Advent Day 8
in tonights Advent I am thinking of a singer/songwriter who gave us some amazing tunes over the years. John Lennon together with Paul McCartney wrote songs that will be forever in the nations hearts. As a child  I remember cheering and singing along to the Beatles whenever they appeared on the television. I was a child in their heyday but grew to love John especially in my teen years. His cheeky irreverence his passion for peace and his talent for tackling tricky issues in music made him my very favourite Beatle. So, when I woke on the morning of December the 8th 1980 the tune playing on the radio was Imagine, perhaps is most loved song. When the next song was a Beatles song I was surprised, two in a row, even on local Merseyside radio was unusual. I was so shocked when at the end of the record the news reporter told us all that John had been shot and killed outside his apartment in New York.
I can still remember the shock and how I stood in my small bedroom with tears in my eyes. I went into to Mum and Dad’s bedroom, both just waking up. John Lennon is dead, Dad, bleary eyed from sleep said something like, was it drugs? I said no he has been shot. They were as shocked as I was.
Now some 34 years later it still shocks me. How a man who lived for peace could face such a violent and senseless death.
So tonight’s Advent song chooses itself, it has to be Imagine, a song I love especially for the lyrics, which have always offered an alternative to the crazy world in which we live, we would all do well to consider them carefully and try as much as we can, within our own worlds, to live in peace.
RIP John thanks for the music and the wisdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgYAHHkPFs