Signs of the Times

John Pennington

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

John Pennington in The Atlanta Journal and ConstitutionAtlanta, Georgia

The Reverend Peter W. Calhoun articulates a disturbing thought: That the world teeters on the brink of a new age which will shake the foundations of life and faith.

This thought was contained in a sermon preached on November 17, [1968], by the Reverend Mr. Calhoun at St. Judes Episcopal Church at Smyrna, of which he is rector. The sermon, entitled "A Sense of Urgency," proposes a strengthening of faith and urges a more realistic understanding of God and man's relationship to God and Christ.

The following [are excerpts from] the Reverend Mr. Calhoun's provocative sermon: ...

"I am convinced that we are living at the close of an age and the beginning of something entirely new. We are experiencing both the dying gasps of an age almost spent and the birth pains of a new age. ... In some ways this new age will be ushered in violently like an earthquake shaking the very foundations of life as we know it. In other ways this new beginning will come stealing in softly, almost unnoticed like the fog in the wee hours of this morning.

"The new age will mark a growing spirituality of man and a much deeper understanding of what life is all about. Already, for those who have the eyes to see, a new church is emerging from the ruins of the old. A new science is rising up out of the ashes of the old ... Ultimately science and religion are searching for the same thing: God. It is inevitable that the two should come together. ...

"We can no longer take life for granted because of what is to come. We must begin preparing ourselves and the preparation must be within rather than external. . . . This preparation must begin at the center which is our faith. What is our relationship to God, to the Christ, to our fellowman?

"As we enter the new age we may feel as St. Paul felt, that 'we see through a glass, darkly.' We cannot know or understand all that is to come. But in the strength of a living faith we can rest assured that the time will come when we too shall see 'face to face.' "

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