Ghostly Communion

Music was a vital component of my family as I grew up. I can remember car trips, lessons, worship services, and bedtimes that were surrounded in song. Variously, we sang hymns, Christian kids music (the good stuff, not the new weird things), and the kids car song mixes that were all on cassette tape.

One of the songs, (which I still know by heart) was “The Ghost of Bleak House” by Tom Chapin. Set to a theme from Alfred Hitchcock, this song is about a family that moves into a haunted house. The house is haunted by a ghost that is cranky and set in his ways, and is determined to force the new family to flee. But when the kids learn that they have a ghost, the youngest, Baby Gail, befriends the ghost, and teaches him that they can all be friends.

It’s cute to say the least, and a good bit of fun, but as children’s music goes, it sets a pretty decent message of one who sets out to gather this “feared” one, living essentially on the margins, into the communion of the family. I think it is not without importance that it is the youngest, the most vulnerable, who extends the hand of invitation.