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Remember: God Loves the World

 

As Bishop Anna began her episcopate,  she spoke about living in ‘Liminal Time.’  

Vocabulary.com offers this definition of “liminal”:

‘If you're in between two places or experiences, especially if you're transitioning between them, you're in a liminal place.’
Teenagers are in that liminal stage between childhood and adulthood — not always an easy place to be!'   

The Church is also in a ‘liminal’ period.  

In the January 2023 issue of “Faith and Leadership”, an article appeared under the heading of Reconciliation – Justice – Missions & Community. It was based on an interview with Peter Storey, retired white Methodist bishop from South Africa. (https://faithandleadership.com/peter-storey-the-church-here-the-world-or-itself). 

Storey, a contemporary of Bishop Desmond Tutu, questioned: “Is the church here for the world or itself?”  

Peter’s story of ministry, along with Archbishop Tutu, has been dedication to dismantling the South African apartheid regime, and rebuilding the country after liberation.           

It appears to me that we, in Canada as a country, and as people of the church, are living in a time which we can call ‘liminal.’

My personal prayer is that we do not permit our lives to be identified as a reflection of apartheid as experienced in South Africa.            

Faith and Leadership  asked this of Peter Storey: ‘what is the work of the Church in times of division?’   His response,

“I think those are the times when the Church is called to be the Church.
And very often, it’s only such times that begin to stir the Church in re-examining what it means to be the Body of Christ in the world."            

We need to ask ourselves, “what does it mean to be the Church today?”  

I think that part of our response might be: “a Church extremely different from the Church of my (our) youth.”  

On April 30th, I will mark 34 years as an ordained Deacon in the Church of God. (Nearly half of my life.)

I know this same God is calling me to a very different time and place than in those beginning years of ordained ministry.            

At the same time, I understand I am in the same camp that Storey identified when, at times, I feel unable to voice that the Church, the body of Christ, is being called to be in the world.

(I am just like the teenager standing in that space between childhood and adulthood!)            

As in “Apartheid,” our mission needs to be taken outside the parish church—away from the comfortable pews.

Often, we fear rocking the boat.  

Storey would respond: “Since when did the prophets of God keep silent just because they felt they would be irrelevant?” He further remarked, “the reason you don’t have influence is because of your silence, your continued silence, and the emptying of the Church of any prophetic content.”            

My personal challenge is to remind myself of how, often, when reading the local newspaper and listening to other media reports, I think, “This is not right.” Have I spoken out?            

The challenge for the Church is to realize, remember, that God loves the world.

The question to ask ourselves is: “are we here for the world or for ourselves?”           

Over the next few months, we as a parish and a diocese, will be challenged by this question:

What is our response to the proposal of BC Housing?            

Are we here for the world or for ourselves? 

(This is the first of a two-part reflection. Next week, we will consider—with Peter Storey—how we respond when ‘oppression feels overwhelming, and insurmountable.’)

Blessings,
Archdeacon Brian+