August 8, 2020 (Saturday)
I ran across an old song written by Irving Berlin and performed by Frank Sinatra (and many others): “The Song Is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On).
I’m not pastoring a church anymore, but the title of that song stirred up the embers of sermons and preaching.
“The song is ended” means I am not preaching anymore. “But the melody lingers on” describes my feelings as I get ideas I would like to share, as in “preach.” As my dear friend, Clarence Walstad, told me one day, about his retirement from preaching: “The Lord keeps on filling the sermons in,” pointing to his heart.
Or the idea could be applied to my marriage of 48 years to Wanda. She has passed on, so “the song is ended,” but “the melody lingers on.” It took a long time, but I finally got trained to be a husband. Now that she is away, I still feel married. Since it has been 18 years since her death, I am certain now that the melody will linger forever.
How about old folks and driving cars? Some people my age don’t drive anymore. When I was 73 years old, a highway patrolman stopped me and asked to see my drivers license. When he saw my year of birth, he smiled and said, “My father was born that year.” “Common ground, I thought to myself,” but he continued, “we don’t let him drive anymore.” Well, there are many elderly people who used to drive everywhere, but no more. “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on.”
Dwight has found a treasure house filled with vintage songs, and has shared it with me. That’s where these old songs came from. The stirrings within of old people are like the feelings of a race horse. He can’t run in races anymore, but he is fun (or maybe a little sad) to watch when he hears the starting gun fire and the sounds of hoofbeats. His “song is ended, but the melody lingers on.” Elderly people find those feelings coming along about every day, as they are reminded of how active they once were.
Hey, now that you see where I was going with this, surely a few ideas popped into your head, so that you can amuse yourself by thinking about things in life that once were important but are now only memories–but strong ones.
The Song Is Ended
Irving Berlin
1927
My thoughts go back to a heavenly dance
A moment of bliss we spent
Our hearts were filled with a song of romance
As into the night we went
And sang to our hearts’ content
The song is ended
But the melody lingers on
You and the song are gone
But the melody lingers on
The night was splendid
And the melody seemed to say
“Summer will pass away
Take your happiness while you may”
There ‘neath the light of the moon
We sang a love song that ended too soon
The moon descended
And I found with the break of dawn
You and the song had gone
But the melody lingers on