FAITH
Katie Scarvey, Faith Editor, 704-797-4270 kscarvey@salisburypost.com
SATURDAY June 26, 2010
SALISBURY POST
1B
www.salisburypost.com
Walls of peace
submitted photo
‘the Andy Griffith show’ has its 50th anniversary this year, and First baptist Church in salisbury continues to find spiritual meaning in the show.
The Mayberry Mystique B Y T HE R EV. R OD K ERR For The Salisbury Post
I miss Mayberry Sitting on the porch drinking ice-cold Cherry Coke Where everything is black and white. Picking on a six string Where people pass by and you call them by their first name Watching the clouds go by. — Arlon Smith
T
his year Mayberry turns 50 years old. October 3 will be the 50th anniversary of the premiere of “The Andy Griffith Show.” There will be big doin’s on the TV Land Network this Fall and tens of thousands will gather in September just a little north of here in Mt. Airy for what may indeed be the biggest of their annual Mayberry Days. What is it about this show and these characters that make us feel like they are our nextdoor neighbors? The show consistently ranked in the top 10 television shows for the eight seasons it ran. It has had perpetual mass appeal in its syndication and, since its debut, it has never been off the air. All that said, one wonders, “What is the big draw to this simple series about a widowed sheriff of this small fictional town in North Carolina?” Why does it continually come up in conversations when people all over the world speak, not only of the South but of a particular way of life in small town America? All you have to do is mention a loaded goat, a rock-throwing rube and “kerosene pickles” and people will immediately begin reciting lines from the scripts. Mayberry was not the product of a simpler time. On the screen the world of Mayberry was where everybody went to church on Sundays and then
went home to eat roast beef or fried chicken. It was where even 8-year-olds like Opie Taylor could walk home from school by himself and even drop by Walker’s Drug Store to ask Miss Ellie to fix him an ice cream cone or where a big day for Barney was going to the picture show in Mt. Pilot after supper at the Bluebird Diner. Despite the homespun and folksy quality of the show, the times that birthed the series were tumultuous. Mayberry’s problems and stressors were anything but the problems and stressors that most faced in the 1960s. Just look at the events of the two weeks following the show’s premiere: The next day Eastern Airline Flight 375 crashed moments after takeoff from Boston, killing 62 of 72 people on board. In a famous protest, Nikita Krushchev removed his right shoe and pounded it on a table at the United Nations in a heated debate on the Soviet Union’s policy in Eastern Europe. Madelyn Murray withdrew her 14-year-old son from Woodbourne Jr. High rather than allowing him to continue to participate in the daily Bible reading, sparking a series of constitutional dilemmas. A bomb exploded in Times Square, injuring 33 people. It was the third such attack in 11 days More than 3,000 people were killed in Bangladesh in a tsunami. In Atlanta, the Rev. Martin Luther King was arrested along with 280 students for taking part in a lunch counter sit-in at Richs Department Store. The show was not so much about reflecting or projecting reality. The serenity of Mayberry was seemingly uninfluenced by the hardness of the day. Mayberry was like the eye of a hurricane, a place of calm and tranquility in a world of seismic social changes. Mayberry was not an escape as much as it was a place of sanctuary. The show never hid
Mayberry was like the eye of a hurricane, a place of calm and tranquility in a world of seismic social changes. the fact that people could be petty and cruel, insecure and even heartless at times. There was pride, prejudice and poverty seen in the episode “Opie’s Charity.” The character of Malcolm Tucker reminded us of the danger of stress and hurry. Anger and rebellion were the themes of “Opie and the Spoiled Kid.” In the most serious episode of the entire eight seasons “Andy on Trial,” disrespect for authority and revenge was evident when J. Howard Jackson ordered Jean Boswell to go to Mayberry and dig up all the dirt on the sheriff. Unemployment and financial difficulties were at the heart of “Andy Forecloses” as Ben Weaver demands Andy serve an eviction on Lester Scobey and his wife Helen so that he could use the property as a warehouse for his department store. The weekly visit to Mayberry was like going home to a place we had never been before. It really never existed, except in our hearts. It was like ‘the good old days’ that never really were. It existed not so much in memory but in myth. Myth reminds us that there is a truth beyond reality, that there is a world or at least a time, when we can be truly human. It is a call to remind us who we really are, or could be. Andy was imperfect though wise, Barney was insecure yet compassionate. Aunt Bee proved to be headstrong yet merciful. Though hardly Milton or Tolkien, the writers crafted the scripts more like parables than allegories. The Mayberry Myth dances the edge between childish and child-like; it is simplicity without being simplistic, morality without the sermon. While it may be easily dismissed as escapism, that would not explain the enduring nature
of the adventures of Andy, Barney, Floyd and Gomer. The Mayberry Mystique is not so much about the place but a time. Mayberry is timeless — not “once upon a time” like a fairy tale or “once beyond time” like science fiction, but “once in time.” Mayberry is about the triumph of character over circumstance in the midst of our human frailties and fables. It is the moment when we can hope in the essential humanity of our neighbors as they can count on us. It is the moment when we can forgive others for not living up to our expectations of who they should be. It is the moment when we are humble enough to laugh at ourselves. And when you find yourself with others in those moments – Tell ’em Goober says ‘Hey.’ • • • First Baptist Church in Salisbury has a summer series underway titled “Mayberry Revisited: The Gospel According to Andy.” Sessions are Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. in the First Ministry Center. Each session includes an episode of the original black and white programs as a “parable” for teaching biblical truths. There will also be trivia contests featuring church members dressed as the Mayberry characters to begin the studies at 6:15 p.m. The next big event in the series is on Wednesday, July 14, when Jeff Branch from Charlotte and the Mayberry Sheriff’s car will visit. Jeff does an impression of Howard Sprague (from the later episodes) all over the country. For more information contact the Rev. Rod Kerr at First Baptist, 704-633-0431.
“May there be peace within your walls… Peace be within you.” (Psalm 122:7-8) In 1979, the British rock group Pink Floyd released its classic album “The Wall.” This effort was a bold step for these artists who dared to tell an eccentric and uncomfortable KEN story about an REED overprotective mother, her inward turning son, along with the horrors of war and life itself. Song after song draws a singular picture of this young son as he slowly and methodically builds a “wall” around himself: a wall of protection and peace, a wall containing his anger and pain, a wall that is his and his alone. In the live concert performance of this story, a giant wall is built slowly (brick by brick) between the band and the audience. As the concert marches toward a conclusion, the barrier is fully in place. Then, during the last song, the wall crumbles. With all the drama of a summer thunderstorm and the symbolism of a new beginning, the musicians and singers are reintroduced to the audience. The wall is no more. Psalm 122, originally written to celebrate Jerusalem’s status as the house of the Lord, is offered as a prayer of peace within the security of the gates and walls of the holy city. This psalm has recently become a favorite of mine because the writer of this most holy prayer also speaks a word of peace in a way that touches us inside walls we create and walls that are created for us. Prior to surgeries, amid transitions and uncertainty, when difficult decisions are weighing heavy, when waves of anxiety crash within our hearts, I have found this psalm as a soothing prayer for those who are seeking peace of any kind (regardless of the existing wall). This ancient prayer of peace applies the ointment where it’s needed most. “May there be peace within your walls and security in your citadels. For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ (verses 7-8). Some walls are created by hands we cannot control: evidence of a broken, imperfect world. Some walls are created by our own hands: poor choices on our part (sin) and the reluctance to right our wrongs. Praying the holy words of Psalm 122 is a personal yearning for peace within our walls of sickness and disease; peace within our walls of loneliness and fractured relationships; peace within our walls of addiction and abuse; peace within our walls of sin and darkness; peace within our walls of forgiveness and healing. More than ‘peace’ is spoken here. It is God’s peace. A peace that comes as a gift from the one who created us. Our Lord Jesus Christ has broken down the wall of sin and dismantled the barrier that once separated us from God. In his death on the cross, we have received real peace in the forgiveness of our sins. And in his resurrection we receive real peace in the opportunity of a renewed life now that reflects Christ and, ultimately, eternal life with Christ. Regardless of the walls around us, we have the sure and certain hope of a Savior who offers peace within. May peace be within you and within your walls. Truly, that peace has found us in Jesus Christ. The Rev. Ken Reed is the pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in China Grove.