{"id":4274,"date":"2025-09-19T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/?p=4274"},"modified":"2025-09-07T19:44:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T19:44:30","slug":"be-more-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/?p=4274","title":{"rendered":"Be more Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whilst on holiday I watched Timothee Chamalat\u2019s portrayal of Bob Dylan in A complete unknown<\/em>. My favourite scenes were around the Newport folk festival and contrast between when Dylan played the song \u201cThe Times They Are a-Changin\u201d and the crowd loved it because the style was acceptable and then a couple years later the crowd rejected his new electric music even though in few years the album would be widely acclaimed.\u00a0 Change is the one constant, a reality captured through the film and so powerfully in the lyrics of: \u201cThe times they are a-changin\u2019. In that song Dylan calls all the elders, from leaders to mothers and fathers to recognize the shifting landscape, to refuse to block the halls or stand in the doorways of renewal, because \u201cthe wheel\u2019s still in spin\u201d and there\u2019s \u201cno tellin\u2019 who that it\u2019s namin\u2019.\u201d Those who hesitate, he warns, \u201cwill sink like a stone\u201d in waters that have already risen around us.<\/p>\n

The current rising waters are echoing this, calling us to move from gatekeeping beliefs to cultivating new ways of being, that those who have eyes, see this new water springing up like wells all around. This rising tide is nurturing abundant, adaptive life, and to be rooted in Christ is to bear witness to the fruit that whispers of a Kingdom not yet fully seen. Our true telos is not in relentless self-preservation, but in flowing, loving participation in the waters of change. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dylan\u2019s \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind\u201d laments the slow recognition of what\u2019s right (\u201cHow many years can some people exist before they\u2019re allowed to be free?\u201d) and poses the questions. While \u201cThe Times They Are A-Changin\u2019\u201d suggests the answers lie in adapting and warns a failure to so will result in being \u201cdrenched to the bone\u201d by the coming tide of change thats happening now, and everyone must decide whether to move with it or be left behind. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the key to not being left behind lies in Pete Seeger\u2019s portrayal, even though at one stage he wanted to stop Dylan\u2019s electric music, he relented and made space. I love the hope that Pete holds throughout the film and how the folk scene led to the love revolution. The final scene sees Pete\u2019s hope in action through his servant leadership which shows him putting away the chairs after the festival. Hope as I\u2019ve said before isn\u2019t fragile or passive. It\u2019s a muscle, \u201csinew and tendon that flexes beneath the skin with every reimagined dream of a better world.\u201d And practically we build hope every time we give space to others to sing and dream, where as elders we refuse to block the halls or stand in the doorways and instead we serve others, put a chair away and wash the dishes.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whilst on holiday I watched Timothee Chamalat\u2019s portrayal of Bob Dylan in A complete unknown. My favourite scenes were around the Newport folk festival and contrast between when Dylan played the song \u201cThe Times They Are a-Changin\u201d and the crowd … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,117,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-faithful-improv","category-walls-to-dust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4274"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4287,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4274\/revisions\/4287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sundaypapers.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}