Ponder

Description

Song Description

The words “and Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart” have always been in my memory. This song imagines what she pondered as an expectant and then new mother.

Story Behind the Song

My spouse is the pastor of the Lutheran Campus Ministry and requested a song to sing for the Christmas Eve sermon. We had two friends who were single, expectant mothers nearing term as Christmas approached. The one was part of a large family for whom this pregnancy was a sign of shame, none of whom asked her about the baby. The family of the other made room in their hearts for the child and created a loving space for him.

This single originally appeared on the EHKing Radio Sampler in 1999, and then was a featured cut on the Hudson-Harding Radio Sampler, Vol 3 in 2008. It was also featured on the Thrivent.com/music website for Christmas in 2011.

Here is my daughter, Kaitlin, singing to the new Karaoke re-mix at an Advent Celebration at Pacific Lutheran School of Theology in Berkeley, California, Dec 2012:

Included:
1) Lyric Sheet
2) Original Radio Cut (Steve Eulberg & Connie Winter-Eulberg)
3) Original Full-length Version (Steve Eulberg & Connie Winter-Eulberg)
4) New Karaoke Mix (by Russ Hopkins 2012)
5) New full-length Mix with reference vocal (by Russ Hopkins 2012)
6) Music with chords and mountain dulcimer tablature in AEa tuning.