This Sunday we are really pleased to announce that we are resuming in-person worship (and continuing with online worship on our YouTube channel). We will be following the same protocols for gathering safely that we were using in the fall.
This being the first Sunday of June we will also be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion. This will be our last Communion service until September.
The Scripture Readings this week are:
- 2 Corinthians 4:1-10
- Matthew 28:16-20
The Sermon title is United? Uniting?
Early Thoughts: June 10th marks the 96th Anniversary of the service marking the formation of the United Church of Canada. How are we doing? Have we lived into the dreams of our founders? Do we have new dreams? Do we need new dreams?
This "Church with the Soul of a Nation" (which was one vision of what the United Church could be) has, like any other human institution, been a mixed blessing. At local and national levels we have accomplished great things. At local and national levels we have taken part in deeply regrettable things. As I write this, just a few days after the news broke about unmarked graves at a residential school in Kamloops, I am remembering that the United Church was part of the effort to colonize and "civilize" the Canadian landscape. Sometimes we have indeed been the church with the soul of a nation when we maybe should have been the church challenging the soul of the nation. On the other hand, this Sunday is also PRide Sunday and the United CHurch may not have been the first at the table but we have certainly been at the table pushing for the full inclusion of our LGBTQ+ siblings in society.
About 16 years ago (based on what ages my girls were at the time) the Moderator at the time, Peter Short, talked about the United Church heading into it's 3rd generation -- counting 40 years as a generation apparently. That resonated with me because it matched my personal experience. At the time I remember writing that the church in which I was providing leadership was not the church which my grandparents became part of at Union when their Presbyterian church joined this new thing. Nor was it the church in which my grandmother had been a Presbytery secretary in the 1950's. Nor was it the church in which my parents had come to adulthood in the 1960's, and then offered leadership at a local level for decade after that. Nor was it the church in which I had been confirmed. Now I will say it is not the same as the church in which I was ordained, nor is it even the same as the church 16 years ago. There is continuity to be sure. In some or many ways is it the same, in many other ways it is very different. Both the continuity and the changes can be good things.
In 4 years the United Church of Canada will mark its centennial. Over the last few years there have been people wondering if we would even be around to mark that event. We have been getting smaller and, arguably, quieter for 60 or 70 years now. Who will we be when that century mark comes?
Are we still United? Our founders had a vision of a church that would continue to be a uniting force in Canada. Is that who we are? Locally and nationally what is our place in Canada of the 21st century?
--Gord
No comments:
Post a Comment