Page 2 - Presbyterian Connection Newspaper

2 fall 2017
presbyterian
Jesus was always the guest
Continued from page 1
people in order to impose his rule on them.”3
The image of Jesus presented by the missionaries and colonizers was of a Jesus who had come to conquer them. The rule of Jesus looked ex- actly like the rule of western Europe. The cross, rather than being seen as the place where God’s Messiah was crucified for the sin of the world, was presented as the triumphant sign of an expansionist empire. Sound familiar?
Udoh sees his work as an attempt to experience Christ differently, to lay out a different vision of Jesus, a dif- ferent way of understanding how Je- sus comes into our lives as Lord, a different way of understanding how Jesus moves in and across cultures. Through a biblical lens, argues Udoh, we see that Jesus comes to us as
guest. He comes to us as a friend, and enters our lives, our churches and our cultures at our invitation; to accom- pany, to heal, to reconcile, to save.
Revelation 3:20 sets this out pow- erfully in the words of Jesus to one of the seven churches in Asia Mi- nor: “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with them and they with me.”
Udoh suggests that the church, if it is truly the church of Jesus, should understand itself as a guest in the culture. The church in general, and our own Presbyterian Church in Canada in particular, likes to be the host. We’re a settler church; we have been part of the culture that settled in other people’s lands. We like to be in control; to plan the party, to set the invitation list, to “reserve” the place,
even to provide the food. Because if we are the hosts we can control what happens; we can control the mes- sage—the gospel. We can present Jesus on our own terms, and we can control how people respond as guests in “our” home, and exclude them if they do not conform to our image of who Jesus is and who Je- sus embraces.
The Presbyterian Church in Can- ada, if it is going to become a truly post-colonial church, if it—if we— are going to move toward recon- ciliation with Canada’s Indigenous people, we may wish to rethink our identity in Canada. Perhaps we need to think of ourselves as guests in this land. Perhaps we are being called to listen to the welcome of Canada’s Indigenous people; a gracious hos- pitality that continues to be extended
despite the sins of the past. Listening may also provide clues
about what it will mean to be the church in a post-Christendom, post- colonial and secular age. The Jesus we proclaim as Lord was, and is, and always will be, the guest—the same yesterday, today and forever. His earthly ministry was a three-year healing and reconciliation tour. Serv- ants are not greater than their master. Amen.
Notes
1 The first two paragraphs are an expanded and edited version of the invitation to the Lord’s Table written and used by the Iona Community in Scotland.
2 Enyi Ben Udoh, Guest Christology: An Interpretive View of the Christo- logical Problem in Africa. Frankfurt
am Main: Peter Lang, 1988. I am indebted to Roland De Vries and Au- gustus Oku for drawing my attention to the work of Professor Udoh.
3 Ibid.pp.74–75; see also pages 14–15, where Udoh sets out the purpose of his work: “[T]his project is an attempt to lay a foundation for a solid and creative Christology for Africa. It is an effort to interject a different form of understanding of Jesus Christ in our lives in a way which might stimulate a better un- derstanding of ourselves and of what God is doing in the world through the witness of Jesus Christ. If this work could generate such interest toward God and his Word, such a desire to welcome Jesus in as our guest, our kin, and our Lord [over time and in deepening encounter], then it would have succeeded in its purpose.”
Connection
presbyterian.ca
“It is a wonderful vision. It is a vision we both want to be part of.”
Continued from page 1
It was clear to us as we visited former Presbyterian-run residential schools and current Presbyterian Native Ministries that the problems Indigenous people and settlers are facing on our journey toward recon- ciliation have existed for generations. While we would all love to see a mi- raculous quick fix, it was painfully obvious that there are years of heal- ing and reconciliation ahead of us. So what better plan than for those alive today to work together for the benefit of those to come?
Healing and reconciliation won’t be easy. It wasn’t always easy being on the tour together. It was very emo- tionally draining sometimes to hear stories of children taken away from parents while we sat there, mother and child. However, on one of our early stops on the tour in Kenora, an elder named Nancy Morrison spoke to us and said how happy she was that we were there together. She spoke to Stephen about her hopes for the future and of how he and her grandchildren and great-grandchil- dren would work together to bring healing into reality because that is the Creator’s plan. It is a wonderful vi- sion. It is a vision we both want to be part of. We hope and pray that others do, too.
Cathy Lindsay spent time with the tour group in Kenora, Ont. She fol- lows the traditional ways of the Ojibwe Nation and is an activist working to address family violence and addictions issues.
Smudge lit1. Prayers lifted. Sharing my truth in the spirit. First, some of us struggle with the words. I include myself as I understand what some fellow Anishinaabe2 have shared with me. How does one reconcile
tion and participated willingly. Many thanks for your truths, tears, smiles and for laughing with us from time to time. We strive to live good lives while facing and trying to defeat the “demons” within us and around us. Always, there’s hope that the vision of One People will arise.
1 Smudging is a traditional Anishi- naabe way of cleansing the mind, body and spirit with the four sacred medicines: tobacco, cedar, sage and sweetgrass.
2 Anishinaabeg is the Ojibwe term for all First Nations people. Anishi- naabe is singular for Anishinaabeg.
3 Chi’miigwetch is Ojibwe, mean- ing “big thank you.”
Joan Smith is the Clerk of Session at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Port Hope, Ont., and the Treasurer of the Women’s Missionary Society.
When The Presbyterian Church in Canada announced the Healing and Reconciliation Tour, I eagerly applied to go. I felt that it would be a culmi- nation of the life-changing journey that I’d begun in 2012 when I had attended my first national Truth and Reconciliation Commission event. I would have the honour to once again listen to many heart-wrenching sto- ries. I would have the opportunity to see the two memorials at the sites of Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School and the abandoned building that was once Birtle Residential School. And I would have the experience of being with others and reflecting on what we had seen and heard.
However, as we travelled, I soon realized that this was not an ending to my journey, but only the beginning. I learned that healing can only be ac- complished when we say that we are
sorry and when we follow through on our actions. Reconciliation can only happen if we remember and accept in our hearts what Terry, one of the elders at Birdtail, Manitoba, said: “It
is worthwhile to reconcile!”
We must all work together to bring
about reconciliation; we are respon- sible for making necessary changes to make sure that this happens.
Malawi Mission Trip
April 8 – 26, 2018
Led by the Rev. Joel Sherbino, PCC Malawi Liaison, this trip will:
u Visit and encourage PCC mission partners
u Worship and fellowship with Presbyterians in Malawi
u See PWS&D’s maternal and child health programs, funded in part by the Government of Canada
u Learn how the prison ministry supported by Presbyterians Sharing is changing lives
u And much more!
Space is limited.
Applications will be accepted until December 1, 2017.
For more information go to presbyterian.ca/missiontrips or contact:
Matt Foxall, Mission Trip Coordinator mfoxall@presbyterian.ca 1-800-619-7301 x259
The Rev. Tom Billard with Binesikwe (Thunderbird Woman) Cathy Lindsay, an Indigenous elder, at Kenora Fel- lowship Centre in Kenora, Ont.
when there never was a union with churches in the past? An apology is an expression of regret. It is wise not to apologize on someone’s behalf, although the intent is understood. Personally, allowing the Creator to pass judgement on those who have harmed me is enough for my spirit, so that I may move forward.
Reconciliation in terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commis- sion means to me in the simplest of terms, to meet on common ground, to sit in council, and to accept the vision of becoming one people that was given to our Anishinaabeg long ago. I am reminded of the wisdom of Chief Dan George: “Where no one intrudes, many can live in harmony.”
Out of respect for our visitors and new friends from Presbyterian churches, I say Chi’miigwetch3 for travelling a great distance to seek truth from our elders, street people and the patrons of our Kenora Fel- lowship Centre and joining us on tour within Treaty #3 Territory and hon- ouring our monuments and histori- cal sites. You heard the Calls to Ac-