The cost of community
I was going to write about something else this week but on Wednesday when I sat down to write, the world changed. First, I heard that Gord Downie, front man for the iconic Canadian band The Tragically Hip, died of brain cancer. If you’ve paid attention for the last couple of years, you know he showed great courage by inviting us all to walk with him on his painful final journey. Dying is often something we keep very private but Downie showed us how much you can live and give to the community, the whole nation, even when you’re dying. With many others I feel sorrow now he’s gone.
Then a couple of hours later my heart was surely broken when news of the death of volunteer firefighter James Hargrave was announced. I only met James once or twice but I know he is part of a family that has given so much in community service to this region over many years. My heart breaks for his family in this moment of unanticipated tragedy. I also feel for his neighbours in Cypress County because I’ve lived in communities which depend on volunteer firefighters. In a town not too far from Bobcaygeon, celebrated in Gord Downie’s famous song, I watched neighbours suit up for the risk, with courage and concern, often at the most inconvenient times, to put their lives on the line for others just like James Hargrave did. These brave men and women, and their loved ones, pay the cost of sustaining communities worth living in, a debt few of us even try to repay.
Two courageous men, two different ways to serve neighbour and nation, two precious lives to be honoured in gratitude in this moment of loss. For me they embody in different ways the costly commitment which is required for Canada to thrive as a network of communities. They found different ways to live out the love of neighbour Jesus demonstrates at the heart of his life and his teaching. He said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” He died to show us how serious he was. Yet sometimes I worry that Canadians are losing the willingness to pay the cost that sustaining good communities requires. We complain about taxes — yet taxes pay for the services we all depend on. We complain about things that aren’t getting done — but do we consider how we can offer ourselves to get something accomplished? Gord Downie sang about a Canada where relationships and the values that sustain them matter. James Hargrave paid the ultimate price for protecting neighbours whose lives and livelihoods mattered to him. The next time you feel a complaint about our community niggling in your soul, remember these men, their courage and their commitment. What cost are you willing to pay to honour your neighbours and make our community stronger? There isn’t just one way to contribute to the cost, as Jesus’ ministry showed. But he showed that risk and courage are always required.
Rev. Dr. Nancy Cocks is a Presbyterian minister, born, raised and retired in Medicine Hat.