Page 2 - Presbyterian Connection Newspaper

2 SPRING 2019
PRESBYTERIAN
Connection
MESSAGE FROM THE MODERATOR
presbyterian.ca
The Journey Home
By the Rev. Daniel W. Cho, Moderator of the 144th General Assembly
“Gimme your wallet...I have a knife!” I was accosted a few years ago in- side a restroom at a large outlet mall along Interstate 79, nor th of Pitts- burgh on my way home from Virginia. It was just the two of us in there. He snuck up behind me, held me by the collar and stuck the blade at my right kidney. At first, I thought it was just a joke—maybe someone playing a prank—but as soon as I turned my head, I realized it was no joke. Now things were different. I was carry- ing over $200 cash! My immediate thought (besides being really miffed that this guy may have poked a hole in my favourite T-shirt) was, “He is NOT
going to get my money!”
The irony here is that I’ve been do-
ing mar tial ar ts my whole life, and I was returning home from an inten- sive mar tial ar ts training camp in Vir- ginia that I attend every summer. So now...I’m angry. I reacted immedi- ately (whether wisely or not) and there was a very brief tussle. It seemed the young, perhaps inexperienced mug- ger didn’t have the stomach for any-
Appreciation for The Way Forward
I can only speak for myself, but I cannot overstate how much I ap- preciated John Congram’s ar ticle (The Way Forward: Questions for the Church, Fall 2018). As much as it may disturb some, and we can- not underestimate the implications beyond John’s ar ticle, the ques- tions raised are absolutely essential if Christian faith and theology are to have any integrity. We cannot hide behind tradition (including creeds and scripture) and hope to convince the world that we have a valid mes- sage. The reality of our society is such that few people will listen to us if what we say and do is based on what the church has told us we
thing more than an easy payday, so he turned and ran out the door. I gave chase but he got away. A police report was filed and I haven’t heard anything since. The good news is, there was no hole in my shirt.
Another unfor tunate tale in my trav- els happened this past November on the way back from my moderator’s trip in British Columbia. My wife, Es- ther, and I were flying back to Toronto on the red-eye flight. A woman in her seventies was seated next to me. From the start of the flight she wig- gled, bounced and adjusted her sit- ting position constantly. Every now and then I could hear her talking to herself in an irritated tone. But then she turned to me and accused me of touching and “poking” her! I as- sured her I was doing absolutely no such thing. At one point around 3:00 a.m., while everyone was sleeping, she suddenly yelled at me at the top of her lungs to stop poking her. Then she proceeded to wind up and with all her might whack me with her elbow! I was stunned and incredulous, but I remained calm. Whatever the cause was for her bizarre behaviour I didn’t want this to escalate further. I called over the flight attendants, who did what they could to address this very awkward situation.
In both these incidents I found myself asking, “Why can’t I have an easy journey back home? Is that so much to ask?” After all, I was totally innocent of any wrongdoing and yet I was somehow a singular target of misdeed. It’s not fair; it shouldn’t be this way.
During our journey through life, the road that we travel isn’t always smooth, fair or intact. Sometimes the
road is jagged, cracked and broken. I suspect many, if not all of us, know this. And yet at times we might catch ourselves thinking that if we’re just good enough, spiritual enough, if we pray hard enough, if we remain faithful enough, if we think and do all the right things that Christians ought to, then everything will turn out right. There is a part of us that is susceptible to the belief that we are spiritually entitled to a victorious pathway, a pleasant jour- ney and a successful outcome, since we are God’s people, and so God must be on our side.
After all, don’t I have reason to expect a positive journey through life as a decent, God-fearing person? Shouldn’t I yield results in my life commensurate with the moral and spiritual effort I put in to following God’s ways?
But the reality is that the terrain of the faith life isn’t always smooth. It is marred by hardship, discouragement, pain and brokenness. This is the very picture Jesus painted for Peter, follow- ing Peter’s affirmation of his love for the resurrected Saviour: “Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go” (John 21:15– 19). According to early church tradition and apocryphal accounts, Peter died by inverted crucifixion in the year 64 under Emperor Nero. Even for an apos- tle of Christ the road was anything but smooth or comfortable. Knowing this, Peter accepted his ministry.
Jesus’ giving of himself to his dis- ciples was illustrated powerfully in the
Last Supper. Just as he was prepared to be “broken” in physical suffering and death, he gently invited the disciples to receive the broken bread as repre- sentative of his own life. As they then received the broken bread they in turn remembered and accepted Christ’s brokenness as their own. They now are prepared to minister to others in this spirit and practice of communion. Not only is this a metaphor for their lives of service but it’s also ours. Jesus calls us, blesses us, then invites us to take of himself and the bread which is bro- ken, accept the broken bread as a mir- ror of our lives of faith, then know that we can commune with others through the journey to wholeness from a place of our common brokenness. And every time we do this, we proclaim that Christ is present.
As The Presbyterian Church in Can- ada, we are called to one body, one Spirit, one faith. Of course, it would be wonderful if the road in living out this calling could be forever smooth and easy. But we know this isn’t always the case. Our journey as a church has seen its share of dips, turns, fractures and cracks along the way.
But as Jesus invites his followers to embrace brokenness—his, their own and of life itself—he also desires us to see it as a gift. As God’s gift, the path of pain, struggle, imperfec-
tion and brokenness is paved toward wholeness. There is a Japanese con- cept called, Kintsugi, which means, “golden repair.” It refers to the repair of pottery with lacquer mixed with gold. The pieces of a once broken object are held together by streams of gold shining radiantly yet meekly. The sign of repair is not hidden; rather it’s made more prominent because now the object is imbued with more value. The brokenness isn’t diminished, it is embraced. The scars of crucifixion too were not hidden but bared. They became characteristic of resurrection life itself.
As a church, may we embrace all gifts wherever they may be discov- ered. Those fractures along the road might very well provide the path to- ward greater wholeness and com- munion and inspire us all to “bear with one another in love, making every ef- fort to maintain the unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3).
extent of its involvement in Canada’s residential school saga, what should not be overlooked or left unstated, I believe, is the fact that the PCC operated a number of Indian Day Schools as well.
During the research I did for my recent book, The Regina Indian In- dustrial School: Historical Overview and Chronological Narrative, I came across references to at least seven Day Schools operated by our church for the Depar tment of Indian Affairs: two in Manitoba (Okanese, Swan Lake), three in Saskatchewan (Mis- tawasis, Sault Mission, White Bear) and two in British Columbia (Dodg- ers Cove, Ucluelet).
I do not know the specific years
must say and do. Seems to me that the one we profess as Lord faced something similar if the gospels have any credibility, at least in my thinking. Thank you, John, for the risk you took writing the ar ticle. —Nick Vandermey
Response to John Vaudry
In John Vaudry’s response (Winter 2018) to my article (The Way For- ward, Fall 2018) he makes a good point that creeds and confession are impor tant. However, in making that point he ascribes to me things I did not actually say, namely that I was advocating jettisoning our heritage and throwing our confessions over- board. What I argued for was see-
ing creeds and confessions for what they are: at best signposts along the way, not hitching posts. We should not deify our doctrine and make it more important than it is meant to be. Here I also note that both good and bad creeds can play this role. We remember that bad creeds once supported slavery and apartheid, and some still suppor t keeping women in their places and gays in limbo. By the way, I doubt that the early Christians would agree with John that “Jesus is Lord” is a mini- malist creed.
—John Congram
The PCC and Residential Schools
It was reassuring to see the good
coverage in the “Justice” section of the latest issue of Presbyterian Con- nection (Winter 2018) given to the subjects of Indigenous Spirituality, the Church’s 1994 Confession and residential schools operated by the PCC.
With respect to this last topic un- der the heading “The PCC Operated 11 Schools,” readers may conclude that this was the full extent of the church’s involvement in the school- ing of Aboriginal children during the late 19th and into the 20th century. The eleven schools identified in this piece at the bottom of p. 12 were, however, all “residential” schools, and while it is absolutely essential for the church to acknowledge the
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR