To everything there is a season
A VIEW FROM THE BACK PEW
By Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt
ACCORDING to some musicologists, in 1954, (the year I was born), the song Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything there is a Season was composed by Pete Seeger. Later performed by Judy Collins and the Byrds the song made it to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1965.
During a taping of a duet with the composer, Judy Collins nonchalantly introduced the song indicating that the words came from Ecclesiastes, with a confidence that those who were listening to the song would have at least a familiarity with her reference. When I saw the Youtube video of the duet, it evoked significant memories of a number of moments, places and people in my life. For many individuals who lived through the challenging times of the Vietnam War this song was a claim as part of the Peace Movement and as an expression of anti-war sentiment.
October heralds a moment when we pause to offer our personal thanksgivings for the many blessings which we experience in our own lives. It is a season when we pause, look around the table, not only to value and appreciate the people who are gathered at our Thanksgiving celebrations, but also to think about those who are no longer with us. Thanksgiving allows us the opportunity to mark the passage of time, not in a maudlin way, but in a way in which we may reflect on all the “changes and chances of this fleeting world” (BCP pg. 7726) which have brought us to this moment.
In the midst of the turbulent world in which we live, taking a moment to be grateful seems like a luxury when so many human beings in this global village are simply seeking to survive. There are moments when being aware of events which move at an exceedingly fast pace and which are completely out of our control may feel overwhelming. The calming rhythm of the song reminds us that “for everything there is a season”.
Recently, I have been made increasingly aware of the passage of time. Once a month, I have connected with my high school community based in Philadelphia and joined in a Zoom Quaker Meeting for Worship. Being rooted in the Quaker tradition of silence has been a cornerstone of my spiritual life which was formed over the years I spent at a school where Meeting for Worship was a part of the weekly schedule. I am indeed very grateful for that experience and that season of my life.
During the summer, a trip to Fredericton gave me the opportunity to visit the Alumni Office of the University of New Brunswick and receive a lapel pin acknowledging the fact that I graduated from that school 50 years ago. That sounds like a moment worth celebrating, but when that date is identified as being an event that happened half a century ago…well, that has a different emotional weight. Yet those days, and that season of my life marked a time when I was aware of a Divine nudge and moved towards responding to a vocational call to ordained ministry. It is another season in my life which gives me cause to be very thankful.
This year, during that same visit, my wife, Carolyn and I, were able to visit the first parish we moved to in 1980. I walked through the parish cemetery outside the historic wooden church building which has been closed for a number of years. The gravestones not only marked the final resting places of human remains, but they also generated memories as stories associated with those individuals flooded through my heart and mind.
These were folks who had welcomed and supported a newly married couple who were starting a life together. They had joined in the celebration of the arrival of our first son. Some had witnessed his baptism at an Easter Vigil and had been part of the Cathedral congregation when I was ordained as a priest. Some of the names I read were very familiar, because I see them every time I open the Book of Common Prayer which they had presented to me at the time of my ordination. It is another season in my life which gives me cause to be thankful.
As the summer drew to a close, during a visit with our grandchildren, I tucked my grandson into his car seat and covered him with a crocheted blanket which was the creation of his great-great-grandmother. The connection with the generational story over the years gave me the opportunity to be thankful for the blessing of family.
It has been my experience in ministry that when families and friends gather for a funeral or a celebration of life that a key element of those moments is when folks gravitate towards the collection of pictures which are either displayed as a photo montage or are tacked up onto bulletin boards. Invariably the conversations those pictures generate pick up on moments of family life which generate their own stories. The memories lead to family members and friends, to indicate, in one way or another, how grateful they are that the individual they are remembering was a part of their lives.
One colleague in ministry had planned his funeral in great detail and had ensured that as his coffin was brought into the church, a recording of Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” was to be played. I cannot hear that piece of music without remembering that moment, being grateful for that person and their ministry... and smiling.
Another colleague, in planning for his service included the reading from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. He moved past the familiar first eight verses which had inspired Pete Seeger and included the twelfth and thirteenth verses.
I know that there is nothing good for a person except to be happy and live the best life they can while they are alive.
Moreover, that a person should eat and drink and enjoy themselves in return for all their labours, is a gift of God.
(Ecclesiastes 3:12,13 New English Bible)
As you observe Thanksgiving this month, I ask you to reflect, not only on the blessings of the Harvest and our place in God’s Creation, but also to think about the people who have touched your life and whose presence has made your life story the beautiful mosaic that it is. It is a moment when you have the opportunity to thank God for all the blessings of this life and to be grateful.
Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt has retired from full-time parish ministry but continues to offer priestly ministry in the Diocese.
Photo credit: Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash