My friend, Janelle - a music therapist - asked her hospice client, who had been asking her to play sacred songs and hymns week after week, "Oh, how about Alfie?" He said he had heard of that song and maybe the movie - sure. So she played and she sang:
What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
Then I guess it's wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
What will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there's something much more,
Something even non-believers can believe in.
I believe in love, Alfie.
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
Then I guess it's wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
What will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there's something much more,
Something even non-believers can believe in.
I believe in love, Alfie.
Who the heck is Alfie anyway? And what about all those questions?
After Janelle sang that song to the sacred music man, he broke into tears - sobbing.
Something was released in him that the sacred songs could not touch.
I interviewed Janelle in her and her beloved partner, Anita's, new home. They moved there about a year ago. I've know Janelle since we were at Luther College. We were on LYE Teams and share a love of singing and theology. Amazingly, we have stayed connected through the years. She is abundantly gifted as a musician, a spiritual healer and a theologian.
Janelle wants to help others through the big questions of life: what the heck is it all about? where are we going? what happens to us when we die? what about love?
I, like Janelle, believe in love - the power of the Holy One to bring about transformation and healing in a stuck and broken world of hurt and heartache. I don't know how, but somehow healing will come. Forgiveness will we shared. Hope will spring eternal, in spite of evidence to the contrary, and when things seem most dark an drear.
Even though I have no clue who Alfie is, I can still sing the song, "I believe in love, Alfie." I hope you can sing along, too - with me, with all the Alfie's of the world and with all those who cannot sing right now. Just say it over and over again and again...
I believe in love, Alfie.
I believe in love, Alfie.
I believe in love, Alfie.
....in love.
Because our lives, their lives - we all depend on - thrive on - can't do without
...love.
No comments:
Post a Comment