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“Stop, in the Name of Love”
Minister Sharon McRann
South Peace News
Occasionally, some simple thing will bring back an important memory.
Yesterday, as I approached the stop sign on the corner of our road, I was reminded of the 1960s song, “Stop, in the Name of Love”. That song has always held a great deal of meaning for me, but perhaps not in the way you would think.
In the mid to late 1960s I attended a youth retreat in Naramata, B.C. One of the most pertinent and memorable things about this event was worship.
It was the first time I had ever been in worship that used a modern day song as part of the message and that particular message was very relevant to my life and to what was going on in the world at the time. I believe the message still speaks to us today.
We were invited to hear the words of the song as though God or Jesus were speaking them to us. “Stop, in the name of love, before you break my heart. Think it over!”
Another song that comes to mind from those days and one that I remember singing on the bus on the way to Naramata was, ‘We Shall Overcome.’
This song became particularly popular in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights movement in America, but seemed to be a favourite of many who felt the need for change in various ways … personal and societal.
Again, I feel the words to this song have as much meaning for life today, as they did then. What do we need in order to overcome … to walk hand-in-
hand … to be free … to be unafraid and not alone?
Well, perhaps we need to stop, in the name of love, or God, and think things over.
Are we willing to put an end to oppression, hatred, prejudice, exploitation, abuse, manipulation, exclusion, and arrogance?
Are we willing to think about the part we play in “breaking God’s heart?” We may have no intention of doing so, we may not be aware we’re part of the problem and so the challenge is to stop and to think it over.
Have you ever turned your nose up at someone else because of their looks, their hygiene; the colour of their skin, their religious or sexual preference?
Have you manipulated someone into being something they were not, or doing something they didn’t want to do?
The other night I watched a movie entitled ‘Waltzing Anna’. It was an excellent, somewhat humorous movie about a doctor who liked to exploit the elderly. He was eventually caught and brought before the court. His punishment was to work in an extended care facility as the resident doctor. As it turned out, however, the director of the home was corrupt as well. He didn’t care about the residents; all he wanted was their money.
Some of the residents and a young nurse eventually broke through to the doctor’s more caring side and he helped them to enjoy life once again. In the end he did a complete turnaround and took over the home, making it a beautiful, desirous place to live.
The second verse of the song ‘We Shall Overcome’ says, “We’ll walk hand in hand.” Someone once said to me, “We don’t necessarily have to agree on everything to walk side by side.”
She is a wise woman and she gave me hope at a particularly bad time.
There are many churches in High Prairie, each professing something a bit different from the rest; however, our basic beliefs are much the same and we all want the best for High Prairie and its surrounding areas. In the name of
Love, can we walk hand-in-hand accepting one another in spite of our differences?
The second verse, “We shall all be free…” - free to walk down the street without fear that someone is making an assumption about us because of our race, our colour, our ability, or our creed. “Think it over…!” Do you harbour animosity to any one person, or group of people?
The third verse, “We are not afraid…!” Are we not afraid to walk down the street without being robbed, shot, or mugged. Are we not afraid to go out at night for a walk, or to go home to our spouse, not afraid that we’ll be bullied or unaccepted? What can we do to eliminate fear?
The fourth verse is very important. “We are not alone.”
The God of Love is with us, enabling us, supporting us, giving us strength, and sometimes a change of heart and mind.
“Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.”
Think it over!
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