Children, Go Where I Send Thee

"A Body of Work," no. 18 -- Merry Christmas

Welcome to “A Body of Work.” It’s the occasional Tuesday space here on “Living in a Body” where I dig deep into Hal history and pull out a musical gem. Be sure to click the Soundcloud and Youtube links below to hear the song “Children, Go Where I Send Thee.” Enjoy. ❤️ Hal

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This week, I learned to make a raffia bow. Who would have imagined how much joy making bows out of paper could bring one guy? It’s been fun. It seems strange that it took me 58 years on this Earth before learning this skill. Now that I know, I’m never going back. If ever you receive a gift from me in the future, I assure you… there will be a raffia bow on top.

Today, my gift for you is a song. It’s one of my favorites. It’s a traditional African-American carol that sings of the “Little bitty baby, wrapped in the hollow of a clawhorn, lying in a manger, born in Bethlehem.” Listen to a version by my younger, more energetic self on Soundcloud or a traditional rendition on YouTube that is sure to touch your soul no matter your faith.

I send you love on this cloudy Christmas Eve morning in Ohio . May your holidays be full of contentment, joy, hope and peace.

I’ll leave you with the words from one my dad’s legendary Christmas letters. This one is from the early 2000’s but is equally appropriate today.

Peace on Earth. Hal

As with all, our “surfaces” are disturbed by the “storms of our times” and by the “shaking of the foundations,” in both intimate and public spheres. Can the words of the prophets be heard again? “Listen, O coastlands and hearken you people from afar!” Can the pain of the world and the depth of the suffering be a doorway to the depth of truth? Will we be given the wisdom rightly to read the stirrings of the depths and the chaotic threatenings, and find within and beneath all, a way to authentic justice, and to peace?

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