I AM A SMOTHERS BROTHER [1-2-24]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter—I AM A SMOTHERS BROTHER [1-2-24]

 

Tommy Smothers was 2 days older than I. When he died, we were only 36 days and 38 days, respectively, short of 87. But the obits said he was 86 when he died. On behalf of my brother, I resent that. They cheated him out of 11 months of living.

Yes, I was part of the Smothers Brothers. Tommy was not my brother in the way Jim, my biological brother, is. Or the way Dick was. I never met Tom in person. Perhaps it is best to say that we were social brothers instead of biological brothers.

As his social brother, I was deeply affected by Tommy’s death. Not mournful, exactly. I am thankful for his life and witness. Just sad that he will not be able to do any more witnessing.

We do that with public figures, and usually it is a good thing. I’m not a Swiftie, but I understand why a lot of folks are. When there is something about a public figure that we identify with, it is like we are at least friends. Maybe even family.

It can be a bad thing, of course. When the public figure is a Hitler or a Trump, that’s the epitome of a toxic family atmosphere.

But Tommy Smothers, along with Dick, created such a delightful family atmosphere. They were serious about social justice, about personal freedom, about free speech. But they expressed those serious concerns in humor that brought forth real laughter. And they sang!

And I was able to appropriate their material. Remember, “I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy?” When we were welcoming a hundred new students at our campus ministry at IL State U during Orientation Week, I had Dennis Heller and Mary Albers sing a parody of that. They started walking toward each other from different sides of the chancel, singing: “I see by your lapel cross that you are a Christian. I see by your lapel cross that you’re a Christian, too. We see by our lapel crosses we are both Christians.” They got to the middle of the chancel and faced the students. “If you get a lapel cross you can be a Christian, too.”

It was the perfect intro to our campus ministry: We’re not just lapel cross Christians here. It worked. Those kids were idealistic. They wanted to be serious Christians. They had just been waiting for right family.

Like Tom and Dick, I was serious about social justice and personal freedom and free speech. And love and morality. Like them, I tried to express those concerns in humor. But I did not have a TV show. And I couldn’t sing.

Tom and Dick made the witness publicly that I could only do personally. Oh, sure, a pulpit is public, but not like a TV show. When the Smothers brothers fought to air concerns about race relations and Viet Nam and abuse of power—with humor, with music--they did it for me. And for you.

That’s why we’re family. That’s why I write these words of appreciation for my brother. That’s why insist that Tommy Smothers was not 86 years old. I refuse to give up eleven months of his life and witness. Do your math, obit writers; have you never heard of “rounding up?” I He was 87!

John Robert McFarland