Getting Mellow on Christmas

Getting Down With Charlie Brown

When I first started working in Public Radio, I was music director at a radio station that aired a lot of jazz. One of the clubs I used to frequent was The Jazz Estate. Saying the bar was cozy may have overstated its size. I think they could have seated 25 to 30 between the bar, tables, and booths. The authenticity, and intimacy of the setting was incredibly mellow.

This morning I was searching for Christmas Jazz and stumbled across this performance of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" recorded at the Jazz Estate. 

This year I'm sharing this with you. If you have time, lean back with your favorite holiday beverage. Enjoy! Merry Christmas. 

Maybe we'll stop by the Jazz Estate on our next trip to Milwaukee.

Are we all immigrants?

 

Photo By Joseph Lockley Unsplash

You are welcome here.

Caring about the fate of the stranger is a Christian value. Did you know that?

I have heard it said we are the uninvited. We are the unwelcome. We should take our misfortune elsewhere. But I hear your mother's voice, over the tide, and she whispers in my ear, “Oh, but if they say, my darling. Even half of what you have. If only they saw. They would say kinder things, surely.”
- Khaled Hosseini, “Sea Prayer” (2018)

They are like my grandparents, looking for a better life. That's why they came here.

What Matters

Offering Hope

Suddenly my feed is filled with quotes about a life that matters. Hopeful quotes. They present guarded optimism, because a life that matters is based on a core set of beliefs. Our beliefs are as disparate as are our values, but there is common ground.