Christmas present

I went to a Phil Keaggy concert in December. Keaggy is one of the top 5 guitarists in the world. He does incredibly amazing things with his instrument. OK, I've been a lifelong fan of his, but I'm still somewhat objective. He's been in Guitar Player magazine a zillion times and is consistently rated as one of the very best by people who know. Enough said.

In the encore, I yelled out for him to sing a piece he wrote 29 years ago. It's a sonnet by CS Lewis, set to music. Lewis happens to be one of my favorite thinkers and writers, so it's kind of heavenly to have Keaggy playing and singing lyrics written by Brother Jack (Lewis).

I just wanted to share those lyrics with you...incredibly powerful words about our tendency to be so self-centered...

So, here goes:

As the Ruin Falls, by C.S. Lewis

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I've never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure are the goals I seek.
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin--
I talk of love (A scholar's parrot may talk Greek!)
but, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me--but how late!!--my lack.
I see the chasm; and everything You are was making
my heart into a bridge by which I might get back
from exile and grown man; and now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you are the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.


Wow.