Barney Fife and Teaching Children Their Prayers

One of my favorite episodes of The Angry Griffith Show is “Barney and the Choir,” Season 2, Episode 20.

The choir practices, “Welcome Sweet Springtime.” Barney Fife is butchering the song.

I recently wanted to find the episode, but I hadn’t seen it in well over a decade.

I did not know what season the episode was in or what the episode was titled. But I found it!

How did I find it after all the time that had passed?

Throughout the episode, viewers repeatedly hear the opening song lyric, “Welcome sweet springtime, We greet thee in song…”

Over.

And over.

And over again.

Thanks to remembering the oft-repeated song lyric, “Welcome sweet springtime...,” I immediately found the episode!

In “Known By Heart: Is Rote Memorization Vain Repetition?,” Christine S Martinovich reflected beautifully on the teaching to children of recited prayers.

Parents teach their children prayers like the Our Father, hoping to pack them into their children’s memories, like snacks or supplies they pack for their children when they are going away for school or extracurricular activities.

So they can have them later when they need them.

Like the non-practicing Catholic adult who resorts to a Hail Mary when desperate.

The treasure is recovered from the memory.

“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” Proverbs 22:6 NRSVCE