Pride Sunday 2016

An adaptation of this past Sunday's sermon given just before celebrating Communion and then heading out to march in the Pride Parade. Scripture reading: Psalm 139

I recently discovered the Netflix series, Grace and Frankie. The premise of the show is revealed as two women, Grace and Frankie, are waiting for their husbands to join them for supper. Apparently hey have known each other for many, many years, as their lawyer husbands own a law firm together but is clear they do not really like each other. The husbands arrive and, in short order, the men announce they would like to divorce their wives as the men have been in love with each OTHER for the past 20 years and would now like to get married because it is finally legal to do so. The show then goes on to explore the reluctant friendship that develops as Grace and Frankie attempt to move forward from this devastating news.

Grace & Frankie
Sam Waterson as Sol and
Martin Sheen as Robert

As crushed as the women are, their former husbands are experiencing moments of liberation in finally being able to be publically together after years of secretly declaring their love for one another. Of course they are sad at the hurt that others are feeling and they feel grief themselves over the loss of their 40 year-long marriages, but their joy in no longer having to suppress their true selves is certainly evident. At one point, Sol tells Robert that he feels so thrilled that they are free of their heterosexual constraints that he wants to go up on the roof and yell, “I am a homosexual who is in love with Robert who is also a homosexual!!”

At this moment in the scene I wasn’t really watching the TV. I was working on the binding of a quilt and had my head down. But these lines made me stop what I was doing and back the show up to actually watch it again. Because it struck me that at no point in my life have I ever had the urge to shout from the rooftop my sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of my partner. It has never occurred to me to do so because I have never felt it was necessary to suppress or hide that aspect of myself and so have never felt the need to declare what it is. I get to just live my life out in the open and people’s assumptions about me are usually correct.

My latest tattoo

Except for this one time recently in a church San Francisco when I was told by a fellow churchgoer that he thought I was a librarian but when he saw my newest tattoo he decided I must be something more wild. He was a bit flummoxed when I explained I was a minister. Which goes to show you how we categorize other people. Subconsciously and automatically, we make significant assumptions.

But, because I am not a homosexual or, in fact, a librarian, I do not fret about whether my  ‘lifestyle’ is acceptable or not to the general public. Because my lifestyle—how I present my gender and choose my life partner falls within the same realm of lifestyle as the majority of society. It just does. Not by my choosing but it means that I don’t have to worry about it. Ever.

I have found recently that there seems to be a sort of push back against certain kinds of awareness campaigns, reminders or declarations of equalities—like the equality of women with men, or about racism—particularly around black people—or about homosexuality. Why, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, do we need to be constantly reminded that women are equal to men when they already are? Or that black lives matter when they clearly do? Or why do we have to have a Pride Parade but we don’t have a Straight Parade? None of these things are an issue for US, so why do we need to keep harping on them? You’re preaching to the choir.

Because stuff like this keeps happening:

• university campuses have safety awareness courses on how to not to get raped but do not have courses on not raping others



Gabby Douglas with teammates

• female athletes are referred to as ‘girls’ when in similar circumstances, the male athletes are called men.
• a black 20 year old American Olympian woman doesn’t hold her hand over her heart when the American anthem is played and is then vilified in the news cycle as being unpatriotic and disrespecting her country, but a white 31 year old American Olympian male vandalizes a Rio gas station, requiring a security guard to intervene using his firearm and then the male Olympian lies about it all and abandons his fellow perpetrators to get to the safety of the States, and his actions are dismissed as the actions of a KID just blowing of steam
• despite our best efforts, women are not yet seen as being equal to men
• black people’s lives are not on par to white people’s lives
• when a teenager or adult, comes out to their loved ones, there is not necessarily a set of people who understand that each of us is made the way we are made and that if there really was a choice, it would be much more preferable to blend in and not have to explain yourself when the people you deal with automatically assume you are heterosexual and put you into a binary gender category.

This is because so many of us, even here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, live with a privilege that is difficult to separate from our everyday living. Privilege is “when you think something is not a problem when it’s not a problem to you personally.” So, in other words, if it’s not a bother to you, it’s not a bother to anyone else. And when you are a member of the majority, you experience privilege. It is not a judgement on you or a criticism. It is a fact. It is happening right in front of us:

• Olympic commentators this summer often referred to adult female athletes as girls. Who would dare to call Usain Bolt a boy? No one.



Ryan Lochte

• Gabby Douglas was so reviled over not placing her hand over her heart for the national anthem but Ryan Lochte’s criminal activities were dismissed as the foolishness of a kid despite the fact that’s over thirty years of age
• and why does it matter which bathroom people use? The irony is that fear of assault is used as the excuse to prevent people from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with but, if we were to look at levels of assault, we would quickly find that it is the transgendered person THEMSELVES who are most at risk of being assaulted in a bathroom.

We can easily think none of these differences amongst God’s people matter. A parade is not needed because we are all equal and loved by God--regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, whether we are librarians or not--but maybe we think that because it is not a problem for us. What we are in danger of forgetting is that it IS a problem.

Outside of this loving and caring faith community in which we understand that God has known each and every one of us since we were knit together in our mothers’ wombs. We believe God has known each and every one of us in our sitting and in our rising and knows our innermost thoughts. Outside of our church building, where we know that God loves us without question and we love one another as we would love ourselves, the privilege of equality is, unfortunately, not known by all people. And in our forgetting of this, in our assuming that how WE think and believe is how others think and believe, in THIS we diminish the struggle that others go through. Just because it is not a problem for us, does not mean it is not a problem for others.

And so, we NEED feminism—which is not limited to equality between genders but strives for equality for all people. The poor, the ill, the hungry, the mentally ill, the widows, the children, the lame and those left behind.

We NEED Black Lives matter because we need to remember that racism exists today. It is real. Racial profiling gets peaceful Muslims removed from planes. It gets black men shot.

We NEED Pride Parades because transgendered people have to come to our congregation to transition. They have come here because their parents, their faith community do not see what we see—a beloved child of God. They do not believe that God has known every one of us from the moment we were created. Not from the moment of our birth but from the moment of our very existence.

God has known who we truly are and has loved us fully. Fully. Without question. Regardless of gender. Race. Sexual orientation or identity. God loves us. We know this. And we can’t forget it. Nor can we allow others to forget it. Ever. And so upholding feminism matters because it matters to the girls across the world who do not have access to education or health care. Speaking against racial profiling matters because fear is not truth. Nor is it reality. Our fear can is perpetrated when we allow stereotypes to become reality. And Pride Parades matter because it is an opportunity for allies and advocates to walk alongside those whose every day living involves checking themselves before they talk about their loved ones, their life partners, their children. Before they talk about themselves, what they believe and who they truly are in the world. Before they can express who they are known fully to be before God.

We, as Christians, as God’s people, must walk out of this place of worship and always remember that if it’s a problem for others, it is a problem for us. For me. For you. Because we cannot help to make our world whole until we are whole. And we are not whole until our world whole. The whole of it and everyone on it. This is God’s call to us. Let us make it so. Amen.

SVUC congregation members marching in the 2016 Pride Parade

Resisting Evil - BRIEFLY

Before I left on Sabbatical, I asked the minister (Murray Speer) covering for me to prepare the Orders of Service for the months of July and August so that lay leaders could easily lead the services in July and not have to spend too much time and effort in preparation. And in August, when I was to return, I could spend my time and energy reconnecting with people rather than sitting in my office. It has worked out wonderfully. I have caught up with so many people in these first three weeks, I feel like I'm almost up to speed with the congregation.
My main responsibility for my first two Sundays back has been to prepare the sermons. This past Sunday, the note from Murray was "brief sermon on the topic of the satisfaction that comes from resisting evil". And I laughed out loud. A brief sermon on evil. During a summer service on one of the few nice weather days we've had here in Calgary, I was to address evil and the satisfaction of resisting it AND I was to do it briefly. So, I tried. Here is a summary of my efforts...

Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News

First of all, let’s clarify what is considered evil. In the church, when we speak about what is evil, it is in regards to a system, not an individual. Evil is the reduction of a person or community of people to one of its parts and ignoring the rest. For example, the system of slavery reduces humans to the colour of their skin and ignores their intellect. Nazism reduced millions of people to the religion they practiced or their culture and ignored what they had to offer to the world. The system of Islamophobia is doing the same thing today.

To stand up to the systems that are embedded in our society is hard. For one thing, we don’t often even realize we are even in the system until something extreme happens and gets our attention. And, when concerns are raised by certain groups of people, it can be very difficult to understand their point of view, because, after all, if you have never had their struggles or been a friend to someone with similar challenges, you just don’t know. You don’t know what it’s like.

When we DO recognize that something is not right, that people are not being treated fairly, that certain laws, certain politics, religious beliefs or movements are racist, fascist, inhumane, cruel—when we DO see what is wrong and we decide enough is enough, it is not an easy thing to say “No. Stop.” It takes courage. A whole LOT of courage. Speaking out makes you visible, makes you vulnerable. It feels scary, your heart rate goes up, you probably start to sweat. It’s nerve-wracking, isn’t it, when you say “stop”? It takes a great deal of strength, but we know our world needs people to do exactly that—stand up, potentially putting themselves in harm’s way so that those of us just humming along in our lives can be given a wake up call to whatever injustice is taking place right in front of us.

When I think of how difficult, how scary it would be to be that person who stands up first, I think of a story Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture) wrote in his memoir about teaching first year computer science students that if they were going to make an impact in the world of computing science, they had to be willing to be the first penguin. You know, that penguin at the front of the line of penguins approaching the edge of the ice floe, getting ready to dive into the ocean to look for food. Into the icy cold water where leopard seals and sea lions just hang out, waiting for them to jump in. When you’re the first penguin, your odds of being eaten by a predator is much higher than the penguins who follow you. Your odds of being singled out and people being angry with you increase significantly when you’re at the front of the line and are willing to jump into the fray first. Standing up to an evil system is like being the first penguin into the water.

We know the risks to standing up can be huge. Jesus knew the cost would be his own life and yet he spent most of his three-year ministry being that person who said ‘stop’. Who said, ‘enough is enough’—no more would injustice be accepted from the Roman Empire. No more would the Jewish leaders who were complicit with the Romans be held up as righteous leaders. No more would hunger and poverty be viewed as the fault of the oppressed and marginalized. We spend a lot of time remembering how courageous and strong Jesus was to lead the way in demanding change in his time. Today I would like to spend a few minutes remembering the people of our recent time who have also been courageous and strong when exposing injustice in our world.

Ghandi & the Salt March - 1930

Statue commemorating Salt March in New Delhi

Ghandi and 79 other Indian leaders walked 390 kms in 24 days to the coastal town of Dandi in a peaceful demonstration against the salt tax imposed by the British Government. Once they arrived, Ghandi illegally harvested salt from the edge of the ocean. His actions inspired civil disobedience across the nation, with some 60,000 people being arrested (Ghandi included) for the illegal harvesting of salt--a basic and necessary need in the tropical climate.

Rosa Parks -Montgomery, Alabama, 1955
Parks refused to give up her seat in the coloured section of a bus in  once the white section was filled. As a result, she was arrested. Her protest and act of civil disobedience caused her to lose her job. Her husband quit his job after he was told that he could not speak about his wife or her actions.

Peter Norman - 1968 Summer Olympics
When the American athletes, John Carlos and Tommie Smith won the gold and bronze medals in the 200m race, they brazenly chose to raise their hands in the Black Power salute. When one of them forget their black gloves, Norman, the Australian silver medal winner, suggested they share the one pair of gloves they did have-which is why the two men have gloves on different hands. In solidarity with the African-American athletes, Norman also chose to wear an OPHR badge (Olympic Project for Human Rights--an American organization to protest racial segregation). Because Norman chose to visibly support the actions of Carlos and Smith, he was reprimanded by the Australian Olympic Committee upon his return home. His athletic career was compromised because of his actions--as were the careers of Carlos and Smith.

Archbishop Oscar Romero - El Salvador, 1980
Throughout his ministry, Archbishop Romero spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture--particularly in the country of El Salvador. He was assassinated in 1980 one day after giving a sermon in which he called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God’s higher order and to stop carrying out the government’s repression and violations of basic human rights.

Jeff Widener, 1989

Tank Man - Tiananmen Square, 1989 
What began as students protesting against the Chinese government in the spring of 1989—demanding democracy, freedoms of press and speech--ended with the Chinese government declaring that the protestors were terrorists and counterrevolutionaries. Martial law was declared and on June 3 tanks opened fire and killed or injured thousands of people. The photo of the anonymous 'Tank Man' was taken on June 4th by a western photographer who had to smuggle his film out of the country. The man impeded the progress of the tanks until he was whisked away by someone standing in the crowd nearby.

We need to celebrate these people. These incredible acts of bravery and courage that sometimes we really understand only with the benefit of time and hindsight because we just didn’t know--we just didn’t see, at the time, that it was happening. We need to recognize what the moments when these people and others like them stood up and spoke out because when the time comes for us to say--even in a small, little way--‘enough is enough’ we can draw upon their leadership to encourage us to speak out. That we can do more than whisper under our breath. We speak out loud. We an say, “Stop.” We can wear a pink shirt, a rainbow pin, we can walk in a parade, we stand in silent protest, we can write a letter to newspaper, we can attend a demonstration, we can go to a rally, wearing a cross declaring we are there on behalf of Christianity which implores us to love one another, we can be the first in line, ready to jump in so others can follow.

And that's as brief as I can be on the topic of resisting evil!

A Letter to the Congregation of Symons Valley UC

Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her book, Eat, Pray, Love about joining an ashram in India. She explains that she arrived late in the evening and went to the early yoga class the following morning. No one seemed to notice that she was new--that they hadn’t seen her before. Gilbert compared the experience to how (apparently) a new hen  is introduced into a hen house. To prevent agitating the chickens and then them attacking the newcomer, a new hen must be placed in the henhouse at night, while the other hens are sleeping. When the hens wake up in the morning, they just assume the new hen is not a threat, because she’s clearly been there all along. The woke up together. They must have gone to sleep together.

Today I kinda feel like that new hen.
I’ve been away from the congregation for four months. Once Easter was over and done with and some pastoral care concerns were addressed, I packed up some of my office and a lot of my books and went home.

And, on Tuesday this week, I brought that box of stuff back, with my books and some extra things I’ve picked up along the way. I spent the first day and a half getting sorted with Karen and Kathy. I had to make a decision or two and was given a folder of the worship services planned for August. Karen went home. Kathy went on holidays. Before she left, Kathy said, “It’s like you never left.”

But it’s not.

I might be sitting in my office, working at my computer, reading emails, listening to music, avoiding writing the sermon, eating my lunch, drinking my tea—all just like I did in March. I may have slipped back into the office without much disruption but things are NOT like they were before I left.

Because. You know.

Orlando
Egypt Air 804 crashing
The attack on the airport in Istanbul
A coup in Turkey
Unarmed black men have been killed by police officers
Wildfires in Fort McMurray
Brexit
TRUMP

More than once in the past four months, I turned to my spouse, my friends, my Dad and asked, “WHAT on earth is going on??”

I have asked,Where is God in all of this chaos?
What can I do to make a change?
What can we do to make a difference?
What would Jesus have us do in this turmoil?
Where can we see God’s love in action?
Is Christianity relevant in a world where ‘christians’ spew hate, racism and fear?

And I remember that just because the news channels tells me the world is going to hell in a handbasket – it’s not.

There is good. There is God. There are miracles. There is joy.

For example, in the past four months these things have also happened:

Some of the things from the box I brought back to my office.

Muslims rallied for peace (such as the rally Abby & I attended in April on the steps of City Hall).

Children grew up into confident and capable adults and graduated from high school.

Interfaith families celebrated Eid by sharing a meal.

The world tiger population has increased for the first time in over a century.

India planted 50 million trees in ONE day in July.

A huge gathering of United Church ministers came together to support and encourage one another and to remember what it is about God and God’s world that calls and recalls us into our ministries.

I managed to do TWO pull-ups on my very own for the first time since junior high school.  Did I tell you I started CrossFit last year? J

Research resulting from the funds raised in the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge has found a gene linked to ALS.

A woman has been nominated for President of the United States. And if you don’t think that’s a big deal, this cartoon might give you an idea of how ground-breaking this is…

So, here I sit. In my office. At my computer. Listening to my music. Writing. Nothing’s changed. And, yet, everything has changed.

I may have slipped back into the church office while alls y’all are on summer holidays but this just gives me time to reconnect with this awesome community of faith that I have missed dearly. And to start learning what has changed for you and what has stayed the same.

What cares and concerns – the personal and the global – do we need to work our way through? What celebrations and joys can we embrace? Where has God’s absence or presence been most keenly felt? Where can we, together, show the love that Jesus, our Christ, brought to the world in his life and ministry?

I look forward to seeing you soon!!

Advent 4: Love & Music, A Wedding and Bagpipes

This fourth week of Advent began with Love Sunday. Instead of a standard service, this Sunday before Christmas has become a music service. Our Music Team of Karen Nell-Bennett and Donna Williams put together the service. Which might lead one to think that I pretty much have the Sunday off and I get to just show up and cheer them on.

And if you thought that this past Sunday, you would be wrong.

Cause I joined the choir. I am not a great singer. Nor do I do especially well at reading music. Hey - I know the higher up the note is on the bars, the higher I sing. But it took me a few tries to realize that if the upper set of bars doesn't have words and the lower set does, that means I don't sing, only the men sing. And breathing is an issue for me. I know Karen can still hear me take deep, gulping breaths of air when I'm, in fact, supposed to be singing. Singing is hard. But I digress.

Anyway, joining the choir meant that I had to be ready to sing with the choir for the three anthems that interspersed Karen's sermon that she and Donna read. (It was awesome, in case you were wondering.) So, no Sunday just taking it easy, drinking coffee, wearing my jeans, hanging out in the Sanctuary. We had to sing a lot and, therefore, sit up on the stage. I thought we sounded pretty good but I'm likely a bit biased. And a little tone deaf.

The theme of the service was Love. Karen spoke beautifully about love. (Click here if you want to read it.) Our prayers were filled with love. And then, we had a wedding.

That's right. Immediately following the Prayers for the People, I married a couple. We surprised the congregation. Very few people knew it was going to happen. The bride is an immigrant from India. The groom is visiting from India for Christmas. They are having a big Indian wedding in March but thought it would be good to have their legal wedding here in Canada. No family here. Just a few friends. Wanted to invite the congregation. I said, why not get married during Sunday worship?

And they did.

It was a wonderful diversion from the service - much like the moments taken for a baptism or Communion. I found myself a little choked up while going through the vows and words of convent with them and the congregation. It seemed to me that God was very near in that space with us on Sunday. It was truly holy ground on which we were standing.

I have no photos to post from Sunday because you can't capture what happened there or what was felt in photos. But, trust me, it was the most perfect way to spend the fourth Sunday of Advent. Awash in love from the start to the end of the service.

And then, to wrap up the whole service, Bret came out, playing his bagpipes. Amazing.
Love.
From start to finish.

Advent 3: Joy & A Standing Ovation

Some days things just line up and magic happens. In my world, I would say that the Holy Spirit was moving and God's presence was suddenly very close, very real. You can try to engineer these God-moments but they don't often turn out like you might imagine, despite your best efforts. I find the most spirit-filled God-moments are those that times that the unplanned and the uncertain flow together with the decided details and everyone is a bit surprised by the result. You can't force a God-moment but you can allow for the Holy Spirit to take over and hope for the best.

Like this past Sunday. We (the Royal We of me and the music team) chose Joy for this third Sunday of Advent. It could be argued that Love is the third Sunday in Advent but we went with Joy. For the candle-lighting we have been using a liturgy from a resource that includes the song, "Lift Up Your Eyes". It is a lovely set of readings interspersed with the choir and/or the congregation singing. BUT the order of those readings were Hope, Peace, LOVE and then Joy. The office admin who formats the bulletins and does up the PowerPoint each week, didn't put two and two together and so the LOVE reading was read instead of the JOY reading. No biggie. That's how Advent sometimes goes when you have 7 services in 4 1/2 weeks - things get a little mixed up. But here is where the Holy Spirit was moving in that mix-up...

Our congregation had three visitors at the start of our service. And they came bearing gifts. No joke. Three men from the Muslim Prayer Group which prays in our church each Friday came to be with the congregation on Sunday. They had requested to join us for our prayer time so that they could give thanks to a member of our congregation, Frank. You see, Frank was asked to build some sort of storage units for the prayer mats used by the Muslim folks because they are so heavy to cart around on Fridays. And Frank built the most beautiful boxes ever. The men said that they give thanks to Frank each and every Friday when they put away their mats.

The men came up to the stage (our sanctuary was built as a theatre) and presented Frank with a heart-felt 'Thank You' and their gifts. I asked them to remain on the stage and invited the Chair of our Board to join us. The Chair then read to them a letter of support that we had written together on behalf of the congregation. It expressed our collective frustration at the misrepresentation of the Islam in the news and social media and by politicians, political candidates and national leaders. The letter assured the Prayer Group that they are loved and cared for by our community of faith and that they would always be welcome in our church. Our vision statement is: Your Church at the Centre of the Community. We stated that we would like it to also be: Your Mosque at the Centre of the Community.

When the Chair was finished reading, the congregation burst out in applause and rose from their seats. Everyone was clearly moved.

AND THEN...we all sat down and the Advent Candles were lit. With the wrong liturgy. Instead of expressing joy in the readings, love was expressed instead, with the following words (the bold is the congregation saying the words to together):

In a world torn asunder by violence, Jesus says, “No more.”

“As it is written, a new command I give,
‘Love one another as I have loved you’.”
In a world where hurting people are too often neglected,
Jesus says, “No more.”
“As it is written, a new command I give,
‘Love one another as I have loved you’.”
In a world where another’s needs are too often overlooked,
Jesus says, “No more.”
“As it is written, a new command I give,
‘Love one another as I have loved you’.”

Magic. Mistake. Coincidence. The Holy Spirit. God coming close. God being with us and amongst us as we prayed together. With our neighbours. With our family. Thanks be to God.

Advent 2: Peace & Donald Trump

Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.

I was supposed to begin an Advent spiritual practice on November 29th. But due to a terrible and intense bout of stomach flu that made its way through our family of six like a slow motion wave of despondency and destruction over a four day period, I did not begin my practice. Because I did not fully enter back into the land of the living until Thursday, December 3rd and I am a little OCD in following the proper order of certain things like prayer practices, I found myself struggling to pick up the spiritual practice that I had ready to do.

I have, however, been thinking quite a bit about what the Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love mean to me. Particularly in these months that have known the Syrian refugee crisis and acts of terror and these weeks filled with hate, fear and despair. Where can there be hope when people are willing to bomb one another? How can there be peace when millions are displaced from their homes in war zones? Where is joy when racism, fear-filled rhetoric and hatred are allowed to flourish? What is love when Donald Trump is permitted to spew Islamophobic garbage to a cheering crowd?

In the second week of Advent we are to contemplate peace. In this month of waiting expectantly for the Christ Child's birth, we are called to remember that the people of ancient times lived under a false peace--Pax Romana. Caesar Augustus created a so-called peace throughout the Roman Empire. It was a peace born of fear and made at the end of a sword, dominating and subjugating all those in the lower classes.


In our world we do not need to struggle to remember a lack of peace that has existed in the world's history because this very day we live amongst an absence of peace--as the news and media remind us on an minute-by-minute basis. We do not need to imagine the desperate desire for an end to violence. For killing to stop. Because this, too, is our reality.

I cannot help but wonder how we, the small and insignificant individuals of the world, can end the violence. End the killing. So much of the time I feel helpless and ineffective. The Reverend Murray Speer reminded us this past Sunday that the peace the prophet Isaiah spoke about was between wild and domestic animals. The domestic stock which needed protecting from the wild, fearful beasts from afar would no longer need to be afraid. They could be safe and vulnerable with one another because one would not harm the other, will not use its power and strength to overwhelm those who have less power and strength.

The Christmas carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing tells us that peace will come when God and sinner reconcile. The word sin is a challenge for United Church folks. The concept of being sinful is a difficult one for those of us who do not want to be too quick to condemn another in the name of God. But consider that sin is not simply an action; it can be a state of being. I was taught that one definition of sin is when you are broken with God. When your actions or statements are not aligned with your beliefs and understanding of faith and God. This carol reminds us that until that until we are whole and healthy, the world cannot be whole and healthy. Until we can reconcile ourselves with God, the world cannot be at peace.

Which brings me around to The Donald. And how, my small and insignificant self can make a step towards peace in our world. How each of us can work together to make peace. Because I would say, in the midst of the Islamophobic hate that seems to be spreading like the stomach flu across the continent and world, I am not right with God--WE are not right with God--if we do not say "ENOUGH" to people like Donald Trump. We are broken with God unless we are prepared to say, "STOP" to the haters, the racists, the Islamophobic people of our world. We can only be reconciled with God when we stand up together and declare that we will not allow another holocaust in our world. Genocide will not happen again. EVER.

We want peace. We are desperate for peace. And so we say, with one strong voice:

Advent 1: Hope & Mass Shootings

This past Sunday, Hope Sunday by some traditions in the schedule of Advent, I took the opportunity to encourage my congregation to consider the role that each of us has in the coming of the Messiah. The scripture reading on Sunday was Luke 3:1-6:

He (John the Baptist) went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.

Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth.

And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

I put forth the challenge that our work this Advent is making straight paths, filling in the valleys and lowering the mountains by being kind. Which is totally radical and counter-intuitive in this world with random terrorist activity--the bombings in Paris being seared into our minds so recently. Which, unfortunately, perpetuates the rhetoric of fear that has developed by government officials, the Gun Lobby, and the media since 9/11. And which, in turn, supports the prevalent North American consumer mentality that feeds on the theology of scarcity;  we do not have enough - we may never have enough. If we believe that we do not have enough, it is difficult to be generous or to share our resources. And so we hunker down and begin to horde--our money, our food, our compassion, our power, our control. Which makes others resentful, impoverished, and desperate.  

To be kind in this world can be a risky endeavor. But our God tells us, through our Christ, that we have no other way to behave. The ministry of Jesus was of kindness, compassion and justice. Love and peace for all people. And it was not easy--for him or his followers. Nor is it easy for us.Clara Hughes quotes a native elder in her memoir (Open Heart, Open Mind),

The strength to be kind is not often asked for, but this is perhaps the most important strength to have.

So, what do we make of this Advent season that has barely begun and there are 14 people dead in a mass shooting in California? On Sunday I declared that the most dangerous person in North America today is not the Muslim refugee but young, mostly white men, between the ages of 18-30 who have access to guns. Which is not a statistic that I actually found anywhere reputable but was based on my news-listening knowledge of recent mass shootings in the States. Yesterday, two people, a man, 28, and a woman, 27, for some unknown reason went to a social services centre and opened fire. Killing 14 and wounding 21.

This was not a terrorist attack. Why would terrorists go to a social services centre to make an impact? But, the shooters have middle-Eastern names and so might be Muslim.

Like Muslim people can't have mental illnesses or psychic breakdowns. 

Christians in the States have breakdowns too. ALL THE TIME. Like the young Caucasian American who killed the church members and pastor at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in June. Or the older Caucasian American who attacked the Planned Parenthood Clinic last month. I'll bet the mass shooting in California was exactly what it appears to be--somebody went off the rails and killed their co-workers. That both shooters were in a great deal of pain of some sorts and had been hurting for some time. That help had been sought or recognized in some manner in the past but the issue(s) was not fully addressed or resolved. And that they had access to guns that have a stupid-capability of firing multiple rounds and could purchase more bullets than any sane person could argue would be needed for self-protection.

So, what can we hope for as make our way through this first week of Advent? This Advent season in which we are reminded of a time that the people of ancient Judea and Galilee were waiting in desperation from deliverance of the evils of the Roman Empire. And their hope arrived in the form of a helpless baby. That they needed to start making the rough ways smooth so that the baby could grow into adulthood and begin a ministry that showed God's people and the Empire that love will always win out over hate. That kindness and compassion can be difficult to share but are they only paths to the peace God would have for humanity and the world.

Our hope is for ourselves and humankind to be delivered from the fear that permeates our world. To recognize that our fear of losing power, control and authority prevents us from being compassionate and open. Our hope this Advent season is to be freed from feelings of uncertainty, scarcity and distrust so that we may turn to our neighbours, near and far, and love them, truly love them. As we will ourselves. So that loneliness, mental health issues, chronic pain, dis-ease, feelings of disconnection and apathy can be addressed, treated, talked about, acknowledged. So that no one is alone in their pain and despair. So that the solution to never-ending heart-ache is not in attacking the vulnerable and innocent with weapons of mass destruction. But, rather, the solution is in the reaching out to your neighbour, not being afraid to ask for help or accompaniment. Our hope this Advent season is to make kindness our default setting, so that loving and helping one another, no matter who they are, is our first response. And that no one is alone.

**And my hope is that the people and leaders of the United States take back their nation by opposing the Gun Lobby and the NRA and demanding that manufacturing, selling and purchasing automatic weapons be outlawed. Just saying.