To Remember and Persevere

 

God of hope and love,
Today we stand somewhere between peace and joy,
unsure where to find them
in a world where women continue to be subject to violence
because they are women, because they are Indigenous.
Today it is hard for us to imagine the lamb and the lion together,
to know that our hearts will rejoice at the arrival of justice.
And yet we persevere.
We remember, and we persevere.

—an Advent prayer by Sara Stratton, written for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and in honour of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

A couple of weeks ago we chanced upon these two lovely women as we entered the Belleville Library. As you can see they were raising awareness about all forms of misogyny including intimate partner violence. We let them know that our sign was already on the lawn and we let them know our connection with one of their group who is a key person in the Trenton United Church congregation. One of them mentioned that this cause is personal because a beloved member of her family had not survived partner violence. 

For many years, 14 lights have shone skyward during a vigil honouring the victims of the Polytechnique attack. Last year, a 15th beam was added in memory of all murdered women. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press - image credit)

Today is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and there will be vigils held in communities across the country, including Montreal where a total of 14 women were murdered in the anti-feminist attack in the Ecole Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989. I took part in my first such vigil a couple of days after this terrible event. This was half a lifetime ago for me and at the time we had two young daughters. 

The massacre led to tighter gun laws in Canada and greater awareness of violence against women yet In 2024 187 women and girls were violently killed in Canada. Since 1989 the term "femicide" has become more widely used and many communities have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. As well, different levels of government have dedicated more resources to this scourge. And yet...

For a decade Ruth worked in a shelter for vulnerable women and children and one of her projects was visiting schools to talk to teen boys about what it means to be male and the importance of respect for women. Since those days the level of misogyny online has grown exponentially, included the INCEL movment that led to a mass killing of women in Toronto. 

We need to be vigilant not just today but all through the year. Ruth found that while some Christian congregations, including the one I was serving at the time, were open to hearing about the work of the shelter some clergy were not interested, some even claiming that this wasn't an issue in their churches.  

We can't forget about what happened in 1989 and what continues to unfold every day in this country. We too can remember and persevere. 

Advent Turtles...Really!

 On Giving Tuesday we were awash with requests for donations from really worthy causes and organizations, some of them three or four times in the day. By nightfall it felt like "enough already!" 

I suppose the strategy does work because we did make a contribution to the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre because, well, we love turtles and the health of turtle populations is a strong indicator of ecological health in an area. When we paddle from Spring to Fall we see painted, blandings, and snapping turtles and it always makes me happy. 

It turns out that the first page of the new children's edition of the All Creation Waits Advent resource features a painted turtle with a thoughtful reflection on hibernation, a state some of us may feel like entering during these gloomier days. I realized that the first iteration of this book also contained a turtle image. 

I do wish that there were references to turtles and tortoises in the bible, although the Hebrew scriptures takes a dim view of reptiles, so perhaps it's just as well. Dissing them as "unclean" might break my heart. I would much rather give them an exalted place in Creation. I do like the notion of the blessed Advent Turtle, although it may be little confusing. 

                                   Turtle image from All Creation Waits, illustrated by David G. Klein

The Statistics on MAID in Canada

The annual federal report on Medical Assistance in Dying has been released and the findings are worth considering. 

It will soon be a decade since Canada passed legislation permitting MAID. Not long before this historic decision in 2016 the congregation I served hosted one of the co-chairs of the joint committee of Parliament and the Senate which brought recommendations before the House. Rob Oliphant is a Member of Parliament and a United Church minister and we've known one another for nearly half a century. The event was open to the public and about 100 people showed up on a hot Friday evening on the long weekend in May. 

This group of mostly senior citizens was suprisingly receptive to what was shared with them, as were participants in a study group on Palliative Care and MAID, again mostly seniors, which we offered at Trenton UC a few years ago. Most of us oldsters get it that we're going to die and we've seen enough lingering and suffering along the way that we at least want to have the conversation about how the end comes. 

There are Christians who feel that any form of "euthanasia" as some choose to call it, is wrong in all circumstances, even though that term means, ironically, "good death." You may recall the Western Canada Roman Catholic bishop who instructed priests in his diocese to withhold the rite of burial from the families of those whose loved ones chose MAID. I still seethe about that monstrous directive and hope the priests ignored it. 

The United Church has been criticized for partially supporting Medical Assistance in Dying with provisos that this shouldn't include those with mental illness and that we provide societal  safeguards for the vulnerable along every support possible for those who are poor and desparate. The UCC has also been criticized for offering prayers of discernment and support for those making decisions about MAID that don't fit the "never, ever" narrative. 

The annual report was helpful in providing statistics about trends and realities. By far the majority were in their late 70s or older and with illnesses that were terminal. The percentage of Canadians dying by MAID appears to be plateauing. 

Why do some people feel that it is compassionate or the "will of God" that society insists these people prolong their lives? While I still have considerable concerns about MAID I sat at the bedsides of many individuals who longed for the end. At times it seemed unnatural and even cruel that they were being kept alive by extraordinary measures. 

As Christians we can continue to prayerfully consider the moral and ethical implications of choosing death and figure out how we can be a part of that conversation in meaningful ways. 

I have looked at the report itself and I'll share an excerpt from a CTV article with key information:

In 2024, 16,499 people received MAID — a figure that represents about five per cent of all deaths in Canada.

That figure was up 6.9 per cent over 2023, when 15,343 people received assisted death. The number of MAID cases grew by 15.8 per cent between 2022 to 2023.

Another 4,017 people who requested an assisted death in 2024 died before they received MAID, and 1,327 requests were deemed ineligible.

In order to be considered eligible, a person must have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.”

The report identifies some trends in who is choosing assisted dying, and why.

The median age of those who chose MAID last year was 77.9 years. Cancer was the most frequently cited medical condition, affecting more than 63 per cent of MAID recipients. The most common types of cancer cited were lung, colorectal, pancreatic and hematologic.

About 450 people who received assisted death were diagnosed with the neurodegenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Around 74 per cent of people who received MAID accessed palliative care first.

Health Canada also analyzed the socio-economic status of people who received assisted death, and found that “people who receive MAID do not disproportionately come from lower-income or disadvantaged communities.”

It did find that MAID recipients were less likely to live in remote locations and the report noted that may reflect challenges in accessing health services in remote parts of the country.

“Overall, the report suggests that eligible people across Canada are accessing this end-of-life option appropriately and that reports of disproportionate access by those who are disadvantaged are not supported by the data,” said Helen Long, the CEO of advocacy group Dying with Dignity.

More than 95 per cent of those who had an assisted death last year had a condition that made their deaths “reasonably foreseeable,” the report said.

Just 4.4 per cent were “track 2” MAID patients — people whose deaths were not deemed to be foreseeable but who said they were suffering intolerably.

Our Technology & Seeking Silence

 

 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”  He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.”  And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Mark 1:35-39 NRSVue

 But when the one who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with any human,  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterward I returned to Damascus.

Galatians 1: 15-17 NRSVue The Apostle Paul

Back in July I wrote about a CBC Radio segment from tech reporter Manjula Salvarajah on Appstinance, the encouragement to reduce or eliminate online life. This might be for a few hours, a day a week, during a focussed retreat, or by getting a "dumb phone" to replace the supposedly smart one. It is essentially a form of fasting and the piece was well presented.

A few days ago Manjulah returned with a related theme, this time seeking out silence in a world where every moment can be filled with noise and sound. While noise-cancelling technology has become very advanced we often choose to tune out extraneous noise while filling the void with podcasts and music. We can stave off boredom and be entertained, but we're never alone with our own thoughts. 

There wasn't anything overtly spiritual about either of these segments but they speak to a hunger in a society where social media have an almost god-like power over our lives. I heard portions of this silence piece three times thanks to Metro Morning, Ontario Morning, and Fresh Air on the weekend and chose to keep listening to the latter two. After the Ontario Morning broadcast the host of the program and the news readers chatted about their own choices for silence, important for two of them. 

I've been on a number of silent retreats through the years in monasteries, convents, and in the Silence House at Taize. Not in recent years, although I still crave the disconnection and the gift of silence. While I travelled thousands of kilometres for these experiences in many beautiful settings, just disconnecting at home or on a walk or paddle can be so beneficial. 

In most major religions there are invitations to "retreat", to fast, and to seek out silence for the good of the soul. In those experiences we may be better attuned to the presence of God the Creator, the Redeemer, and Sustainer. The gospels tell us that Jesus and the apostle Paul spent preparatory time apart before their ministries and Jesus cultivated silence amidst the press of need in each day.  

Way back in 2010 the term "Tech Shabbat" was coined by Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg as a day of rest from the use of all technology, including television. It was based on the traditional Jewish Shabbat or sabbath. 

We need these reminders along the way silence is golden, and good for the body, mind and soul. And maybe we'll cast out some demons in a world that often seems possessed by them these days!

The Mona Lisa of Illustrated Bibles?

 Dan Brown managed to fanagle the world into being obsessed with the painting known as La Gioconda or the Mona Lisa through his thriller novel The Da Vinci Code. I first perused this early 16th century portrait as a 19-year-old, more than half a century ago, when it was a painting on the wall in the Louvre along with a number of others. No protective glass, security guards, line-ups, or selfies. 

The Mona Lisa was considered a masterpiece then, as now so maybe it's not surprising that an illustrated bible from roughly the same era has been described as the "Mona Lisa of illuminated manuscripts." It is a catchy way of emphasizing the beauty of this work, although to my mind it is comparing apples and oranges. 

The "illuminations" are the exquisitely painted illustrations in bibles and breviaries and books of hours that were often created to demonstrate the wealth of the donor or owner with a little piety thrown in. In many cases they were created in monasteries and convents by nuns and monks who were skilled scribes and artisans. Their work was an act of devotion and a source of income for communities of faith. 

.Here is a description of a display of the Borso D"Este Bible during this Vatican Jubilee Year in Italy and the Vatican:  

 A 15th-century Bible which is considered one of the most spectacular examples of Renaissance illuminated manuscripts went on display in Rome on Thursday as part of the Vatican's Holy Year celebrations.

The two-volume Borso D'Este Bible, which is known for its opulent miniature paintings in gold and Afghan lapis lazuli, was unveiled in the Italian Senate, where it will remain on display until Jan. 16.

The Bible is usually kept in a safe at a library in Modena and is rarely seen in public. It was transported to Rome under heavy security and its arrival in the Senate was televised, as workers hauled two big red crates from an unmarked van and then extracted the volumes, which were covered in bubble wrap.

The Bible, commissioned by Duke Borso D'Este, was created between 1455 and 1461 by calligrapher Pietro Paolo Marone and illustrators Taddeo Crivelli and Franco dei Russi. The Italian Culture Ministry considers it one of the highest expressions of miniature art "that unites sacred value, historic relevance, precious materials and refined aesthetics."

It will remain behind humidity-controlled plate glass during its Roman sojourn, but visitors can "read" it digitally via touch screen displays featuring ultra-high-resolution images.

Alessandra Necci, director of Gallerie Estense in Modena, where the Bible is usually kept, describes it as the "Mona Lisa of illuminated manuscripts" because of its exquisite artistry and religious inspiration.

I am fascinated by illustrated bibles whether ancient (Book of Kells) or modern (St. John's Bible.) It's wonderful that the Borso D'Este Bible will be shared with the world, at least for a time. Perhaps the Mona Lisa is the Borso D'Este of portraiture. 

World AIDS Day 2025

This is World Aids Day, worthy of acknowledgment, but I figured that I've blogged about this annual recognition enough in the past that I'd give it a miss this year. This morning I was reminded that while effective drugs have been developed to reduce the effects of HIV/AIDS there is no cure. And here in Canada the number of AIDS diagnoses is on the rise again. Even so, the AIDS Committee of Toronto will be closing its centre in 2026 after 43 years for a number of reasons, including reduced demand for services but also because of funding challenges. 

We should be aware as well that the financial support for HIV/AIDS programs in poorer countries, including a number in Africa, has been dramatically reduced, in part because of decisions by the Trump administration to defund global health initiatives. There is concern that Canada will follow suit. 

The Keiskamma Altarpiece pictured above was created in South Africa nearly 20 years ago in a community hit hard by HIV/AIDS. Dr. Carol Hofmeyr gave needles and thread to local women, many of them grandmothers raising orphaned grandchildren, who created this magnificent depiction of their reality, including crucifixion and resurrection scenes.  It is 13 feet tall and 22 feet wide. When we went to see it in Toronto while it was on tour in 2007 a group of those grandmothers came into the sanctuary of St. James Cathedral and began to mourn when they saw the altarpiece. It was a powerful moment. 

We can continue to mourn for the lost and pray that the scourge of this pandemic will be overcome. 

Today I'm also thinking of Tom Reid, a parishioner in Sudbury, Ontario, who invited me onto the inaugural board of the AIDs Committee of Sudbury in 1988, shortly after I became the minister of St. Andrew's United Church. I'm grateful that he did so and I see that the Reseau Access Network offices are now in St. Andrew's Place,

Here is a video link about the altarpiece:

https://fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/the-keiskamma-altarpiece-transcending-aids-in-south-africa/

Advent Antidotes & Invitations 2025

 

1 All earth is waiting to see the Promised One,

and open furrows await the seed of God. 

All the world, bound and struggling, seeks true liberty; 

it cries out for justice and searches for the truth.

2 Thus says the prophet to those of Israel, 

'A virgin mother will bear Emmanuel.' 

One whose name is 'God with us', our Saviour shall be, 

through whom hope will blossom once more

within our hearts.                   Voices United 5

Yesterday I lamented "Advent Calendar Creep" the ominipresent appropriation of the Christian season of Advent for commerical purposes. It is antithetical to the message and ministry of Christ but what is the antidote? 

It seems obvious that we seek out the resources and resolve to be Christians in the midst of secularization, not to impose it on others in a multicultural society, rather to contemplate and celebrate our own story. 

A few years ago I blogged about a gem of a book by Galye Boss with David Klein as the illustrator. As you can see below, the title is All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings. That was nearly a decade ago and for this year Boss has created a children's version of the book that is really for all ages. I have them both now and the illustrations for All Creation Waits 2.0 are wonderful as well. 

Each day through the 24 days of Advent a different creature is featured and are meant to be gradually revealed and savoured through the season. I hope you can make out Boss's "Dear Reader" introductory page which upholds the "expectant waiting" aspect of Advent. She describes the book as a form of Advent calendar with pages numbered to correspond with the 24 days of the season. There is even an online Explorer's Guide as a companion to the new version of the book. 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/supadu-imgix/paracletepress-us/pdfs/discussion_guides/DG-9781640608283.pdf

I delight in both of these books because often Christian Creation resources are about what we should be earnestly doing --always important -- rather than what we are noticing and receiving. It is important to remember that all Earth is waiting for the coming of Christ, not just humans. 

During this week I may share some more ideas about how Advent can be what it is intended to be for Christians in gentle but intentional ways. 

3  Mountains and valleys will have to be made plain, 

open new highways, new highways for our God, 

who is now coming closer, so come all and see, 

and open the doorways as wide as wide can be.

4  In lowly stable the Promised One appeared.

Yet, feel that presence throughout the earth today, 

for Christ lives in all Christians and is with us now; 

again, on arriving, Christ brings us liberty.

Advent Calendar Creep

                                                                  Traditional Advent Calendar

The season of Advent in the Christian calendar anticipates the "coming of Christ" from three different perspectives:

 the physical nativity in Bethlehem, 

the reception of Christ in the heart of the believer, 

and the eschatological Second Coming.

Folks, now they're coming for Advent...

 The generation of those who could remember simple gifts at Christmas, often homemade, with perhaps an orange in the stocking, is almost gone.Baby Boomers decided that nothing succeeds like excess when it comes to Xmas spending. We are also the generation that concluded that while we have holidays as a celebration of Christ's birth in the first place it is verboten to acknowledge this reality in most public settings. 

For a long time Easter, the other Christian biggie, was safe, albeit with minor commercialization, but the spending creep has taken over in this season as well. Celebrate the miracle of the Resurrection? God, or no god forbid, as we've seen the alarming secularization of this season as well.

What could possibly happen to Advent, other than becoming the runway for Christmas? 

Well, make way for the "Advent Calendar." Advent Calendars were traditionally a way to build anticipation for Christmas with little doors or pockets containing maybe a verse of scripture and a treat for each day during the four weeks of this contemplative time in the Christian calendar. The one we used with our children was laughable simple but they still had a sense of excitement each day.

                                           from the Globe and Mail article, November 14, 2025

 In the past decade retailers have cottoned to the possibilites for selling secular versions of these calendars. And with this has come the obscenely expensive versions, some with swag costing thousands of dollars. A couple of weeks ago the Globe and Mail offered The best Canadian advent calendars this holiday season elbows up baby Jesus! The cheapest was $70 and the most expensive was about 300 dollars more. You can hit a gift-giving home run with a Blue Jays calendar. 

I hear about the growing number of people in our country crushed by food insecurity and debt. Last years statistics tell us that at least 60,000 Canadians are homeless on any given night. There are probably hundreds of thousands who will are anxious about the pressures of the season. The gap between rich and poor gets wider. How did we get here?

I may be a curmudgeon but I actually get emotional about all this. It seems soullous to me. There is nothing in the definition above about the arrival of retail excess. 

Tomorrow Advent 2025 commences and I will do my best to observe as a Christian with a sense of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. God being my helper. Join the resistance!

Come, Lord Jesus, Come

 

Mr. Scorsese & Christianity

We have been watching the five-part Apple TV series about revered film-maker Martin Scorsese. It seems that anybody who is anybody in the motion picture world is in awe of his lifetime contribution to the industry and story-telling on the big screen. We have seen a few Scorsese dramas and documentaries but a lot of his work is known for violence, for which we have limited tolerance especially as we age. 

He is a charismatic and candid figure in a quiet way, admitting to his own demons perhaps born in the raw Italian-American neighbourhood of his youth in New York City. The series has reminded me that Scorsese began studies for the priesthood but quickly realized he wasn't good at it. It seems that he has addressed the demons and his spiritual longing in various films including a documentary series called Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints. I think that once upon a time I blogged about his historical drama, Silence, about the travails of Portugese missionaries in Japan. It is another film with lots of violence that explores spiritual themes. 

Mr. Scorsese also explores the world-wide response to his film The Last Temptation of Christ, inspired by the Nikos Kazantzakis novel of the same name. The last temptation in the novel and film was for Jesus to forego death on the cross for the sake of his love for Mary Magdalene. When Scorsese pitched the film the question was why he would want to make such a controversial picture and his answer was that he wanted to get to know Jesus better. If Jesus was both human and divine he must have experienced human emotions, desires, temptations. This was an uncomfortable incarnation rather than a sanitized one.

Scorsese commented at the time: 

The beauty of Kazantzakis' concept is that Jesus has to put up with everything we go through, all the doubts and fears and anger. He made me feel like he's sinning—but he's not sinning, he’s just human. As well as divine. And he has to deal with all this double, triple guilt on the cross.

While this is honest theological exploration both the novel and the film were condemned by the Roman Catholic church and irate Christians everywhere, most of whom had not read or seen them. Why is it that people who would never watch certain films are insistent that no one else does either? You can see above that 25,000 gathered for one protest. 

The Last Temptation was banned in many communities and countries and the critics were certain that Scorsese, now 83,  was headed for hell, but he doesn't seem overly worried by the prospect. 

We have a couple more episodes to go so it will be interesting to see if there is any more God-talk from Mr. Scorsese. 

We are not far from Christmas, our Christian celebration of the Incarnation, although the safer part where a baby is born. Yet with the cradle there is always the foreshadowing of the cross and the challenging questions and answers that come with our God-with-Us faith. 

Thomas King, Accidental Pretendian?

More than a quarter century ago I listened to a CBC Radio show called the Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour a 15-minute segment (nuck, nuck) that poked fun at cultural stereotypes held by White People and "Indians." It was clever and often biting. 

The show had a number of regular segments, including:

• Gracie's Authentic Traditional Aboriginal Recipes, including puppy stew, fried bologna, and Kraft Dinners
• The Authentic Indian Name generator, featuring three wheels that could automatically create names like "Stewart Coffee Armadillo" or "Rosemarie Clever Tuna"
• Gracie's Conversational Cree, which taught simple but useful phrases, such as, "Please ask the chauffeur to bring the car around" and "How long will we be in port?"
• Recommendations from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples were ironically highlighted.

I liked the show because of its irreverance and because I was doing my best at that time to develop a greater understanding of Indigenous culture and to come to grips with the complicity of Christian denominations in Canada, including the United Church, with the horrors of the Residential School system that did it's best to extinguish Indigenous identity. A lot of that exploration was heavy stuff and the Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour made it's point in a humorous way. 

The host, Thomas King, is an author who went on to write many books including the excellent The Inconvenient Indian, the novel Indians on Vacation, and the Dreadfulwater mystery series -- I've read them all. He has taught Indigenous studies at the University of Lethbridge and received the Order of Canada for exposing “the hard truths of the injustices of the Indigenous peoples of North America.”

A family photo shows Thomas King, far left, and his brother Chris to his left, with their mother and cousins.Thomas King

King has written from the perspective of being part Cherokee, or so he thought. He has discovered that he has no Indigneous heritage and is devastated that the story he was told by his mother from childhood wasn't true. He chose to explore rumours that he wasn't Indigenous and the evidence is clear that he is what we might call an Accidental Pretendian. He just wrote an essay in the Globe and Mail in which he describes being told that there is no background in the Cherokee Nation: 

As you might expect, I didn’t want to believe her. I was sure she had made an error in her research, hadn’t gone back far enough, but as she talked about what she had found, as we matched the pieces of family history that I had with the pieces of family history that she uncovered, it became clear that the one piece missing was any connection to the Cherokee.

It’s been a couple of weeks since that video call, and I’m still reeling. At 82, I feel as though I’ve been ripped in half, a one-legged man in a two-legged story. Not the Indian I had in mind. Not an Indian at all.

I first read an online contention, by a Cherokee researcher,  that King wasn't Indigenous several years ago and commented to Ruth, my partner, that I hoped this wasn't true. Then it seemed to evaporate...until now. 

We'll see where this all goes. I have the feeling that despite the resonance with the scandal around Buffy St. Marie and other pretendians what has unfolded with King may be different, but we'll find out. I know that I benefitted from the insights of The Inconvenient Indian.  

In his confessional essay King reminds us that the sign-off for Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour was "Stay calm! Be brave! Wait for the signs!" My heart goes out to Indigenous people who feel that they may have been exploited and betrayed once more. The sign-off could be a prayer for all of them, but it shouldn't need to be. 

The Zorg & Britain's Abolitionist Movement

 

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

The "Best Books of 2025" are emerging and one non-fiction volume on a number of them is The Zorg. I will contritely return my library copy, a couple of days overdue. It was a compelling and disturbing story, told well. 

It is about a specific 18th century ship whose Dutch name ironically translates as "care" involved in the vast trade of enslaved human beings which resulted in immense wealth for a few. Overcrowded ships with incompetent crews carried kidnapped Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to British colonies. 

On one such voyage the Zorg encountered bad weather and navigational miscalculations led to diminishing food and water onboard. The captain ordered that 130 of the 442 captives be tossed overboard and when the ship returned to England the owners sued their insurers for losses, and a jury decided they must do so. An anonymous letter about the actual circumstances to a newspaper resulted in an expose piece and resulted in a new trial which overturned the previous ruling.

This publicity awakened the British public to the horrors of the slave trade and energized the abolition movement.   

I was particularly moved by the chapter called Victory for the Whole Human Race. It describes how Christians including Quakers, the converted slave ship captain, John Newton (author of the hymn Amazing Grace), William Wilberforce, and a host of others devoted themselves to the abolition of slavery despite repeated setbacks. In that era only 10 percent of British men and no women had the right to vote and many members of the House of Lords became wealthy from the New World plantations where enslaved people toiled. 

One of most influential of those Christians was Thomas Clarkson, someone I'd never heard of before. An Anglica priest, he wrote a number of essays decrying slavery beginning during his seminary days.  Over the course of decades he rode an estimated 60,00 kilometres doing research about the slave trade, interviewing those who had served on slave ships, and speaking to groups across England. Clarkson's health was seriously compromised by his relentless travel. 

Eventually the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in Britain 1838, the first of its kind in the world. The colonies, including Canada, followed suit, making this country a haven for self-liberated enslaved people from the United States. One of the concessions to get the act passed was paying the modern equivalent of billions of dollars in compensation to enslavers, an incurred debt for Britain only retired in 2015. 

This is a well-written book telling a story we all need to hear. 

Oh yes, the great British painter, JMW Turner, who believed in a Creator God, was inspired to paint the gruesome scene of the murders of the Zorg captives once the evidence came to light.  

Time for an End of Gossip Sunday?

My brothers and sisters, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill[a] the law of Christ.  For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.  All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride.  For all must carry their own loads.

                           Galatians 6: 1-5 NRSVue

Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.  Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.

            Ephesians 4: 29-31 NRSVue

Back in September I blogged about a book with the intrigying title You Didn't Hear This From Me: (mostly) true notes on gossip by Kelsey McKinney. Apparently she has a podcast on the subject called Normal Gossip. The book is entertaining and thoughtful and, lo and behold, there is a chapter on gossip from her perspective as someone who was raised in what seems to be an evangelical church. To quote myself: 

She notes that there are only eight verses in the bible specifically about gossip and thousands on caring for the poor. In the King James Version of the bible the word gossip isn't used at all because at that time it didn't have the connotation that slander did. Actually, we have allowed "gossip" to become cozy enough that it has lost its schmeck and we might do well to return to using slander or talebearer.  McKinney points out, rightly, that while gossip/slander/talebearing is condemned it isn't really defined. Is it any conversation about someone else when that person isn't present or does there have to be a certain threshold of nastiness? 

I'm circling back to this topic because since I wrote I've become aware of two situations involving clergy I know who have been dealing with destructive gossip. 

In one instance the minister and his wife have separated and they are moving toward divorce.They worked at resolving their differences for a long time but they eventually concluded that they need to move on. Very quickly false rumours started within the congregation and a beloved pastor is now treated miserably by some people, including some who are divorced and were probably subject to nasty talk themselves. 

In the other, a pastor and church leaders are dealing with a complex pastoral situation where the circumstance and details can't be revealed. They are following United Church guidelines in this regard and have been advised that legally they must maintain privacy. Again, this hasn't prevented destructive speculation and gossip and those who are addressing the situation faithfully are being maligned rather than supported.  

I know that some readers have also been caught in the swirl of similar circumstances within congregations and it has left emotional and spiritual scars. The fooishness and meaness can be profoundly discouraging. Why does the Body of Christ end up sounding like a mean kids high school nightmare? 

I wonder if the United Church needs to have an annual End of Gossip Sunday so that the subject can be addressed from the pulpit without, well, starting rumours? In those services we could make an attempt to define gossip. They might include prayers for repentance and reconciliation. 

Maybe there could be the reminder that in Christ we are called to build one another up rather than tear one another down, as the passages from the apostle Paul's letters to the Galatians and Ephesians tell us.