Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

The closest I ever came to meeting Pete Seeger was helping to field a phone call from his wife Toshi to a small non-profit where I was working. While I answered phones, my boss and others were on a hunger strike, calling attention to the injustices of the blockade that prevented humanitarian aid from entering Cuba. Toshi reported that Pete had heard that the only sustenance that the strikers were taking was a mix of water, lemon juice, and maple syrup. They lived in a community that produced maple syrup, and Pete wanted to know where to send a few gallons.

I never met Pete Seeger, but I loved him. Knowing he was in the world made me feel a little safer, a little braver, and a lot happier. Now that he is gone, I pray for those of us who are left to find ways to fill the space he has left for us.

I can think of few better models for the church than this old leftist who as far as I know never had much to do with church. Pete Seeger lived for others -- not for his own survival, and not only for the world he would live to enjoy. His was not a bitter or ascetic sacrifice. Rather he poured out his talent and his joy on the world around him. He didn’t wait for the world to come to him. He made his way through the world, looking for people who were making change, fighting injustice, and seeking to create a better future for the next generation. He looked for people who could use a little music to inspire them. He shared his love of American folklore, and his fascination with the ups and downs of America’s past, and reminded us of our shared humanity across generations and cultural divides.

The early 21st century church is deeply wrapped up in fears for our own survival. Most of our efforts are at least in part meant to preserve some recognizable form of the church we love. Pete Seeger’s life invites us to care as much, if not more, for a future we (and the church as we know it) will not live to see. His life invites us to take our gifts to the places where new life is cropping up, not wait for that new life to come to us.

His life offers an example of doing all that with joy and with enthusiasm that is contagious and will last long beyond our limited survival.