Stay with Us for It Is Evening

Who will we invite to stay with us this night?

From Luke 24 . . .
⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.

Stay with us
For it is evening
And the day is now far spent.

Bleib bei uns
Denn es will Abend werden
Und der Tag hat sich geneiget 

Set here is an exquisite a capella choral setting by Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901), Abendlied (Evening Song), Op. 69.

The text comes from the story of what is called "The Walk to Emmaus" where following the crucifixion of Jesus, two disciples were joined by a stranger as they walked to a nearby town. They didn't recognize it was Jesus until sharing a meal later that evening. As they approached the town, they urged their fellow traveler, with whom they had fallen into deep conversation, "stay with us." He stays and their evening meal becomes one for the history books as they say.

Against the Darkness

There is a line in a hymn by Ronald Klug, “Rise, Shine, You People” that plays often in my mind since I first heard this stirring 20^th century hymn. In recent months, it has become a constant reflexive refrain for me to the disturbing news-of-the-day . . . 

               “Your songs and prayers against the darkness hurling.”

Many ask in light of all the escalating troubles in the world, “What can I do about it? Little old me? Just one person living on a quiet street in Your Town USA?” Here are two important things we can do . . . 

Table Prayers

What a joy it was recently to have our dinner host ask us to stand at table and hold hands, asking my husband to pray before our shared meal “as is our custom.” I woke with that scene shining in my mind in the wee hours of this morning. How profoundly simple prayers said in peace at meal time shape our lives.

Here is the prayer my husband prayed on that occasion, one he learned as a child and holds dear to use in our home. It is followed by a simple prayer our granddaughter loves to use. Following these are partner prayers for before and after meals...

All the Crayons in the Box

Do you see those two boxes of crayons on my conductors stand? One a box of eight fat big ones, the other the largest box of regular size crayons with all the colors, even gold and silver.

I like to use those boxes as an illustration to inspire the singers to use all their resources to make the music as excellent as possible. After going through a section, I may hold up one or the other box of crayons and they smile, knowing what I'm getting at. "Use all the crayons in the box, not just one or two." . . .