Can you name the title of a 70s song that starts with those words? It was immensely popular back in the day. It is one of the songs I never get tired of hearing. The song uses a banjo for its rhythm, which gives it a friendly sing-along feel. It was recorded on an album titled “Against the Grain” and was released in 1971. One more hint: it was recorded by “The Stampeders.” You may remember some of their most popular songs: “Carry Me,” “Devil You,” “Wild Eyes,” “Hit the Road Jack,” “Oh My Lady,” “Minstrel Gypsy,” “Monday Morning Choo Choo.”
The song I am referring to is “Sweet City Woman.” I’m listening to the official YouTube video as I am writing. Stop reading for a moment and go listen.
I found the song’s lyrics and was struck by how much of my theology is reflected in the words. With just a few words changed here and there, it could be sung in church – maybe not a Sunday morning service – but still, a happy song of joyful hope and anticipation.
I have a friend, Jeff, who is crazy into collecting vinyl records. I once said to him, “This rock and roll song sounds like a Christian song. Is the artist a Christian?” He responded, “A lot of Rock songs sound that way. But they are not.”
What has brought me to writing this pondering is that I have stuck in my mind one line of the song: “So long, Ma; So long, Pa; So long, neighbors and friends.”
The song is about a guy who has determined to leave his country life and head to the city. He has a great desire to be with his “sweet city woman.” The desire is so deep that he is willing to leave behind all that is comforting to him, all that is familiar and oozing with security, to go to an unfamiliar place just to be with his sweety.
Did you notice that he was not begging her to leave the city and come to him? That is a huge thought. At least Biblically. How much of our contemplating on the condition of our world or our own lives is centered on trying to beg Jesus to come to us and rescue us from our helplessness?
The truth is that Jesus, actually the complete Trinity, has never left the earth since Jesus was born. Did Matthew not tell us that the last words of Jesus were, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” “WITH YOU!” Not somewhere near us.
So the question is, the question always has been, are we willing to sing, “So long Pa, So long Ma, So long neighbors and friends.”
That “cross” speaks of a trust that the God of our future is able and willing to care for our Pa, Ma, and neighbors better than we can. We can trust that God will care for the people we care about. While we go in response to the King sending us, the King already has the plan in motion to care for the people we leave behind. We may leave them, but He promises never to. God does not leave His Kingdom unattended when he calls us elsewhere.
I have often gained insight from reading the First Nations Translation. Here is Luke 14:25-27 for your contemplation:
25Large crowds were following him, so he turned to them and said, 26“The ones who come to me must put me first, above all others. To walk the road with me, they must love and respect me above their own fathers and mothers, wives and children, and aunties and uncles. They must love me even more than their own lives. 27Only the ones who are willing to follow me and carry their own crossbeam are ready to walk the road with me and learn my ways.
As for me, “Well, I’m on my way to ‘the city of light’.”
Photo – I took this photo at a restaurant on Tybee Island, Georgia.
