Mary, did you know?

Homeless man shares love for Christmas song co-written by Macon's Buddy Greene

This photo of Robert was taken in December 2022 at Jerry Elder’s monthly men’s breakfast in Lizella. (Photo by ED GRISAMORE)

Robert sleeps in an abandoned building downtown. He does not always know where his next meal is coming from. Or if it will come at all.

He works in our yard almost every week. He pulls weeds, trims the fig ivy and cleans the gutters. Long hours do not bother him. He does not want a handout. He wants to earn it.

Robert enjoys being outside. The summer heat does not bother him. It’s the winter wind that cuts like a knife in butter. We worry about him when the temperatures dip below freezing. I sometimes find myself waking up at night and wondering if he is staying warm.

I have known Robert for more than 16 years, but only in the past 16 months have I watched our friendship reach new levels. I have been able to spend time with him, to understand him.

We have deep conversations about life and living. Although we come from different backgrounds and circumstances, that does not mean we cannot find and share common ground.

We try to help him however and whenever we can. Some people are afraid of people like Robert. I call him my brother. Being around him has helped me grow stronger in my Christian faith. I tell myself to look at Robert as the face of Jesus. 

Jerry Elder is a longtime minister of music and one of the finest men I know. He retired in 2022 as a music teacher at Stratford Academy. Jerry has known Robert as long as I have. They became acquainted through a ministry at a downtown church that provides meals and other services to the less fortunate in our community.

Jerry hosts a men’s breakfast every month. About 15-20 men gather to break biscuits at the old family homeplace in Lizella. In the fall of 2022, Jerry suggested I bring Robert to the next month’s breakfast. He said the group should make room at the table for everyone, not just those who act, dress and think like we do.

So I pick up Robert at 7:30 a.m. on the first Saturday of every month in front of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame at the foot of Cherry Street. He is punctual. He keeps the date written in a small notepad he carries in his pocket. He looks forward to the time together with the other men. 

Robert and I share a love of music. It is a common denominator. I laugh and call him my very own request line and personal jukebox. When we are working together in the yard or riding across the bridge at Lake Tobesofkee in my truck, I can request any song from the ‘70s or ‘80s, and he usually can dial it up and sing it. Sometimes, we sing it together. He loves The Eagles. He knows almost all of the songs.

Several of those who attend the breakfast are in a band with Jerry. A few months ago, they brought their guitars and accompanied Robert in the music studio. Jerry played the keyboards. It was special. Robert will never forget that day for the rest of his life. For him, it was like performing at Carnegie Hall. Or Fillmore East.

Jerry suggested Robert pick out a few Christmas songs to sing at our December breakfast. I was expecting Robert to select something traditional or mainstream, like  “Away in a Manger” or “Joy to the World.’’

“Mary, Did You Know?” he said, reverently. “I have always loved that one.’’

I was surprised … and pleased.

“Did you know Buddy Greene co-wrote that song?” I asked him. “He’s from Macon.’’

Robert, did you know?

I have known Buddy for 20 years. I had breakfast with him in Nashville a few weeks before Christmas in 2010, and I asked him to tell me the story behind what has become his signature song.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

And when you kiss your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of God?

Mark Lowry wrote the words to “Mary, Did You Know?” back in 1984, not long after Buddy and his wife, Vicki, moved to Nashville. 

Lowry had been asked to write a church Christmas play and framed the script around a series of questions he would ask Mary, the mother of Jesus, if he had the chance to interview her.

Lowry searched for the right music to go with the words. Finally, in 1991, when he was singing with the Gaither Vocal Band, he collaborated with Buddy.

“I sat down with my guitar and those words, and the song almost wrote itself,’’ Buddy told me. 

For the past 32 years – a musical generation – everyone from Kathy Mattea to Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Wynonna Judd and Natalie Cole has performed “Mary, Did You Know?” It is one of the most requested songs at Christmas.

And, on a glorious morning in early December, I sang it softly in the background as Robert took center stage. 

Did you know that your baby boy

Has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you

Merry Christmas.

Robert sings the opening of “Mary, Did You Know” at the men’s breakfast in Lizella

on December 2, 2023 (Video by ED GRISAMORE)

Buddy Greene performs “Mary, Did You Know?” (Country Road on YouTube)