Tell Me It’s Not True

Tell me it’s not true
Say it’s just a story
Something on the news
Tell me it’s not true
Though it’s here before me
Say it’s just a dream
Say it’s just a scene
From an old movie from years ago
From an old movie of Marilyn Monroe’s

 ‘Blood Brothers’, my favourite musical, tells the story of twin boys who are separated at birth. It’s predicted that if they ever learn that they are twins they will both immediately die…

Mickey’s brought up with his seven older siblings by his struggling single mother; Edward’s brought up as the only child of a wealthy family. Mickey and Edward live very different lives…

Finally, they discover they’re twin brothers; both die. The inevitable has happened. A mother kneels by her lifeless twin boys. The worst imaginable tragedy.

Say it’s just some clowns
Two players in the limelight
And bring the curtain down
Say it’s just two clowns
Who couldn’t get their lines right
Say it’s just a show on the radio
That we can turn over and start again
That we can turn over, it’s only a game

I relate this to my faith and the Jesus narrative. A boy grows up with the prediction he will die. The inevitable happens – there’s an apparently needless death. A distraught mother looks on at her son’s lifeless body… I reflect on those who would say it’s just a story… just pretend, a radio show, an old movie…

…I remember that Jesus’ death wasn’t the end. Death’s despair and tragedy leads to the resurrection’s life and good news. Reaffirming that I believe, historically, personally… Through sadness I rediscover hope, truth, purpose… Through Blood I find my living Brother.

Tell me it’s not true
Say I only dreamed it
And morning will come soon
Tell me it’s not true
Say you didn’t mean it
Say it’s just pretend
Say it’s just the end
Of an old movie from years ago
From an old movie with Marilyn Monroe