Under the Rainbow Bridge: A Family Tragedy
Late in 1941 three things came together:
the new Mustang, the newly constructed Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, and a
young fly-boy named Nelson Perdue. The Mustang was a small fighter plane that
out performed the Spitfire and was destined to take a major role in the war.
The Rainbow Bridge had some strong romantic connections as the replacement for
the Honeymoon Bridge, which collapsed due to an ice jam in the Niagara River.
The new bridge had a marvellous view of Horseshoe Falls. Put those two tempting
items together with the newly engaged Nelson Perdue and a sunny day in the fall
of 1941 and you have the stuff of family legends. The tragedy is that Nelson
was lost somewhere over Germany later in the war, leaving only the sparse
legend surrounding his name. My aunt lost the most, and the event coloured her
life for some time to follow. The rest
of the family barely knew him. I never met him. Now sixty-five years later I
know only the brief legend which was always told with joyful admiration,
“Nelson flew under the Rainbow Bridge!”
What comes to mind is the admonition of a
8th Century Saint, John of Damaskos, “All human affairs, all that
does not exist after death is vanity. Riches vanish, glory leaves us… every man
born of the earth troubles himself in vain… by the time we have gained the
whole word we shall be in the grave, where king and pauper are one.”[1]
What is truly important? What is it that exists
after death? Certainly if God is our one true Love, all other loves and
relationships will exist in him. Here I want to raise a very important question
for those of us in The Episcopal Church today.
Sixty-five years from now what will remain of the conflicts, vested
interests, and personalities of the crisis within the church today? The simple
answer is not much!
In 1771 conflict arouse in the Church of
England. 250 clergy who were deeply
affected by the spread of Unitarianism submitted a petition to parliament. British Statesman Edmund Burke responded: "These gentlemen complain of hardships: let us examine a little
what that hardship is. They want to be honored as clergymen of the Church of
England … but their consciences will not allow them to conform to the doctrines
and practices of that Church. That is, they want to be teachers in a Church to
which they apparently no longer belong; and that is an odd sort of hardship.
They want to be paid for teaching one set of doctrines, while they are teaching
another."[2]
Today’s conflict is only a variant of an ongoing debate between the orthodox
and those who, like the second century heretic Marcion, refused the authority
of Scripture and the Church wherever either disagreed with him.
Marcion we know,
because the theologian Tertullian named him, but who are the 250 clergy who
petitioned Parliament in 1771? Their names are lost to posterity and they are
only an obscure footnote in the history of the Church. At least my family
remembers that it was Nelson Perdue who flew under the Rainbow Bridge. Karl Barth said something to the effect that
it is one of God’s miracles that the Church still exists. For twenty centuries,
battered and bruised, the Church, the Bride of Christ rises from the ashes of
conflict and opens the door to Salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord.
From the perspective
of history, there is nothing novel, or particularly earth shaking in the
current attempts to deny the authority of Scripture in faith and practice. Roseanne Roseannadanna was right, “it just
goes to show you, it's always something! If it's not one thing, it's another!”
Of course it is. St. Paul clearly warns us, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and
to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for
the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my
departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from
among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the
disciples after them.”[3]
So what’s new?
Conflict within the Anglican Church is like
waves crashing against the beach. No
matter how many times they come in, they always recede again. In the meantime,
what are we to do? First, and it ought to be obvious, don’t build your house on
the sand. Build your house on the
rock! This is precisely where Jesus
presents a stiff challenge to today’s Church.
What is the rock? The One whom we
call the Rock says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and
does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”[4]
The rock, very simply, is the self-revelation of
God in Holy Scripture itself. By
definition, “In the name of Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical
Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the
Church.”[5] The poet John Donne said it very nicely, “The
Scriptures are God’s Voice. The Church
is His Echo.”[6]
I am well aware that not everybody wants that to be the solution for the
painful stresses within the Church today, but I’m afraid that it is, and I don’t
see away around the rock except by walking on the sand. Stability in times of
distress is a matter of basic principles firmly held. I have always enjoyed the
seashore, but for some reasons which should be obvious, I wouldn’t insist on
building my house on the sand.
The second thing we are to do is follow the
advice of Jesus who said “Fear not!”[7]
and “Love one another!”[8]
Instead of worrying over things that are out of your control, put your trust in
Him who is our steadfast love[9]
and do the amazing thing he told you to do, and “love one another.” That’s a
whole lot better than pushing and shoving and saying uncharitable things.
The third thing we are supposed to do you
already know. Jesus said, “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age."[10]
He didn’t mean for you to do it only on mild sunny days, but in all kinds of
weather, even when it’s stormy. The
secret of Church Growth is this: Go and make disciples! That is as simple as inviting people to
Church. How do I know? Because that is the way most of us came to
faith in the first place; somebody invited us.
[1]
John of Damaskos, quoted by St. Peter of Damaskos in “The Fifth Stage of
Contemplation” in the Philokalia, Vol.3
[2]
Alfred Plummer, The Church of
England in the Eighteenth Century, (London: Methuen, 1910), edited
in contemporary English, Rob Smith 2006, p. 168
[3]
Acts 20:28-31 ESV
[4]
Matthew 7:24
[5]
The Articles of Religion, BCP, p. 868
[6]
John Donne, Sermons VI. 5-7
[7]
Many places in the gospels, but for a helpful verse look up Psalm 64:1b
[8]
John 15:12 etc.
[9]
Psalm 144:2
[10]
Matthew 28:18-20
