“And now, when the whole [Christmas] thing feels like a parody of itself … what brings me back are a few simple truths that ring me like a bell still. While the Buddha suggests that we empty ourselves of all love, thereby freeing ourselves from all that can cause us pain, subsequently finding rest, the baby in the barn grows up and argues that we should love everybody, including ourselves, our neighbors, and yes, even our enemies, and the ensuing pain will work on us in the same manner that a sculptor’s chisel works on marble. And perhaps, ultimately, the answer to every moral and ethical question can be found in the simple mysterious words of the baby in the barn who grew to be a man: Love the creator of the universe with everything you can muster, and your neighbor as yourself.”- Linford Detweiler*
Today’s Track Present: “All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue” was recorded live in Indiana last December. Over The Rhine has other Christmas songs — even an all-Christmas album, The Darkest Night Of The Year — but I would rather share this one. If this single track piques your interest, the whole concert is available for free (and abso-smokin’-lutely legal) download at Live Music Archive. After you download it, you can burn it to CD-R, paint it up nice with a red Sharpie and give it to a loved one tomorrow morning.
(If you missed any of the previous “Shopping Day” posts, fret not. They’re all stacked and folded neatly for you.)
