture or in society or in these spaces where we shop and so forth. You hear Christmas music of all kinds. And this is how that part of the conversation went. Somewhere between Rudolph the Red Nose Rain Deer and Santa Claus is coming to town once in all year silent night. So when you think of Christmas and music, what are some of your favorite songs or favorite moments with music over your lifetimes? And those are two different questions. But I would just say jump in anywhere and talk to me. I was in a Christmas place at church growing up. And our church was maybe 100 to 200 people. Every kid in the church was in the play because they could. I just remember singing We Three Kings. And it's a different song but we must have been singing angels. We have heard on high somehow and that same because I remember being dressed up as a king. And the music director saying think eggshells for eggshells his day off his day. With my with my painted on mustache and beard and I was thinking about eggshells. There you go. That's good. It's hard to pick a favorite Christmas song for me. There's so many when I think of Christmas time. It's just from the secular Christmas songs to the church Christmas songs. Choose three. Choose three. Probably the one that gets me every time and it's in Matt knows this the the song that I like to start Christmas off with is Nat King Cole, Chessna's Roating on an Open Fire. And it has to be that version because none of the other ones compare. She doesn't like it when I play it. You know you're you and Ruth have something in common. She keeps Nat King Cole's Christmas album in our car. Okay. That's like her favorite so I get that Nat King Cole. Okay. Yep. And then I think probably my favorite Christmas I don't know Christian him song would be Okamokami Manual. And third one it is it's so hard there's so many. Well actually I would say most recently it would be Joseph's Lola by Mercy Me. Joseph's Lola by. I don't think I know that. Can you hum a little bit for me? Or sing a little bit. You want me to sing it but I don't know. There's a part where he's he's it's basically Joseph singing on the night of of Jesus' birth like can you feel the weight of your glory do you understand your words or does the Father guard your heart for now so you can sleep tonight. That's probably one of my favorite lyrics. There's just it's really just talking about you are the son of God but for tonight can you just be my child. I don't think I've ever heard that. I love that. Yeah. Look at that. It's very good. Maybe I need to have you record the whole thing and we'll just keep that on my phone. Let me come back to this word popery for a moment. It's a mix of things isn't it? And when we think about Christmas we have those songs that are truths about God like we just we just heard that song from Andy but there are other songs that evoke truths about me and how I feel and the moment or the gathering or the being with family and they get all sort of mixed up together. It's not good or bad so much as they just elicit a range of feelings in us. One of the songs that we sent to our granddaughter it by all of us Vincrosby's version 1943 sung from the perspective of soldiers in battle and I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe and presents round the tree. Christmas evil find me where the love light gleams. I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams. It's not Bing but you know that's my interpretation to Vincrosby so do you have any thoughts? I robbing that's funny you say Bingrosby because I love white Christmas that is probably my favorite musical and favorite movie and favorite Christmas movie and I do watch that movie every year most like people watch a wonderful life and you're watching white Christmas. I do watch it every day. And it used to be you know when we used to have to watch things when they were on TV it was played often late at night and since my mom worked night a lot of times she couldn't sleep well so she would go to bed and then she would get up because she couldn't sleep and so I remember watching it with her you know we would sit up and watch it because it would be on it you know a late late hour and then I I've shared it with my kids my son of course rolls his eyes because you know it's 16 but my daughters love it equally because of all the dancing and the fun songs and Bingrosby so I have to say I love pretty much every song from that one and then I think thinking of I went to Christian school growing up and church programs I also was in all the church Christmas programs and everything but I really remember singing oh come all ye faithful I think just the the getting to experience you know the different dynamics in that song and how it has you know such loud and such soft parts I still remember as a little kid you know getting to you know kindergarten or first graders you know getting to scrunch down and then get like higher and higher and physically standing up while we're saying um saying the different parts and yeah I just I've always loved oh come on ye faithful that's cool Richard are you gonna tell me Philly's not without and believe it or not I used to play the trumpet really and one of the first Christmas songs we saying the oh come will come Emmanuel and that was a trumpet part I remember practicing and practicing because it just became I mean just the music the harmonies in that song you know with with a lot of different instruments just was I mean it just touched my heart and understanding the lyrics that I mean I always remember that I always I mean I was probably I started playing at age of seven I believe it was and I remember that was my first thing I wanted to get it right I was telling Ruth just yesterday something that's I think probably fallen out of fashion a bit is Christmas Carole and we would our eldest was 12 and our youngest was five and we moved from Illinois to California and we lived in Santa Cruz which is on the coast south of San Francisco and Ruth's family lived in Modesto which was inland 90 miles but at Christmas time we'd go over there in my father-in-law who was the pastor we'd get the we'd get the bus to church but and they they had buses that they would take to Mexico on mission tripping on said get one of those get the whole family extended families you had aunts and uncles and cousins and we'd get in that you know maybe 30 40 people and we'd go around and we just we'd Carol people I'll never forget and it gets cool in the Central Valley it's it's damp sometimes so if it gets into the high 20s and it's damp it can be cold and so it was one of those nights and we went to Carol a Russian family there had been persecution of Russian believers and Jewish people over the years and so and so my father-in-law was involved in bringing some of those Russians to Modesto California and so we went over and we gathered in their front yard and started singing in the door open and the family came outside and this big burly Russian guy came my big guy you know he's about your size maybe bigger than just for you listening Matt is us he would be alignment with with the 49ers which is my team know he's standing there in a tank top and and we've got you know beanies on gloves and so forth and we sing these various songs and they clap and thank us and I walked I walked over to it and I said my name's Dick and he said my name whatever it was you know surge or whatever and he and I said aren't it's cold aren't you cold and he grinned at me and said this is no cold Siberia is cold on the month to come down the road we'll have a more extended conversation with Richard and Robin and Matt Mandy about the whole subject of music so I'm just going to stop that right there but the traditions that we have surrounding Christmas around the world all kinds of traditions are just replete there just so many of them one of the great ones that we have here in the northern Colorado area is called tuba Christmas and tuba Christmas celebration began in 1974 at Rockefeller Plaza New York City in honor of a great teacher someone did this in honor of a great teacher but now they have tuba bands that get their Christmas time to do concerts apparently all over the world and this has been since 1974 and Richard and Robin's boy Isaac played in one recently and and you'll hear it here in the background just a just a little clip about if you just had tubas this is what it would sound like you know you have violins and all those things but I just think this is fun so let me just wrap this up we read the Isaiah passage and you're familiar oftentimes it's back to back with this one in Luke the second chapter outside of Bethlehem in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were filled with fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of a great joy that would be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord over the years so many Christmas carols have been written oftentimes as poetry like Isaac Watts back in 1719 reframing the last verses of Psalm 98 to give us joy to the world and about 120 or 30 years later a fellow named Lowell Mason a Boston musician put a tune to it that we sing to this day and it anticipates the coming of the king I think my favorite or at least one of my key favorite songs is silent night silent night is about a common bright silent night in the wonder of a tender and mild newborn child that's that's the motif of it and it was written the words were written in 1816 by a young priest in Austria by the name of Joseph Moore not long after Napoleon had come through Europe and there was devastation all around in a lot of places and this priest went for a walk just out in the winter's night and was inspired looking at a winter laden town inspired that the town was at peace after all the mayhem it was first performed a couple of years later on Christmas Eve 1818 Joseph Moore this young man was a priest at St. Nicholas Church open door by Salzburg in Austria and he was in despair the organ of his church had been assaulted by a family of mice and the chances of fixing the instrument before the evening service were looking slim young Joseph had an idea he took the words for that piece of prose or poetry that he written a couple of years before and he asked a friend of his Franz Gruber a schoolmaster and organist in the nearby town to set his writing to music so that night the two men sang still and knocked silent night for the first time at the church's Christmas Mass while Moore played the guitar and the choir repeat at the last two lines of each verse over time of course as many of these things do composition evolved translated into over 300 languages and it became such a familiar piece sung in churches and town squares even on battlefield during a World War I when during a temporary truce on Christmas Eve soldiers from both sides apparently sang carols from home by 1914 by then it was known around the world and was sung simultaneously in French German and English and we know the the song silent night holy night all is calm all is bright round young virgin mother and child holy infants so tender and mild sleep in heavenly peace second verse goes shepherd's quake at the site glory stream from heaven afar heavenly hosts sing hallelujah Christ the Savior is born the last stanza that we sing usually is silent night holy night son of god loves pure light radiant beams from thy holy face with dawn of redeeming grace Jesus Lord at thy birth Jesus Lord at thy birth I cannot think of that song without thinking of my grandmother who died 30 years ago at the age of 97 she was a a German girl born in Russia upon the Volga River and in what they call here in our country Volga Deutsch always spoke German in home came to the United States when she was seven and landed in Fresno, California by train across the country I think on July 4th 1900 but we would go to her house for Christmas and she always like singing that song when she was in her last days she was in a nursing facility in Southern California and we took our family from Santa Cruz down to where she was I think it was Glendora in Southern Cal and they said you know she's sort of out of it but you can try to have a conversation with her she'd had a stroke and she couldn't speak she could write but she could not speak we went into her room they had bathed her and dressed her in a lovely dressing gown and instantly she recognized me and she wrote down she grabbed a yellow pad and wrote down my dear dicky boy I remember when you came to our house in dynuba california climbed up on the counter and took all the dishes out of the covers anyway we had a wonderful conversation with her us speaking and she writing responses didn't stay a long time but when we got done with the conversation we had prayer with her and then we said we want to sing you a song and we started singing her song still in act, highly in act, all is slaved, high in some spot, nor does Troyter who highly gave our whole dynuba mit logegenhar, slaved in himness of rule, slaved in himness of rule and as we sang tears streamed down her cheeks we hugged her and started walking out of the room and I turned at the doorway and looked back at her and said see you later grandma and she waved me back over to the bed and grabbed the yellow pad and wrote two words on the page in heaven and within weeks she was there one of the great joys about this kingdom that the king set up if you will came to express is that all of us who follow him have that hope of seeing those loved ones down the road if you will in that space, in that relationship that we would call heaven being with the king going forward forever. God bless, Dick Foth saying I'll catch you a bit later. God bless you and thank you for listening to