So, I have now seen the Mamma Mia! movie for the third time. And, because I am the same age as Sophia’s parents and because I like the music of ABBA, it appeals to me. But, I found myself catching one line, when the three putative fathers and Sophie are out on the boat reminiscing over their past.
The three men were remembering 21 years before, when they had spent a summer that had changed all of them. They spoke of flower power, young love, etc. In fact, I am quite nostalgic for that era. I can see how easily baby boomers in the USA can find themselves looking back to that time. For better and worse (both are true), we changed society. It was a time of very high idealism, not just in the USA, but in many parts of the world. We tend to forget that the Czech spring also happened during this time, although it was brutally crushed by Soviet tanks. Within 15 years of the summer of love, the Polish union Solidarnosc (Solidarity) was born.
In the USA, 1970 was when the full Jesus Peoplemovement burst upon the Christian scene. It was the major Christian movement within the hippie counterculture. Hmm, is this the time to admit that my wife has a photograph of me from 1971, holding up my finger in the one-way sign, with shoulder length hair and a goatee? Yes, as a young Christian, I used to wear bell-bottoms, a tank top, and pass out the Hollywood Free Paper in Mansfield, OH, while walking barefoot. Much of the music found in the emergent and megachurches of today has its heritage in the early attempts to say Christian things in rock and folk language. Who remembers the Dooby Brothers’ “Jesus Is Just All-right With Me”?
And, yet, in the movie I have watched, during that scene I cited, one of the men sings of the days of flower power, but says that we had a fear of flying (also an allusion to a rather risque book from that era). And, that is true, as well we had a fear of getting old and becoming as uncaring as we perceived our parents to be. But, in some ways, we have now gone to the other extreme. I look at us baby boomers, and regret the hold that we have on this society where our fears and our hangups are as writ large upon the culture as the fears and hangups of the Depression generation were during our time as teenagers and early 20’s.
And, so, are we any different than our “ethnic” older people in our Orthodox parishes? We wish to preserve a time in our lives every bit as much as they wish to preserve a time in their lives. What do they wish to preserve? Well, we tend to forget the centuries of struggle to preserve Orthodoxy among the Greeks, Antiochians, Jerusalem, and Copts [Alexandrians]. We tend to forget the over 70 years of repression of the Russian Orthodox Church under communism. Most of our Orthodox forefathers struggled to preserve the faith in circumstances in which–speaking frankly–many of our good emergent and megachurch brothers and sisters would not equally survive.
And, so, they want to pass on that faith which they so fiercely protected for centuries. Where they make a mistake, it is in the same place that we USA baby boomers make a mistake. They want to preserve the faith in exactly the same way as they received it, down to its particular ethnic expressions. And, that is as wrong as our baby boomer insistence that the USA must rotate around our getting ancient memories of Viet Nam and flower power and “self-fulfillment.” You see, the only hope for a future American Orthodoxy is if our ethnic older members–yes and some hierarchs–let go of the faith having to be expressed with a particular type of chant or vestment, etc. And, yet, can you blame their fear that if they let that go, that the Orthodoxy that will unite in this country may not truly preserve what they fought so hard to preserve?
You see, we baby boomers have the same fear, just over different subjects. That is why the debate over Iraq had such a 1960’s flavor to it. The debates over President Obama, healthcare, etc., sometimes remind me of the type of arguments that we would have heard not only in the 1960’s, but even the late 1950’s when fear of communism was a driving force in our country. We are replaying our fears every bit as much as our ethnic members are replaying their fears.
And, so, as we build the Orthodox Church in America–no not the OCA, the real Orthodox Church in America–let us have as much love and understanding for our more ethnic members as we need to have for ourselves as well. We all have our “fear of flying” and we all express it in inappropriate ways. But, God is sovereign and He will ensure that His Church will stand even against hell itself.
Reading your post has reminded me to see this movie – I keep forgetting to get it from Blockbuster. Thanks for the prompt! And since you have seen it 3 times, I take it that you like the movie? How many stars do you give it?
I’m still trying to get past the idea that you like the music of ABBA… Shocking.
“Mamma Mia – here we go again. My, my, how can I resist you! . . .”
Yes, I am a fan of many types of music.
I’d love to see that picture (I became a “Jesus freak” in 1972, at age 14, when I was “baptized in the Holy Spirit”); I don’t think there are any pictures of ME around from that era.
Seriously, while I don’t know if what happened in the late sixties and early seventies qualifies as a “great awakening,” it was significant, and not just the “Jesus Revolution”. Charismatic renewal was also beginning to take off in the mainline churches, including the RCC.
What is most interesting to me is the number of people with roots in the Jesus Movement who are now, both clergy and laity, Byzantine Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or otherwise connected with a liturgical, creedal, sacramental Christian Community. On the Byzantine front, three prominent names come to mind immediately: you, Fr. Stephen Freeman, and Fr. Jack Sparks. Many others, such as Fr. Peter Gillquist, were on the periphery of the Jesus Movement but were very much involved with Charismatic Renewal.
What a long strange trip it’s been!
LOL, all three of us know each other. Fr. Peter’s son, also a priest, Fr. Peter Jon is both a priest and a recording artist. Fr. Jack now lives in Alaska because of health problems. There are also Fr. Jon Braun and Fr. Gordon Walker. Fr. Richard Ballew died last year. Yep, an interesting crew of people.
….i was born in 1956 and became involved in the charismatic movement in the late 70s..BOB MUMFORD..DEREK PRINCE ect.it was an exciting time but slowly i fell away ….about 2 years ago the misery of alcohol and drug addiction drove me to seek God again and just recently ive learned of Orthodoxy…now is’nt that interesting…
I can remember listening to tapes by Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, Don Basham, Ern Baxter, and Charles Simpson, the Fort Lauderdale Five. They were compelling speakers. Juan Carlos Ortiz came a little later. Unfortunately, their idea of pastoral care turned out to be quite dangerous as it led to the “shepherding” excesses of the early to late 1970’s.
….wow..sheparding…yeah that was the beginning of the end for the Charismatic movement…i still find myself sometimes thinking about some of the powerful experiences i had while “in the Spirit”…in particular i remember during certain worship services when the crowd would break-out in spontaneous “Singing in the Spirit”..it was amazing at the time…the charismatic way is not a part of my christian walk today and i dont know how to rationalize that……do you?
Fr. Ernesto may have a different take, but I, too, am post-charismatic, and this is how I understand the situation:
John of the Cross and perhaps others have noted that conversions are often accompanied by extraordinary “consolations” which are transitory. However, sometimes, a person will create problems for themselves by seeking to maintain the spiritual high by their own effort. I think we’ve all seen that.
….thank you for responding to a difficult question..i appreciate it.
P.S.: the primary congregation of my youth was part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I remember that at some point, Mansfield OH was identified as a center of revival, and, in that context, meeting Alliance people from Mansfield. They travelled all the way to Montana to share their testimonies.
Well, then, you will like to know that I graduated from high school in Mansfield, OH in 1969. Part of the revival was a discipleship center there named Grace Haven Farms, with which I was involved for a bit. One of the two men who helped build up that center is the know Very Rev. Gordon Walker, Archpriest.
Very interesting indeed. I did not know that Fr. Richard had reposed. Memory eternal! I also did not know that Fr. Gordon had once been in the Mansfield area.