A Benediction

Today – as in December 24th, 2021 – as in Christmas Eve – I woke up, rolled over, and checked Spotify (my release day routine). Sure enough, it’s there. It’s in all of the usual places (https://linktr.ee/andrewchapmanmusic), but I’ll also place it here:

The song “All Places” began while I was a college student in my first year, a bit misplaced and looking for something that felt like home. The same year, my papaw had died after traveling a long road of sickness. I was looking for something to feel usual – reassurance that “nothing’s really gone.”

I thought about then what I am thinking about today – the candles lit across a sanctuary, the enveloping light, the stars. This feels familiar to me, and will feel familiar to many who have been raised by the clarity of stars. It’s different than the city sky. Here’s some lyrics:

The light that once was there is now in all places
In all the aches that break my heart and turn me inside out
Sometimes all the hope, it might seem lost
I have learned these past few years, nothing's really gone
The light that once was there is now in all places

Now

it is 2021. As I’m sure you know. I did not know, that this song would still be traveling alongside me today. In these past months, it has been a constant song of comfort not only for me, but for those who walk with me. We have experienced so much loss. There is no way to say that which sounds right, nor that encompasses the real magnitude of what we have experienced. Each one of us has people, places, feelings that have been present one day and, unexpectedly, gone the next.

Have you been turned inside out? Have you been standing at the grave? What you are looking for is not there. It is in the candles, in the stars, in all places. Let this song be for you a benediction. Keep the light with you. Know it in every place you are. May the grace and peace of the Christ be with you, this Christmas Eve and always.