BANG, ZOOM! TO THE MOON, ALICE
By Steve Bietz
Burke County
It was called the Honeymooners. Nearly all the 1950s sitcoms on television featured upper-middle-class families with the dad wearing a suit and tie around their suburban single-family house, and the mom in an attractive dress with high heels on. I can’t recall if the moms wore high heels as they vacuumed the carpet or not…I was pretty young. But with the classic American television sitcom created and starring Jackie Gleason, we leave behind the typical upper-middle-class family and instead, portray a working-class married couple in a gritty, non-idyllic manner. The show actually hardly ever left the Kramdens’ kitchen in a neglected Brooklyn apartment building. The Honeymooners was a bang, zoom, to the moon show that portrayed Ralph Kramden (Gleason), Ed Norton (Art Carney), as best friends as they go from one scheme to the next to try and make a few bucks. They were usually poor choices and ended up going south while the wives, played by Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph, knew a hair-brained scheme to strike it rich when they saw one.
The show started with fireworks on the opening theme song and those fireworks would continue as Ralph would get so upset with his wife Alice over one issue after another. The audience knew what was coming and anxiously waited for Ralph to say those magical words: “Bang, Zoom! To The Moon, Alice!
Far as I know, Alice never went to the moon and by the end of the half-hour sitcom, the fireworks were over and Ralph was telling Alice: “Baby, You’re the Greatest.”
In 1967, the United Nations adopted the International Outer Space Treaty, forbidding all nations from claiming the moon or any part of space, as their territory. During the decades since man landed on the moon, there have been fast-thinking entrepreneurs who have been selling land plots on the moon. And thousands of people have purchased land on the moon. Of course, so far, no one has been able to enjoy a piece of real estate on the moon.
I see a better plan for heavenly real estate that is taught in the Bible. Did you know that the Word of God teaches that you and I can own heavenly real estate? And the price is already paid!! “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2, 3).
So, as we celebrate the 4th of July and shoot off some fireworks, you may recall the fireworks they shot off during the opening credits of the Honeymooners television sitcom. You may remember that Ralph was always ready to Bang, Zoom, Alice to the moon. But the greatest thing to keep in mind is that our Lord has prepared heavenly property that has our names on the deed. What a firework show we will witness when we all arrive in God’s eternal Kingdom. We do not need to purchase moon property. Just let Jesus and His blood purchase us. May we each accept Christ as our best Friend and ask Him to be our Lord and Savior. No fireworks on earth can compare to what Christ has in store for His friends.
________________________________________________________________________________
Steve Bietz is the pastor at Morganton Seventh Day Adventist Church.
________________________________________________________________________________
You can read more from Steve Bietz HERE.
