The United Church of Canada is a national denomination with congregations from sea to sea to sea. There has been a trend in recent years for our individual church families to be more insular and less concerned about the work of the greater church. Perhaps the pressure of survival in a much less church-oriented society has accentuated this trend.
I have received two press releases from the offices of our General Council (head office) in recent days which remind me of the importance of the wider church. One is a statement calling for a cease fire in the Gaza Strip. The message from our moderator does not take sides but offers this reminder:"The teachings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are rooted in love, peace, and justice.I invite all religious leaders to join hearts to witness to those roots through prayer and action for peace. As faith leaders, let us demonstrate that religion is a force for life, not death, in the world."
The other was an open letter to the grieving citizens of Sparwood, British Columbia , where eight men perished last week in an avalanche.
Dear Friends, words alone cannot heal the profound grief you must be feeling. However, know that across the country many are holding you in love. Hearts are reaching out to you in this great shock and sadness you are living. Many Canadians are whispering to God the name of a town, Sparwood, and the names of the people who live there.
Please accept my sincere personal sympathies. With each news story I am holding you in prayer. And on behalf of The United Church of Canada please accept the deepest sympathies of our members.
I especially want to offer condolences to family members and close friends who will feel this loss most poignantly for months and years to come. Long after this story has faded from the news, they will be finding their way in the "valley of shadows".
The sudden loss of eight men - family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers - in any community is devastating. Like you, I live in a small resource town, and know that everyone is personally and profoundly touched when tragedy strikes.
Small towns, though, also have ways of gathering close and caring for one another. With each tear shared, each hug exchanged, each time neighbours visit or bring food to those who are grieving, may you know a spirit of great love and healing at work in you and in your community. I am praying that in these days of weeping and nights of sleeplessness you will experience God tangibly with you.
It is New Year's Eve. The year ahead will be a difficult one for many in Sparwood. I trust that in these long days of darkness, light will stand against the night, like the candles some of you put in the snow outside your church. May there be many kind souls among you who stand as lights of hope, defying the darkness.
Blessings and Peace be with you,
David Giuliano, Moderator
The United Church of Canada
Please accept my sincere personal sympathies. With each news story I am holding you in prayer. And on behalf of The United Church of Canada please accept the deepest sympathies of our members.
I especially want to offer condolences to family members and close friends who will feel this loss most poignantly for months and years to come. Long after this story has faded from the news, they will be finding their way in the "valley of shadows".
The sudden loss of eight men - family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers - in any community is devastating. Like you, I live in a small resource town, and know that everyone is personally and profoundly touched when tragedy strikes.
Small towns, though, also have ways of gathering close and caring for one another. With each tear shared, each hug exchanged, each time neighbours visit or bring food to those who are grieving, may you know a spirit of great love and healing at work in you and in your community. I am praying that in these days of weeping and nights of sleeplessness you will experience God tangibly with you.
It is New Year's Eve. The year ahead will be a difficult one for many in Sparwood. I trust that in these long days of darkness, light will stand against the night, like the candles some of you put in the snow outside your church. May there be many kind souls among you who stand as lights of hope, defying the darkness.
Blessings and Peace be with you,
David Giuliano, Moderator
The United Church of Canada
I'm glad that we are part of a national church with leaders willing and able to express our deepest thoughts and prayers.
I wonder how many of those who read the Moderator's words of comfort would cringe at "I am praying that in these days of weeping and nights of sleeplessness you will experience God tangibly with you," asking "where was God's tangible presence when our eight were trapped under the snow?"
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine having to deal with this, and I've often wondered how a tragedy of such magnitude would shake my faith.
It must likewise be hard, David, for someone in your position to deal with people whose feelings run similar to the above.
I wonder too about whether people in the midst of such a tradegy would cringe at those particular words, but I think it would be much worse to leave that image unacknowledged. Weeping and sleeplessness will be a part of the grieving process, and from my own experience a far worse thing to hear would be "be tough, don't weep."
ReplyDeleteHaving lived only vicariously (thankfully) through such terrible mass tragedies has resulted in soul searching around my understanding of God. As Ian verbalizes in his "where was God when ..." I think many would turn away, or perhaps further away, from God when such tragedy is "allowed" to happen. Looking in from afar though, it seems God (through prayer and reflected in compassion of others, like our moderator) would be a lifeline.
ReplyDeleteToday's blog seems to have morphed from a comment on begin part of a national church into a discussion on providence, suffering, and the appropriate response to circumstances we don't understand. I'm good with that!
ReplyDeleteI reread David G's letter and I must say that I feel he was both a realist and a pastor. Bad things happen to good people, which baffles us. David has served a very rural congregation for more than 20 years (Marathon Ontario) and has probably experienced every situation of grief. In addition, he has spent most of his term as moderator dealing with a tumour on his head that required surgery and chemo. He has been through "the valley of the shadow."
My experience is that people want to know God with them, even when tragedy strikes. I hope that is so for the people of Sparwood.
Thanks for suffering the change in tack, David. thanks also for finding the light in the shadow for us. An excellent frame of mind to reference when appropriate!
ReplyDelete