It has been more than two years since Kathy and I have seen our nephew Henry, who lives with his two dads out in faraway Seattle. But I felt very close to him and to Steve and Scott this morning at church when I sang a new song of mine for the very first time. The occasion was actually the baptism of a beautiful little girl from Guatemala named Isabel, adopted this year by Kristen Green (a friend from Holy Communion) and her husband Dan. In fact, if you go back to my Father’s Day blog entry back in mid June, you’ll see a picture of Dan with both Isabel and her brother Jonah; they had just received Isabel five days before, so it was still a very new and bewildering experience for both of those youngsters – and probably their two parents too! But today, they were a lovely family who seemed so serenely comfortable and loving with each other – the happiest that a family could possibly be.
For the baptism, I was supposed to sing “Jesus Loves Me” – a request of the Green family – because Kate Barrow was out of town and unable to sing it for Isabel as she had for her brother’s baptism. But then, almost without trying, a song started coming into my head over the last couple of days— a song inspired partly by the story of Isabel and Jonah and perhaps even more so by the story of my brother Steve, his partner Scott, and the beautiful boy from Cambodia who they adopted, Henry. That adoption was a long long time in coming because in the middle of the process, all foreign adoptions in Cambodia were put on hold because of some controversial misdeeds… and our whole family waited painfully for months on end before finally the wheels began to turn again and the adoption could go through. My dad tells the story incredibly well in “Henry’s Outstretched Arms” and maybe someday I can put that story on this website for you to hear.
Anyway, as I thought about today’s baptism and the long journey of Isabel and Jonah – and the even longer journey of Henry – I thought of the tendency of Americans to think of faraway countries almost like entire different planets, when in fact we are all human beings sharing the same world. From the most luxuriant American hospitals to the jungle villages of India and everywhere in between, babies spring to life in much the same way – – – and those babies just born know nothing of boundaries or prejudice or racial and cultural divides. They only know life itself- the emptiness of hunger- the joy of being fed- and the warmth of being held and loved. That’s sort of what this song is about- and although I sang today for Isabel’s baptism, with her brother Jonah looking on, I was also thinking about Henry and his dads and that ongoing story of love.
They’re from a land some call exotic
another corner of the world-
with many different customs-
different banners are unfurled-
Their words may be bewildering
from a strange and foreign tongue-
and though their music’s lovely-
very different songs are sung.But it’s the Same Sky – the Same Air-
it’s the Same Hurts and Fears we share-
But it’s the Same Loving Savior there
who holds us close and hears our every prayer-
who loves All Children Everywhere.At a glance the land is backward-
of a quaint and simpler age-
yet a rich and vibrant history
is etched on every page.
And we find amongst her people the stirring story of
how people bent by trials can rise again with love.For it’s the Same Sky – the Same Air-
it’s the Same Hopes and Dreams we share-
And it’s the Same Loving Savior there
who holds us close and hears our every prayer-
who loves All Children Everywhere.It’s a great and lovely blessing
we are holding in our arms-
this precious child of wonder-
a child of endless charms.
And we scarcely can believe it
because we waited for so long
but now our hearts are soaring
with this new delighted song.For it’s the Same Sky . . .
pictured: Our nephew Henry with Steve and Scott, looking through one of the observation telescopes on Mt. Rainier