DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

© Cheers Theme Song by Gary Portnoy, posted by HDNet

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name
You wanna go where people know
People are all the same
You wanna go where everybody knows your name

The 1982 Cheers TV show Emmy-nominated theme song written by Gary Portnoy became a bona fide hit. So much so that 30 years later, it was voted in a readers’ poll by Rolling Stone as the Best TV Theme Song of all time.

Gary’s lyric, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”, became the sitcom’s tagline.

When Gary penned these words, he hit upon one of our most basic human needs: acceptance.
Isn’t it true? Don’t you wanna go where everybody knows your name?

Not in the sense of everybody knows your name like you’re famous. Only a few people in this world really want to be famous. And they are. They do whatever it takes to achieve fame including spending thousands per month to keep their names and images in constant rotation.

What Gary uncovered was our deep need to have a safe place, a place where we can be exactly who we are – no pretense, no front – just us.

We all need that safe place. For the characters of Cheers, it was the Boston bar they frequented. Before you condemn a show based around a bar, know that the creators first considered a hotel or inn. They simply wanted a location where they could add a stream of new characters each week and a tavern seemed to be the perfect location. I’m sure there are many actors who are grateful to this day that they got a costar or guest star role out of this transitory set up.

Back to my point, we all need a safe place.
That was the crux of my short message last Sunday.

It was a different day for us. Instead of our regular bible fellowship from 11:30 – 12:30, we partnered with the Interfaith Center, where we meet. The center hosted a seminar from 10:00 – 5:00 on intimacy and relationships led by Messianic Jewish Rabbi Russ Resnik. I was asked to speak briefly along with other rabbis and pastors on the program.

I asserted that, in terms of our relationship, Kevin and I have created a safe place in our marriage which allows for both of us to be accepted just as we are. It’s been 11 years. If we haven’t learned anything by now it’s that we cannot change each other. The desire to change comes from a place deep within. Best we can do is communicate with one another about the things we appreciate as well as the things that rub us the wrong way and honor and respect each other.

How are you doing?
Do you have a safe place where you can just be you?
Do you have relationships in which you are embraced as you are?
Do you accept others as they are or are you overly critical?

I am reminded of a song from scripture in which the psalmist sings about God’s creation and acceptance of us.

PSALM 139
(Excerpt)
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar…

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand —
when I awake, I am still with you.

The singer concludes that God creates us and knows us intimately from before we are even born. He knows everything about us, all the good and the horrible, and yet His thoughts are precious to us. We are accepted.

That does not mean that God is OK with sin. He is not. He is holy and perfect and sinless, and created us that way in the beginning. Didn’t last long. :=) But even now we yearn to become more and more like Him. Thank goodness we have an advocate in Jesus, who took on the penalty of our sin, even death, so that we can repent and be made righteous in Him. I am grateful everyday for His sacrifice for us because of His deep love for us.

Without a shadow of doubt, we have a safe place in His love.
And we can recreate that safe place for one another.
A place where everybody knows our name, and they’re always glad we came.
We wanna go where people know people are all the same.
We wanna go where everybody knows our name.

It’s so possible, Fam!
Go forth,
Naima

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