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Easter 2010
Posted April 3, 2010
Greetings, Friends,
True confession time – I almost decided not to create an Easter greeting this year. As you read the words below you’ll better understand why. But I have and here ‘tis.
Imagine if you will (To borrow from Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone) it’s the day after Jesus has gone missing. We come upon two chaps making “small talk” …
Chap 1: Hey, how about that Resurrection. Talk about your disappearing acts. Man, he really is “outasight”. (Chuckles)
Chap 2: Well, you know what they say – You can’t keep a good Messiah down. I was just … (We interrupt this crass frivolity to bring you the following --)
I doubt seriously if the above conversation would have taken place. After all it’s not everyday that someone is believed to have risen from the dead. And it certainly would not be cause for sophomoric humor – or would it? It may well be that for some Easter is in fact a joke – a joke played on the whole human race by … well meaning fanatics?
Well, friends it’s no joke to me, especially this Easter. I told you it was hard to sit down and write something and it has been. The death of someone who fought with all his being to stay alive, to triumph, only to be forced to succumb to cancer makes the idea of resurrection something a hell of lot more than merely an idea. To be blunt – if Jesus didn’t get raised from the dead and it’s all a sad cosmic joke then God is not only a trickster and liar but worse – he provides false hopes.
Being as candid as I know how I have to say the temptation to go that route of cynicism was strong in the face of the injustice of the death of a young man. A young man not yet 19 who should have had his whole life before him. However most of us who have lived any years at all and have weathered the many seasons of life know about injustice and absurdity and loss. And it never gets easier to take, either.
Now at this point those of you who have a ready response to why and how and what regarding the workings of God have my permission to keep those things to yourself. They don’t do a damn thing for a broken heart – they really can’t. Do you suspect that Jesus felt any better knowing that it was God’s will that he die on a cross? I don’t think so. Feelings are just that – they don’t respond well to “chapter and verse”.
So what to make of all my rambling and grumbling --- it’s simply this. I can’t speak for anyone else nor do I want to but I’ve decided I will go ahead and believe anyhow. I’m going to be damned stubborn about it too. There’s an almost angry kind of resolve building in my gut about my faith. A sort of “I don’t care if the whole Resurrection seems like a fairy tale. By God (and I mean it literally) I’m going to believe it to be so. And if it’s not then I guess I’m an idiot, not sophisticated enough to rely strictly on my intellect. But tell me when you come up on tragedy do you truly want to rely on yourself as God for comfort, for peace, for hope? I don’t and I won’t. Moreover I don’t have to – but then neither does anyone else. All you have to do is believe the impossible. Now how hard could that be?
It might help to remember that saying we all learned years ago -- “With God nothing is impossible” I’m going to believe it and I’m counting on it this Easter.
George Gagliardi, Easter 2010
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Christmas Memories
Posted December 12, 2008
 Greetings my friends,
Here’s this year’s offering. First off, I’ve had another great year and can once again echo the sentiment of George Bailey’s brother in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” when he says, “Here’s to my brother, George, the richest man in town.” More times than not this year I’ve have felt just that blessed. There’s been trips galore including an extraordinary time in the Northeast in October working with the youth at Wilton BC and Greater Restoration BC – in Connecticut and Brooklyn, NY, respectively. Then in November I made a trip to Charlotte, NC, to do a benefit and visit with my pals, Jim and Debbie Rivers. Several new songs, a Jimmy Webb workshop in September, playing with the Mark McKenzie jazz quartet, premiere of my first attempt at writing a piece for concert band (Ye Olde Swingin’ Carols medley) and on and on it goes. I continue to enjoy working with the gals in AChord and also doing my duo work in schools with Mel Hartman Couture through Young Audiences. Also I’m still playing piano with the Shriner Big band, Nobles of Note. (Whew!) So you can see my being ancient (you can say old fart if you like – HA!) hasn’t kept me from getting out there doing what I love to do and living it up, literally, as much as I can. I truly hope all of you can say the same and I wish you the very best this season.
Read George’s “Christmas Memories” (pdf)
George Gagliardi, December 2008
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George helps students turn Math into Music!
Posted September 30, 2007
George Gagliardi at Forth Park International Baccalaureate Magnet School turns Math into Music!
Click the link below to view the news story:
“Angles, Angles. We’re talkin bout angles”
www.news-journal.com/news/mplayer/news/31310
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Happy Thanksgiving? 2007
Posted April 5, 2007
Thanksgiving? Hold on now – I fear you’ve made a dreadful mistake
Thanksgiving’s in November – don’t you remember?
And this is Spring for heaven’s sake
No, I’m perfectly aware of where I am and when it is
But frankly my friend it seems to me, yes it seems to be
Most appropo’ to crow a bit, to show a bit of genuine gratitude
A heaping helping of “I’m so overjoyed” attitude because if the story’s true
If he did what he said he’d do, if it’s not just a pipe dream wrapped in stain glass
If it really happened, if it truly came to pass –
That God grabbed Death by its big bad self
And kicked him squarely in the …
Well, let’s not be crass
Then it’s time for a party and plenty of reason to party hearty
It’s a day for thanksgiving, a day to be living with hope and not fear
The Son has risen, the darkness gives way to light
The bad guys don’t get to run the town forever
Sure they may put up a good fight
But guess Who gets the final word?
Assuring us that goodness will persevere
And why? Do I speak of “pie in the sky”?
Of some “sweet by and by” while we weep and we try
To merely survive – Am I just clinging to
A wonderful myth, not worth fooling with
Is it all just a lie?
Can’t answer for you or anyone else
I’m doin’ real well to try and speak for myself
Can’t prove my belief with a test tube or graph
I wasn’t’there on that day and there’s no photograph
Is it logic to buy this business of resurrection?
Let’s put it in under a microscope
For a much closer inspection
Then again, what’s the point,
Though it strikes us as more than odd
For someone dead to be made alive again
Couldn’t the Creator of the Universe perform
A bit of hocus pocus – if God is really God?
Sure I know, you have your questions, I surely have mine
We all have misgivings and for me, that’s just fine
But I guess when I’ve run it through my brain
When I get to the “bottom line”
I’m here to say I believe it happened — that the Son rose again
And for me, that’s more than enough to suggest we all can join in
Giving thanks for this crazy, hard to believe, way-out, wonderful
Life changing, mind bending, faith stretching, heart stopping day
When God pulled more than a rabbit out of a hat
He brought Jesus out of the tomb – put his arm around him
And then they both went off to celebrate Easter together
So now that, for all of us, it’s Easter forever — (Happy Thanksgiving)
George Gagliardi, Easter, 2007
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Christmas Greetings from Gagliardi
Posted December 20, 2007
The Magic of Christmas
“Don’t tell me there is no Santa Claus”
For if it were left up to me
There most certainly would be
No one would be forgotten or left out
Every single person on the planet would know
Without a doubt
What the magic of Christmas is really about
And of course it’s about giving gifts – no, no, no, no not those
Not the ones all wrapped and shiny, that sparkle and glow
They’re pretty and pleasant, I know
But gifts like that – well, they’re really for show
But it’s the kind you can’t make in a factory or sew
Or put in box or buy in a store (Do I sound like Seuss-sayer?)
Well, here’s another rhyme more
No, the sort that I mean don’t cost a dime
Maybe some effort, some thought – a little bit of time
On second thought these are things
Even Santa couldn’t pack
Not the sort of presents you can put in a sack
Peace, love, hope, forgiveness, warm embraces
True gifts that all our “hustling and bustling” often replaces
While we blithely ignore all of God’s amazing graces
And miss the magic, which is there
As precious as the words of a little one’s simple prayer
For you see we have to pause
And like a child who still believes in a Santa Claus
Receive a gift that prompts such wild surprise
That our hearts are full of joy, there’s delight in our eyes
And as we stand back in awe and ask,
“Did you bring that for me?
Recalling a holy night, alive once again
A baby born in a stable, in a place called Bethlehem
Starlight and shepherds and angels singing — peace, goodwill to men
Gifts to the world from the Father above
Not illusions or sleight of hand but real magic, borne out of love
Wrapped up in redemptive ribbons reminding us of
The grace and the glory, the sacrifice and the story
The miracle, the majesty, the mystery
As in wide-eyed wonder
We fall under the spell
Transformed by the Magic of Christmas
George Gagliardi, December, 2007
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