A song, warm memories and renewed assurance

Last night I paid attention to lyrics of a song to which I had never before listened. I was reared in an austere era of the church summarized in an old ditty, "We don’t dance, or smoke, or chew and never go with girls who do!" My brother says, "If something tasted good, or was fun to do, it was certainly sin!" Pastors railed on the evils of television broadcasting Elvis’ swiveling hips. The Beatles were condemned as blasphemous because they audaciously declared that they were more popular than Jesus.

The song reminded me of an experience crossing Detroit’s Gratiot Avenue, a heavily trafficked roadway. My father, brother and I were about to cross nine white striped lanes filled with whizzing cars. Dad said, "Let me hold your hand." I resisted, insisting on holding his. My father’s won the argument with, "I can hold you better than you can hold me."

The song that was new to me last night is John Lennon’s "Beautiful Boy." The lyrics also evoked the many evenings when I tucked Jonathan into bed. We talked about things important to him. Occasionally he asked questions, the answers to which I am still seeking. He, like Candace and Joanna and all other children experienced fears, wondered aloud about the imponderables of life, and were curious about things that really matter. My responses were, and are, too pointed, prosaic, and poetry starved. John Lennon addressed his young son’s fears with picturesque language, overflowing with poetic images.

Close your eyes
Have no fear
The monster's gone
He's on the run and your daddy's here

[Chorus:]
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy

Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better

[Chorus]

Out on the ocean sailing away
I can hardly wait
To see you come of age
But I guess we'll both just have to be patient
'Cause it's a long way to go
A hard row to hoeYes it's a long way to go
But in the meantime

Before you cross the street
Take my hand
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans

[Chorus]

Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful boy
Darling, darling, darling
Darling Sean

An end-of-year greeting includes the assurances of the Holy Spirit flowing through the pen of Saint John, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:1-2) That assurance is like a warm security blanket wrapping us, protecting us from "the monsters that are gone."

Happy New Year!