A VIEW FROM THE BACK PEW
By Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt
AT AN EARLY STAGE in my ministry, I was given the opportunity by my Bishop to engage in a conversation with a search committee, and to explore a future move to a new parish.
It was a time in the life of the Church when the Exchange of Peace with which we are familiar now, was a new experience. It was being seen in some congregations, as a time when people were being encouraged to reach out and, at the very least, shake hands. Some congregations opted for the full embrace approach, while others offered the Peace sign from a respectful distance. Other congregations had a lengthy melee as it was seen as a moment not only to exchange God’s Peace and Love, but also to catchup with other members of the Parish Family.
When I asked the search committee what was the practice that was reflective of that particular community of faith, one member of the committee responded, in rather strident tones, “We do not believe in any public tactile expression of affection!“
How do you communicate God’s Love in God’s World ?
As I write this article on Boxing Day of the 2024 Christmas Season, I am fully aware of the frequency of the message that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son into that world. The personification of God’s Love being fully expressed in a little baby is a key feature of how we try and grasp the reality that we are the focus of a Divine Love which has touched the lives of people throughout the centuries in their daily lives and in their unique circumstances.
As we move into the twenty-fifth year of the first century of the second Millennium after the birth of Jesus, we continue to try to comprehend the experience of the Love of God being a reality which is to be found in the person of Jesus. If the totality of God cannot be caught up within a net of words, then, perhaps, the Love of God may be glimpsed in the visual images with which we surround ourselves of the world in which we live.
During the Season of Advent, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Jerusalem went through the Wall to visit Bethlehem. In a Lutheran church in that setting, they noted how the pastor had prepared the Nativity scene to reflect the current situation of that community of faith. The Christ Child, lying in a manger, had been placed on a pile of rubble, reflecting the war-torn landscape and devastation which is the reality of that part of the world. In that symbol, the word Emmanuel, “God With Us”, has a powerful meaning for those who are seeking to be faithful as their homes are reduced to rubble.
Finding a special location in Vatican City, Palestinian artists set up a Nativity scene where the usual figures were given their place. As he visited the site to offer his Papal Blessing, Pope Francis gazed on the figure of the Christ Child lying on a keffiyeh, in the manger. The black and white cloth represents those Palestinians who are living in the midst of a land torn apart by war and destruction. Since the 1960’s when the keffiyeh was worn by Yasser Arafat, who led the Palestine Liberation Organization, the keffiyeh has served as a symbol of the Palestinian national struggle. As they wear the keffiyeh, Palestinians see it as a means by which they are carrying their family identity with them, each and every day. The Pope seized the moment to remind us all in the midst of the pattern of our own lives, to remember and pray for all those, who, throughout the world, ”are suffering from the tragedy of war”.
I have been gifted in recent days with the opportunity to offer an Interim ministry, with the community of faith at St. James Church, Cambridge. The folks in that setting have not lost sight of the importance of the vital message, especially in our Canadian context, that Every Child Matters. As you can see from the picture which accompanies this article, a creche was set up, and some of the stones which had been painted orange to reflect the Every Child Matters message were surrounded with other stones placed by members of the congregation as they remembered those whose lives were in upheaval, during the Christmas Season.
During my experience of Interim ministry, I have benefitted from another insightful message regarding the Baptismal ministry we all share. At the very outset of the Walk On Christmas Pageant at St. James, (a wonderful experience which may find its way into a future article), the Readers introduces the pageant with these words:
Our Christmas Story is timeless as it has been passed from generation to generation over thousands of years. It has been passed from believer to people hearing the story for the first time, from parent to child, over and over, and we come together to hear it again, either as a reminder or to hear it told in a way that makes the story new and fresh to us.
As we remember and retell the story tonight, we share images from Matthew, Luke and John, as well as traditions born from saints along the way. We offer this telling of our story in the prayerful hope that the presence of the Christ within each of us will shine more brightly and those around us will come to recognize the most amazing Christmas gift ever... the gift of God’s Love.
As we claim the presence of Christ to be a reality in our lives, how is that Divine Love shared with others? For some, the sharing of our faith story comes easily. Others express God’s Love in their words and actions. Still others, at a loss for words and feeling the situation they are in is beyond their scope, become the conduits of Divine Love by being a silent, caring presence to those whose lives touch theirs.
I invite you to take a moment and reflect on how you may best communicate God’s Love in God’s World in your own life.
Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt has retired from full-time parish ministry but continues to offer priestly ministry in the Diocese.