Three distinct streams of Canadian Protestant tradition flowed in the doors of Toronto’s Mutual Street Arena on June 10, 1925. They flowed out as one. They were doing something that had never been done before. Some said it was impossible: combining three distinct traditions, all of which were thriving. This was not a desperation move. This was not something done for survival’s sake. They did it because they grasped a vision of God. Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians blended their different heritages in something which was uniquely Canadian – the United Church of Canada. Other unions have followed – there are some nineteen united and uniting denominations around the world – but we were the first. Instead of standing rigid on their particularities they surrendered their denominational individualism for the sake of a greater whole; for the sake of what they saw as their part in God’s mission for the world.
What was that mission?
It was a vision that was soon tested in the pressures of the Depression
and the fires of a nation at war. It was
a vision of a Christian dominion from sea to sea to sea. A vision of a new Christianity where historic
divisions based on ancient dislikes and differences give way to an integrated
faith community, based on Jesus’ ideal of peace, justice and service to all,
regardless of any human-created barriers.
A church where the voice of God’s Spirit was believed to speak to all
not just a few privileged ones.
As one of the sermon subjects purchased at our congregational
auction last fall I’ve been asked to speak about the future of the United
Church. The topic is someone else’s –
the response is mine. In responding, I
am going take some of the changes – some might say the challenges – we face and
see how they might play out in the future.
Because the foundations for our future are found in our past and our
present – in those things we opt to continue and those things we choose to
change.
United Church is deeply impacted by the changing place of
religion in Canadian society. For many
decades we benefited from an unofficial alliance of several important
institutions that included government, church, business, and education. We were supported by various practices, from
opening exercises with prayers and bible readings in public schools to
legislation prohibiting many competing activities on Sunday morning to the
conviction that being part of a church was an important element in your
standing (and sometimes your job) in the community. So churches assumed that pretty much everyone
was a Christian; we just had to make them our type. While little of that privilege remains today
many of our attitudes and practices are shaped by it. For instance, when the suggestion is made
that we need to be more active in inviting people the response is sometimes:
“Well, the doors are open on Sunday morning, they can come if they want.” That answer assumes that church, faith,
worship are all reasonable and possible responses for our fellow Canadians. But are they?
There is the challenge of relevance. Once, the relevance and connection of faith
to a good and complete life seemed evident – or at least unquestioned. Today, many people believe that they can have
a full life without worrying about religion.
Parents who are seeking to do the best for their kids may decide that
swimming lessons are more important than church school. Survey after survey
reveals that Canadians are seeking communities that are genuine, supportive,
intellectually credible and spiritually nurturing. But they rarely see the church – any church –
as a resource for that desire. How do we
bring those desired characteristics, present in so many congregations, to
people’s awareness? Most people are not hostile to the church. They are not anti-church. They aren’t staying away because of us. For most Canadians church and vital Christian
faith simply are not on their radar screen.
There’s no point in our simply saying that it should be. The future requires us to be much more proactive in
sharing the benefits of Christian community.
That means working on our inviting and
our receiving. If someone risks
entering this strange place called church what happens? Are they genuinely welcomed? Are they included? Are they cared for? Is there openness to their needs and gifts?
Being church in the future will demand a great deal from all of us.
Those folk who flowed into the Mutual Street Arena 87
years ago believed that Christianity and the church had something to say to the
quality of Canada as a nation. Sure, a
goodly chunk of it involved equating being Christian with being loyal,
middle-class, English-speaking citizens of the British Empire. That’s more baggage than I’d care to
own! That outlook issued in a number of
tragic results. But that sense of Christian
faith being more than purely personal fired formative Canadian concepts such as
Medicare, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance, immigration and refugee
policies – to name but a few. The
question is: do we still believe that the message of Jesus Christ can make a
difference in our national life? When we
lose confidence in that unique story and we start to sound like any other
interest group, why would anyone bother to listen to us? Our mistakes, I believe, are
well-intentioned. We want to be heard by
others. So we bury our unique view of the world under language designed to
sound reasonable and accessible. But
Christianity is more than modern, rational and charitable. It draws us beyond logical calculation of
cost and benefit. We continually face a challenge: on the one hand we are a welcoming, radically
hospitable and embracing people of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, we cannot be all things to
all people and still be anything to anyone.
Kermit the Frog used to sing, “It’s not easy being green.” Well, it’s not easy in these times being
United Church. Some of the challenges we
face come from changes in Canada as a whole.
Think of the changes in the last 87 years. Whew! From a predominantly rural to an
overwhelmingly urban population. From a
resource extraction economy to a manufacturing base to – well, what do we call
our economy today? From a country
populated largely by white Europeans and their descendants to the most
multi-cultural and multi-coloured nation on the globe. From a country where it might take much of a
month for a letter to go from St. John’s to Victoria to one of instant
communication and rapid travel. From a
country where natural resources seemed almost painfully endless to one where we
are concerned about the most precious commodities like clean air, water, and
soil. From a country where reasonable
people spoke about Christianity being the only faith by the end of the 20th
century to one where there is an incredible rainbow of spiritual diversity
which gives evidence to the world that those with different commitments can
indeed live in peace side-by-side most of the time.
No, it’s not easy being United Church. In fact it will be challenging as we go
forward. But it is far from
impossible. I compare our situation to
the biblical story of the Exodus. If you
recall, God’s people were in slavery and Moses was sent to lead them out to a
new land. The journey was neither quick
nor easy and the final destination was not clear to the travelers. They trusted God; but not all the time. If you remember the story, there were lots of
times when the people grumbled and complained.
In fact, sometimes they said it would be better to be back in slavery. At least there they knew the rules and knew
where the next meal was coming from.
If we are in Exodus what were we enslaved to? We were pretty cozy in a society that was not
always just – particularly to minorities.
We thrived in a society that kept women, children and men in pretty
strictly defined roles. Our role was
clear and we were rewarded with full churches and Sunday schools. Now we are in exodus and sometimes people
remember fondly the days when there were so many children that the grade 5 met in
the furnace room because that was the only space! Not really, but you know what I mean! Everybody’s good old days are someone else’s
nightmare. We were successful – were we
faithful? I don’t know. I do know those days are behind us and much
as we might long for them they are not returning. We have shrunk in numbers and
social prominence and will continue to do so.
Actually, the year we stopped growing was 1965. Many congregations face painful tests ahead
and in those tests we will learn whether our commitment is to a particular
building or group of people or to the call of the gospel that is larger than
our comfort zone. If we could no longer
afford to keep this church building open, what would you do?
I believe that, in the cultural desert where different
voices compete to yell loudly and shrilly that they alone have the truth that
there is a place for a people and a church that is open to living through the
questions without rushing to the safety of easy answers. I believe, when so much popular spirituality
is personal and inward looking, that there is a place for a faith community
that combines a relationship with God and
concern for society and creation beyond personal charity. I believe, in a country where powerful forces
increasingly seek to divide us up into interest groups that fear one another,
that there is a place for a community that is willing to extend radical
hospitality to all who will come. I believe,
in the desert of our world where we are often compartmentalized as individuals,
chopped into little pieces of particular concerns, that there is a room for a
community that greets people as whole – and potentially holy. I believe our creed speaks truth about more
than purely individual life when it says: “In life, in death, in life beyond
death, God is with us. We are not
alone.” In the death of old ways of
being and in the ending of comfortable certainties we are indeed not
alone. God is with us on the
journey. Thanks be to God. Amen
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