Pride and Acceptance

Initially, I was going to entitle this edition, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, however, I thought that might lead down a rabbit hole I’m not prepared to deal with.  On reflection, I believe that ‘Pride and Acceptance’ is more on point. 

On Saturday, Lorna and I attended the Pride Parade in Charlottetown.  We had planned to join the contingent with St. Paul’s Anglican Church as we did the last time the parade was held.  However, due to unforeseen circumstances, they were not able to be in the Parade this year.  However, we joined in with others and had a great time celebrating diversity and acceptance in Canadian society today.

Despite the exceptionally hot weather (for P.E.I.), there was a celebratory and positive attitude throughout.  That attitude was mirrored in the people that lined the route with people waving and responding to calls of “Happy Pride”.  And that truly was the feeling all along the route.  I had some concern that there might be people present who had a different attitude to the communities represented in the Parade.  However, there was no evidence of that, to which I give a loud Hallelujah.

When I reflect on the current situation with gender rights and acceptance, I am truly amazed at how far this journey has come in Canada and many other parts of the Western world in a relatively short time.  Lorna and I just finished rewatching the series Mad Men here at the cottage.  For those who aren’t familiar with the series, it is set in the United States in the Fifties and Sixties in the world of advertising.  In many ways, it is an accurate reflection of attitudes in those times in the U.S. and Canada to homosexuality and women and race, The only non-white people were eventually hired in the business as secretaries; women were beginning to have a presence in the business in small ways being faced with sexism and prejudice; gays and lesbians were certainly well ensconced in the closet and if they were outed, they suffered the consequences.

Those advances have been wonderful to live through in my lifetime and the acceptance in a place such as P.E.I. which is in some ways still fairly socially conservatives, is very gratifying.  The local weekly newspaper was filled with notices from politicians and businesses wishing people a Happy Pride Week.  However, there are troubling signs of a backlash with the rise of right-wing populism in Canada following the events in the United States with the overturning of reproductive rights and the potential threat to same-sex marriage and even contraceptive rights. 

Martin Luther King noted that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  I believe fervently that the gains reflected in the Pride Parade on Saturday are evidence of that moral universe bending towards justice and I will continue to do what I can to support and walk on that journey.  May you be blessed on your journey.

Peace on Earth and Shalom

 As Advent draws to a close, we anticipate the birth of the Prince of Peace.  I discovered recently that the wonderful Jewish word for peace – shalom, doesn’t actually mean peace or, rather, It means much more than just peace.  I received a great video from Rev. Sherry DeJonge which expounded on the meaning of shalom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLYORLZOaZE.  The video goes into great length concerning the meaning and application of shalom. 

In effect, shalom means wholeness or completeness and so it encompasses the concept of peace in a much broader way than the mere cessation of fighting.  I have embraced the idea of wholeness for many years as an ideal, particularly as something which we can aspire to rather than perfection.  I have been troubled by the scriptural passages that promotes the idea of perfection particularly the passage in which Jesus says “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)  I have thought that perfection is something that no one can achieve and is beyond human possibility.

Now, many of the commandments which Jesus gives us seem almost impossible such as love your enemies.  However, they may be a true challenge but are not beyond the realm of possibility as I believe that some exceptional people such as Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi have achieved that blessed state.  However, they were not perfect.  There is also the troubling trend in some circles recently that no one should be honoured unless they are judged to be perfect, or, rather, they are without sin in the judgement of those groups.  The example of Sir John A. MacDonald comes to mind and has fallen out of favour despite being the founding father of this nation because of his treatment of the first nations people.  Similarly, I read a report that Abraham Lincoln has fallen from grace for a similar sin despite his accomplishment of holding the United States together and bringing emancipation to those millions who were enslaved. 

That passage from Matthew was redeemed for me when I read a proposition that a better translation of the Matthew 5: 48 was be all-embracing rather than be perfect.  All-embracing can be seen as another way of understanding wholeness.  As we look to the celebration of the Prince of Peace, I would invite you to not worry about being perfect (even if you were considering that) and consider what it means for you to be all-embracing of life and of others.  That, indeed, is a challenge but it is something we can strive for and it is okay if we don’t manage it – we can keep on trying because we don’t have to be perfect or even try.

Blessing on your journey to worship the Christ Child who is born in the lowly stable in Bethlehem.

What the World Needs Now is Love

 Recently, I was made aware of an interview on CBC Radio program Q (or q?).  The subject of the interview was François Clemmons https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15790034-full-episode-francois-clemmons-dalton-higgins-iskwe-judy. He is best known for his role as Officer Clemmons on Mr. Roger’s Neighbourhood.   I’m sure everyone one who was a fan of Mr. Rogers and everyone in his neighbourhood, will remember the wonderful cast of characters that were his neighbours which included of both species; human and puppet including; Mr. McFeely, Lady Aberlin, Mr. Anybody, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, and King Friday to name only a few.  It was a wonderful cast of characters, including Officer Clemmons, and through them, Fred Rogers explored the world and all the complexities which many children found to be a rather strange and a sometimes (speaking from experience) fearful place.

Officer Clemmons stood out because he was portraying a black police officer which is not so unusual these days, but definitely the exception when he began playing the character.  His role as Officer Clemmons, which began in 1968, was the first recurring black character on a children's T.V. show.  Clemmons was accomplished in his own right performing with the Metropolitan Opera and winning a Grammy.  The host did a great job of exploring the life and experience of Clemmons and it is well worth getting to know a bit about this very interesting and accomplished person.

Clemmons noted that Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood was the place in his life where he absolutely felt loved and protected which, I believe, was the universal experience of children who made up the loyal following of the show.

What grabbed me and moved me the most from this memorable life was Clemmons’ experience shortly after he joined the show. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had just happened and Clemmons was devastated by the brutality and senselessness of the murder of one of his heroes.  Fred Rogers assured François that he would address this on the show.  When François read the script, he thought it was a mistake.  He told Fred Rogers that sometimes violence must be met with violence and that was the only way to deal with people who would do such a terrible thing.  But it wasn’t a mistake.  It was pure Fred Rogers.   In the scene, Mr. Rogers was sitting with his feet in a basin of water and invited Officer Clemmons to join him, assuring him that he would share his towel with Officer Clemmons.  They share that basin with the water washing over both their feet.  The hatred and anger that François was washed away – a model of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet in my association.

Not everything about his experience on the show was perfect of course.  One incident he recounted was being told by Fred Rogers that he could not portray an openly gay man on the show and even suggested that François should marry a woman.  This did not fit my picture of Fred Rogers any more than the image held by the interviewer.  However, they were able to move beyond that and François reported that he understood the need for it given the times and circumstances, and the reality of producing the show.  However, what shone through in that was the image of them sharing a basin of water and the abiding love that was the basis of their relationship that was deeper than can be truly understood.

I do believe that love is what binds the universe together and will not be defeated by those forces that threaten to pull us and the world apart. 

Blessings on your journey

 

It is Well

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.  

I was reminded this morning of this quote from Julian of Norwich, the 14^th century anchorite and mystic as I was reflecting on what to write in this edition.  Is progress inevitable?  Is the world actually getting better?  Or are is the world actually heading in the opposite direction?  I have heard arguments on both sides of that position by people who seem to know what they are talking about. 

Did Dame Julian get it wrong?  There seems to be many signs that the world is going to hell in the proverbial hand basket.  Populist governments are rising up and the king - Western Democracy - seems to have feet of clay.  It is hard to see how all shall be well and especially that all manner of things shall be well.

Writing this I am reminded of another quote by Martin Luther King, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”   It certainly seems to be a very long arc indeed these days with the far end well beyond the horizon.  However, there is hope and (hopefully) truth in that.  People (and I include myself in this much of the time) seem to have a very limited horizon in their view of what is happening in their lives and their worlds.  We are guilty of tunnel vision whether it is in our personal lives or our vision of the world which is filtered to a great extent through social media whatever the silos that we usually turn to; currently the extremes seem to be Fox News on one end and CNN on the other, 

Counter to the rise of populism in the United States and Russia and even closer to home in Ontario, we have the reality that the world has been vastly improved for many people.  Poverty has been greatly reduced world wide, likewise infant mortality and hunger.  Much of that has come through scientific breakthroughs.  Countering this is the denial of the science of global warming.  In all this we have to have faith; faith that God’s time is not our time.  We can only glimpse a very small part of the bigger picture on where that arc of history, moral or otherwise, will take us.  If we are fortunate we will get a true glimpse of what that arc is pointing to. 

For those of us who have a belief that God not only spoke the Word that brought about the beginning of this universe but is still at work in this world, we can have faith that it is love that was the creative force which is all that binds the atoms together and is moving to fulfill God’s will for God’s creation.

I began with a medieval mystic and will end with a modern mystic, Richard Rohr, “Love, the attraction of all things toward all things, is a universal language and underlying energy that keeps showing itself despite our best efforts to resist it.”  Our part in this is to move beyond the prison of our self centeredness and to reach out in ways that seem to be small and insignificant but will cooperate with the divine plan which we can only see through a glass darkly. 

Blessings on your journey

Remembrance Day, Pacifism, and Christianity

Yesterday we marked Remembrance Day at the congregations in Port Franks and Grand Bend and Wednesday is the official Remembrance Day.  Over the years I have grown to appreciate the ceremonies marking November 11^th —the 11^th hour or the 11^th day of the 11^th month when the Great War, the war to end all wars ended.   This day honours all those who have served and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.  Reciting In Flanders Field yesterday I found that my eyes teared up both times.  The poem and all it represents has become more meaningful to me over the years. 

I was raised in a home that had an ambivalent attitude towards Remembrance Day.  My father, a United Church minister, was a committed pacifist and did not have a positive attitude to military and those who served.  It is somewhat ironic that one of his grandchildren, my son and his wife, had careers in the Canadian army.  In addition I have served as the chaplain to the Parkhill branch of the Legion for some years now and I will be presiding at Remembrance Day services again this year. 

Honouring those who served their country in times of war is not in conflict with ideal of pacifism.  How do we, as Christians today live in the tension of a world in which groups of people like ISIS and other terrorist commit horrendous acts on their own population and threaten us, at least according to the leaders in the Western world?   The West has responded by bombing campaigns which are only, it seems, a temporary measure and is not in any way a solution to this crisis.  We can and should respond to the humanitarian crisis that results from this and other forces at work in Middle East.  However, should we, as Christian be supporting an ongoing bombing campaign and its resulting destruction of property and civilian lives.  The new Canadian government is withdrawing from the bombing campaign and will concentrate on training and other forms of support.  That is well and good but what should the Western countries be doing in response to this crisis?  I certainly don’t know.

Richard Rohr has written on the ideal of the warrior in society which provides a different perspective and may help cut though much of the distortion that develops around it and speaks of the positive as well as the negative aspects of it:

It takes warrior energy to see through and stand against mass illusions of our time, and be willing to pay the price of disobedience. It takes warrior energy to see through the soft rhetoric of "support our troops" which cleverly diverts from the objective evil of war. It takes warrior energy to walk to a different drum, disbelieve the patriotic trivia, and re-believe in the tradition of nonviolence, civil resistance, and martyrdom--the way of the cross.

I don’t believe that pacifism is an answer to the current crisis.  It also seems that non-violence, such as that practiced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King will work against the likes of ISIS.  So we are left with the question of a Christian response to a world in which violence seems to be deeply embedded.  We do need to at least try to see the roots of the current situation in the injustice of the past.  The recent history of response to violence by violence did not work in Afghanistan and Iraq.  It has contributed in part to the rise of ISIS et al.  Richard Rohr also speaks about this:

In the use of force, one simplifies the situation by assuming that the evil to be overcome is clear-cut, definite, and irreversible. Hence there remains but one thing: to eliminate it. Any dialogue with the sinner, any question of the irreversibility of his act, only means faltering and failure.

A military response is, it seems, the natural response to evil in all its perceived forms.  Realistically is can be both necessary and positive as the response to Hitler and Nazi Germany.  However, as Christians we can only pray that there will be other ways to respond to the current situation than all-out war with troops on the ground. 

These thought are rather convoluted and rambling.  However, that is a reflection of my ambivalence in respect to current situations.  As Christian we can respond by supporting those who fight and have fought on our behalf and encourage our Government to properly support those who sacrifice for our country.  We can respond by support for refugees who are innocent victims of the chaos that has developed.  We can also pray for new and different approaches to the terrorist and terrorism.  Thanks be to God.