Tuesday, May 16, 2023

I read a couple of articles about church recently that were not very promising.  To be honest, they were articles that were based out of the United States, so they don’t have the same impact here in Canada.  But they are still very revealing and talk about trends in society that we need to recognize.  One was an article called “The Great Resignation”.  In short it was about the huge number of clergy leaving their profession.  The main reason was the great divide in congregations reflecting the polarization of thought within society.  Much of this had to do with former President Donald Trump and his band of supporters.  Even though this article is about the United States, polarization of thought is expanding within Canadian society as well.  It begs the question about tolerance – how can we say we are tolerant and inclusive when we disagree vehemently with people who are not tolerant nor inclusive.  It appears to be a conundrum – a paradox.  I have often struggled with this myself.  How can I be loving and caring and accepting towards people who do hateful things against indigenous people or against immigrants or against people who belong to the LGBTQI2S+ community.

As followers of Jesus, we want to be kind, considerate, caring and inclusive towards all people.  Yet Jesus himself did not tolerate the intolerant religious leaders of his day.  Instead, he spoke out against them, calling them towards tolerance and inclusion.

One group of writers said something helpful.  “We need to recognize that tolerance is not a moral standard, but a social contract”.  In other words, those who are intolerant are not following the rules of the social contract.  They have broken the social contract and their intolerance should not be tolerated.

I find this helpful – especially if we think about the social contract as being ‘to love one another, to care for each other, to see each other as fully human’.  Indeed this appears to be the social contract Jesus suggested.

From my perspective, the church today needs to call people towards this way of being with each other – this way of love taught by Jesus.  But to call people to love means we have to act in that love, we have to be that love.  It means we have to stand with those who are considered unworthy by some within our own society here in Canada.  It is only when we stand with those deemed unworthy that our words about love and tolerance and acceptance will truly be heard.

It’s a heavy topic for early in the week, but I think its important to talk about these things.

On a completely different note, each November the WA involves the entire congregation and community in a large scale event that gets so many people excited and involved.  Hours of preparation and of service to the community are offered.  We open the doors wide and people come into the church to experience a sense of fellowship and belonging even if only for a few hours.  In the past we have called it the Christmas Bazaar, or Christmas Market and it has morphed over the years, always trying to adapt to the needs of the day.  This year, the WA is looking for a coordinator or coordinators that can both continue the tradition of engagement and offering gifts and abilities, while at the same time looking for ways to make the experience relevant to today.  If you are at all interested please contact the WA through Wanda Winterhalt who is the current president.   wanda_winterhalt@rogers.com>

 That’s all for today.  Take good care everyone

Marty