I took a three month sabbatical this year, and I rather expected that I would write more songs than I had in 2024. It turned out that songwriting was one of the activities I needed a break from, so I wrote no new music between the beginning of January and the middle of May. To my surprise, however, by year’s end I had written seven songs despite the hiatus.

Water and Spirit

This is a song for the Baptism of Jesus. I tried to bring a sense of melancholy sweetness to the melody and to the lyric.

Who Are the People of Spirit?

Freshly back from sabbatical, I wanted to sing about Simon Peter’s encounter with a Roman family and the Holy Spirit’s movement among people. I also wanted to sing, of course, about the activity of the Spirit among the people of today.

You’ve Got to Bring a Little with You

I’ve written a song for our Vacation Bible School program for the last few years – at least, when I haven’t had a conflict (which the leaders try very strenuously to avoid). I’ve written a song about the Bible story before, which is the feeding of the five thousand. This song is a little more energetic and, if I do say so myself, more catchy.

You’ve Got to Hold On

Why, yes! It’s another song about a Bible story! In this case, it’s the wrestling match between Jacob and a mysterious figure (God? an angel?) in Genesis 32. It struck me that when Jacob was losing, his last ditch effort was simply to hold on. Hold on. It seemed like a good model for you and me.

Inspired to Do Well

This song doesn’t have a Biblical story for its foundation (can you believe it?), though I’d claim it has clear roots in Biblical spirituality. Frankly, it’s a song that comes from pique. I was getting very tired of people being lionized for doing selfish and greedy things, for bringing harm to others. I want to be inspired to do well.

Everybody Lift Your Voice

I wrote this song for the Community Thanksgiving Celebration held by Interfaith Communities in Action in Hilo on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Ordinarily our church would have been represented by our choir, but we brought in a new choir director just a month or two earlier, and the choir’s first performance didn’t take place until Christmas Eve. The evening’s theme was the title of the great hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and took let a variant of that lyric lead the chorus.

This Child Will Make a Joyful Morning

When I look to write songs for the great Christian holidays of Easter and Christmas, I tend to look for moments in the story that haven’t received a lot of attention. A few years ago I wrote a Christmas Eve lullaby – sung by Joseph to Mary – and last year it was a song about Christmas morning (nobody writes about that, have you noticed?). This year I hoped to perform the song with my daughter, who was visiting over the Christmas holiday, but she fell ill and I had to sing this song which looks ahead to Christmas morning by myself.