Life happens. Lives are lived...
A VIEW FROM THE BACK PEW
By Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt
WE LIVE in a world where each and every day, we have to analyze news which comes from a variety of sources. It is then up to us to decide which news we believe to be credible, and which news may be described as being “fake”.
We tend to listen to people we trust. If a friend we know well suggests a movie, a book or a restaurant, then we may find ourselves gravitating to a point where we may go to that movie, or read that book or invest in enjoying a lovely meal.
For many people, over the years, being able to rely on a free press corps has been an essential way to have access to a reliable source of learning what is happening in the world. Although social media options and an ever-expanding variety of television and streaming services are at our fingertips, the choice we make as to where we get our news, remains in our hands.
I still love the feel of newsprint. Holding “The Waterloo Region Record” daily newspaper, or "The Huron Church News", in my hands, is a very tactile way in which I feel a connection with a news source that I can trust. The Record even identifies itself in a banner line on the Editorial Opinion page as being,” Waterloo Region’s Trusted News Source - established 1878”.
Imagine my shock and surprise when a newspaper upon which I depend for trustworthy content, printed an article on its Opinion page which read (in part):
April 11, 1954, is known as the most boring day (hold that thought) of the 20th century. A slow news day, apparently it was void of anything important happening, this according to a Cambridge University computer programme True Knowledge. (Waterloo Regional Record / April 13, 2026 / pg. A8)
The simple fact, from my perspective, is that this highly erroneous statement missed that April 11, 1954 was the day was that Palm Sunday was celebrated that year. You may ask why I have such a keen awareness of what was happening on that day.
April 11th 1954, was the day I was born!
Recently, as astronauts flew past the moon and into deep space, they looked back at “this fragile earth, our island home…”. It is the place where all the events known to us in our human history have taken place. It is the place where we have measured the moments when Earth has moved around the Sun. The calculations of years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds allow us to mark time which we then fill with activities uniquely associated with our lives. It is our unique and personal story which, in its own way, adds to human history.
Whenever we renew our Baptismal Covenant we commit ourselves to ensure that everything we say or do will be a means by which we express our love for God. Our words and actions become the way in which we live our lives in relationship with the world in which we live and with each other. The tiny tile which we add to the mosaic of the story of humanity adds to the beauty of the bigger picture.
Each day is a day when something “important” happens.
If anyone begins to bewail what they believe to be their own insignificance, they need only reflect on the political actions of many Canadians whose choice not to travel South of the border, or not to purchase products made in the United States has generated an impact felt in the national economies of both the US and Canada. Individual lives, individual decisions, individual actions, all make a difference in the world in which we live. Your life, your decisions and your actions are important.
You are a means by which God’s Love is expressed in God’s World.
On April 11th 2026, something important happened. I was aware of the love and support of family and friends who reached out to offer their best wishes on my 72nd birthday. It was apparent to me that a group of people whose lives have touched mine, in one way or another, felt that something important happened on April 11th 1954.
The simple fact of life is that something important happens each and every day. Banner headlines may not be generated by the events of the day, but that is only a result of an editorial perspective.
Life happens. Lives are lived. Events are experienced. God’s Love for God’s World continues to be expressed through us each and every day. There is not a day when there is nothing important that happens.
Even on April 11th.
Rev. Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt has retired from full-time parish ministry but continues to offer priestly ministry in the Diocese.
chrispratt@diohuron.org