I think many of us feel like an old string of burned-out Christmas lights this time of year. What should be a time of joy can be dimmed by stress and busyness. It is often a time when the darkness of our grief and loneliness can seem insurmountable: We feel artificial, worn out, “lightless.”
That evening with the Lumineers, in the middle of their most popular song, the band abruptly — stopped playing. Lead singer Wesley Schultz stepped to the microphone and pleaded, “Be here with us now.” He said: “Please put your phones away; just be here with us now.” The band quickly returned to form and charged into the next verse, but no one seemed to actually put away their phone. The truth unveiled in our summer musical expeditions is simply that life happens in the moment.