CHRIST
IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter…
©
Today
is the birthday of the late Joe Frazier, who was the baritone in The Chad
Mitchell Trio and an Episcopal priest. The CMT was always my favorite folk
trio, from the time I first heard the guys in the 1960s, but Joe and I did not
meet until a few years ago, because of our shared “strange calling.” At this
time of year I would always remind him that he was older than I [by 3 weeks]
and he would reply, “How can I forget when you keep reminding me?” Here’s a
song I wrote about the way Joe saw the Gospel, and his calling to proclaim it.
SOMETHING SPECIAL
ON THE MIND
The Ballad of the
Good Mexitan [Luke 10:25-37]
I
went down to Mexico,
Not
so very long ago,
With
nothin’ special on my mind.
There
I went into an inn,
To
engage a little sin,
Then
I had something special on my mind;
Oh,
yes!
I
had something special on my mind.
But
in the corner lay a man,
He’d
been beaten head and hand,
He’d
been beaten and robbed and left behind.
And
for those who done the beatin’,
And
for those who done the leavin’,
He
had something special on his mind;
Boilin’
oil!
He
had something special on his mind.
He’d
been lyin’ by the way,
Nearly
half the day,
When
a bankin’ man came by.
The
victim had no money, the banker thought it mighty funny,
But
he had something special on his mind;
Compound
interest!
He
had something special on his mind.
His
lights were almost out,
He
had no breath to give a shout,
When
a priest of the church came by.
The
man he was a bleedin’,
But
the priest, he had a meetin’,
He
had something special on his mind;
Holy
Moley!
He
had something special on his mind.
He
was just about to die,
He
couldn’t even heave a sigh,
When
there came one of those, well, you know the kind.
And
I’ll never understand,
But
he stopped… and helped the man,
I
guess he, too, had something special on his mind;
Jesus
Christ!
He
had something special on his mind.
John
Robert McFarland
johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com
The
“place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula [The UP], where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This
phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]
I
used to keep a careful index of all the things I told in this blog so that I
would not repeat. That has become unwieldy. Now I just trust to memory. Sorry
about that.
I
have also started an author blog, about writing, in preparation for the
publication, by Black Opal Books, of my novel, VETS, about four handicapped and homeless Iraqistan veterans who
are accused of murdering a VA doctor, n 2015. http://johnrobertmcfarland-author.blogspot.com/
I
tweet as yooper1721.
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