"And The Word Was..." (Bedroom Demo #266) (Patreon)

And The Word Was…

music: Terry Scott Taylor
words: Gospel of St. John: verse 1-5, 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness hasn't understood it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen the glory of the only Son of God, who came from the Father, full of grace and of truth.

instruments and vocals: T.S. Taylor

note:

My Grandmother’s mother, who we called “Old Old Grandma” once commented on a piece of meat that she brought home from the grocery store. She said she cooked it up for dinner one night and when she sat down at the table and took a sizable bite of what she anticipated would be the centerpiece of a delicious meal, instead she got an unexpected, rather unpleasant surprise. “The more I chewed that meat,” she said to us in her uniquely droll manner, “the bigger it got.”

Unfortunately, my intent to finish composing and recording “And The Word Was…” in time for Christmas was undermined by the unforeseen complexity of the piece. Much like my Great Grandma’s “piece of meat,” the more I worked on it, the bigger it got.

I owe you all an apology. You see, the song was intended to be my Christmas gift to all of you, my Patreon family. I wanted to give you something profound, inspirational, and apropos for the celebration of our Lord’s incarnation. Instead, what you got from me for Christmas was a ridiculous family play, devoid of even the remotest redeeming quality, in which everyone in our family gets repeatedly hit over the head with bottles of eggnog wielded by my maniacal daughter! While the play was born of good intentions (to give you kids a few good laughs after going through several years of dire, soul-crushing events in which we’ve all been mentally and spiritually pummeled by an endless array of really bad stuff, I fell woefully short of my goal. I could do a whole thing here about how it’s inconceivable to me how people can live in this world without the kind of reassurance and hope found only in our Lord Jesus, but I’ll just leave it at that. The point is, I originally thought I’d be able to give you two kinds of Christmas gifts for 2022, a ridiculous, but hopefully funny, Christmas play, offset by a sober, reverent, and inspirational Christmas song. Like I explained, it obviously didn’t work out. Still, as they say, “better late than never.”

Believe it or not, ever since its release there’s been an ongoing debate among fans af the Bruce Willis action movie “Die Hard” as to whether or not it is a “Christmas movie.” While I think valid arguments can be made either way, unlike “A Christmas Story,” or “Miracle On 34th Street” you can watch "Die Hard" any time of the year without feeling that it’s a transgression of some sort, similar to something like listening to “Silent Night” on the 4th of July. In much the same way, it goes without saying that, just like the account of the birth of Christ found in Matthew’s gospel, the first chapter of St. John’s gospel, (while certainly an apropos read during the Christmas holiday), transcends seasonal confinements. The power of John’s words in describing ‘The Word’ never fails to stir me whenever I read them. In my opinion there is no greater passage in the scriptures confirming the deity of God’s unique Son, and I am truly blessed to have at last fulfilled my ongoing desire to set some of John’s 1st chapter to music. This is my gift to you, my friends; happy belated Merry Christmas and all glory and honor to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!