Page 3 - PC Issue 14 Summer 2020

presbyterian.ca
SUMMER 2020
Connection
PRESBYTERIAN
3
Connection
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MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY
Later that Same Day
PRESBYTERIAN
By the Rev. Ian Ross-McDonald, General Secretary
Life and Mission Agency
“Later that same day” is how the story of the disciples’ trip to Em- maus begins in the Gospel of Luke. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other wom- en had returned from the tomb on Easter morning to report that Jesus had been raised from death. Some dazzling strangers in the cemetery asked them what must be the most indicting question in the New Testa- ment: “Why do you look for the liv- ing among the dead?”
Whereas most of the disciples dismissed the women’s stories as nonsense, Peter ran to the tomb. He saw the discarded strips of the burial shroud that had bound Christ’s dead body. In spite of all they had learned from Jesus, his followers were dead to the life-giving news of the resur- rection. In spite of seeing the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the sick healed, the deaf hear, the dead raised, they lacked imagination. In spite of what Jesus told them about his own death and resurrection, the disciples quickly returned to their narrow vision of reality. Under the pressure of loss and surprise, so strong was the impulse to revert to what was familiar, the disciples re- gressed into their old habits. They become paralyzed and sad. Easter day was nearly wasted on a return to business-as-usual “later that same day.”
The trauma of pandemic, the harrowing violence in Nova Scotia in April, the grief we all feel at the loss of work, missed oppor tunities, cancelled events, restricted travel, prohibitions on being with people, illness, death and the exhaustion of coping has diminished us. We want to put disruption, fatigue, uncertain-
ty and isolation behind us and return to what is familiar.
Rightly, we want to return to wor- shipping together. Rightly, we want to be with people in person, travel freely, eat together, go to work and school and enjoy our activities. We want to put an end to so much un- cer tainty and the constant remind- ers of our vulnerability.
We have lost so much in this surreal time. However, the last few months have given us a unique gift. The church has learned that it is re- silient and creative. Congregations and church bodies discovered an agility that surprised them. We can see more clearly what is essen- tial and what is distracting. We re- membered that physical and mental health are also spiritual concerns. We embraced how much we value and need fellowship. We learned anew to cherish our ecumenical and community par tner connections. We proved that disagreements don’t have to impede cooperation. We woke from the fantasy of magical thinking that promises quick fixes and cures and were reminded of the gift of perseverance. We saw that we can move quickly AND do things decently and in good order. We learned that it’s okay to experi- ment, that it’s okay to not quite get it right and okay to then try something else. In many places, changes and challenges galvanized, rather than divided congregations.
Who would exchange these dis- coveries for the complete restora- tion of the familiar? We know from experience that the familiar usually feels good only because it is familiar and not because it is actually good, life-giving, beneficial or generative. While there is pleasure in recalling fond memories of the past, benign recollection easily overripens into malignant nostalgia, which is at
least one-par t
and one-par t anger at having lost what we once thought was essen- tial.
The mandated pandemic restric- tions forced us to adapt quickly to our new circumstances. Now we have time to carefully consider what to treasure from this season of isolation and which features of the familiar we can let go. There will be pressure to submit to the hector- ing voices in the church, and to our own small internal voices, that will rise and try to coerce us into get- ting back to normal and reviving all the old ways, means, systems and styles of living and being the church. However, we have a faithful respon- sibility and the spiritual resources to resist those forces. We can discard the bonds of the burial shrouds that bind us and keep us from resur- rection. We can insist that we take the time to discern what the Spirit is saying about how to shape a new normal for ourselves, congregations and the church. Answers will vary in different places. And change, solely for the sake of change, is rarely helpful, always just mischief and never wise. We will have wasted this crisis if we drift into acting and thinking like it’s just “later that same day” and do not consciously discern how to reform and be reformed.
The writer of Luke’s gospel tells another very different post-Easter story in the Book of Acts. It’s not “later that same day” but weeks after the resurrection. There, Jesus-
followers were together when they heard a sound like a violent wind coming from heaven. They saw what looked like tongues of fire resting on each of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gifted them. Instead of paralyzed downcast disciples, we are shown people revelling in a newfound energy and ability. Divi- sions and barriers were overcome, and an expansive new fellowship was formed. So exuberant were the people that onlookers wondered whether the church was drunk, even though it was only nine o’clock in the morning.
A question to consider as we emerge from this difficult time is, “Do we want to be a ‘later that same day church’ or a ‘nine o’clock in the morning church’?” The difference is that one unquestioningly repeats old patterns, risking paralysis and gloom, while the other is freed to make choices and embrace hopeful new ways of living.
Oops!
In the Spring 2020 edition Gather- ings section on page 23, we in- correctly listed Knox Presbyterian Church in the fictional location of Calgary, B.C., rather than Calgary, Alta., as it should have stated. Our apologies for the error!
selective
amnesia