Living our lives without fear (in these changing times)
A VIEW FROM THE BACK PEW
By Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt
THE 1960s and early 1970s were turbulent years to be growing up, as I did, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There were moments of joy and celebration when the city rejoiced, like the first Earth Day events which packed the streets with people. They saw the day as a moment when a message could be sent to those who held political office that the care of the environment needed to be given priority, for the benefit of all.
The city was a great place to be in moments of celebration. When the Philadelphia Flyers brought the Stanley Cup through the cheering throngs, they passed a large banner hanging on the wall of a bank sponsor which honoured the Flyers’ goalie as it declared,” Only God Saves More Than Bernie Parent” ! I stood in the courtyard of the City Hall building and sang the Flyers’ theme song,” God Bless America” as loudly as anyone else.
Yet, at the other end of the emotional spectrum, the city resonated with anger and frustration as the Vietnam War wore on year after year. Protests were frequent and fueled by rage. Standing in the midst of the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with other anxious young men who, like me, wondered where their name would fall as Draft numbers were drawn and a future leading to the battlefields of Vietnam loomed on the horizon.
The assassinations of President Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy came at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was clamouring to be heard across the nation and in the halls of power. A radical protest touched close to home when individuals came into my home parish and after standing in the front pew throughout the service proceeded to throw the Alms Basins to the floor and stormed out.
During these days a singer’s voice cut through the cacophony with a distinct tone and sharp insight.
"Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
and don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand|
Cause the times they are a changin’ "
(The Times They Are A Changin’ - Bob Dylan
Those years are classified by some people as being “the good old days”.
As I sat in a darkened theatre watching, “A Complete Unknown”, the story of the early stages of Bob Dylan’s career, I was emotionally transported back through the decades, where many of those memories I have just shared with you, became vivid once more. The music and the message of those years, which initially feel as though they are reflective of a distant past, ring true during the turbulent times we live in today.
The Editor of The Huron Church News recently reflected on the big picture of the world as he marked the 75th Anniversary of our diocesan paper and encouraged all of us to offer our financial support for its essential ongoing ministry. He wrote:
A lot has changed since 1950 and the first edition of the Huron Church News: the newspaper itself has changed, so has the church, and the world in general. Seventy-five years, after all, is almost the average length of a human life. And you do not have to be even close to 75 to realize that the world today looks much different from the world of your childhood. [ HCN ] has never claimed to be more than it is - a reliable and truthful witness to the events in Huron’s churches.
- Davor Milicevic, Editor HCN
In the midst of all the change, the turmoil, the transitions, some of which we may understand, some of which may be beyond our comprehension, there is something that remains as a constant. Our faith and trust that God’s presence in our lives is a reality upon which we can all depend. We discover that we are the focus of Divine Love as we share in the life of the community of faith that we call our spiritual home. The congregations where we feel that we may safely and freely express our faith are sanctuaries that many people in the rest of our global village simply envy.
Our attempts to be relevant and responsive to the needs which are clearly evident all around us are parallel experiences to those whose lives and whose sacrifices have given us the freedoms to express our faith in a world which does not always welcome the message of the Gospel.
When the Bishop of Washington offers a message, pleading for mercy to be the hallmark of a new Administration, it should not, from my perspective, be heralded as a radical statement. The proclamation of God’s Word, the experience of speaking truth to power, is one of the essential missions of those who seek to follow Jesus. Speaking words of compassion, living lives offered in the service of humanity and being ”reliable and truthful” witnesses to Our Lord each day is a mission and ministry which has remained as an unchanging reality over the generations.
As we move in and through the Season of Lent, we have the opportunity to remind ourselves of our story of faith. Through reading, reflection and prayer, we are able to renew our relationship with the one who loves us and who has told us to live our lives without fear, no matter how daunting the challenges we face may be, in changing times.
Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt has retired from full-time parish ministry but continues to offer priestly ministry in the Diocese.