My personal “hurricane” has been the experience of the past year of being elected as Primate, leaving a ministry in a new diocese I had grown to love, living in airport waiting rooms as I travelled Canada and the world, and seeking to digest new responsibilities. Then confined to home with no idea how to be a Primate who did not travel to meet the Church across the country. I have learned how to connect on Zoom, to conduct meetings remotely, to video-record sermons and talks in my living room, and do Facebook live! I am also learning how to live in ambiguity and uncertainty every day.

Each of you has a similar story to tell of the normal routines of your work, family and church lives suddenly brought to a complete halt by COVID-19. Families are figuring out home or online schooling. Workplaces are learning how to meet on Zoom and work from home. We live in isolation from family members and fear for the elderly or immunocompromised. Businesses are unsure of their survival, and we all experience the losses of community, special events, sports, arts and entertainment.

We have been devastated by the rapidity with which the interconnected systems of our economic and social worlds could collapse, even as we are grateful to live in a country where government supports have cushioned the fall and sought to address health needs.

Now – six months later – the immediacy of the hurricane is over. The chaos and devastation are being assessed. We have learned new daily routines. We carry masks in our pockets, purses and cars. We step farther apart when someone approaches. We check with friends and family about if, when and how we can meet, as we have different tolerance levels for contact. The future is still uncertain as the financial realities have not yet fully reached us. In-person worship has restarted, but it is not the same – seated apart, masked, no singing permitted, communion in one kind only and no coffee hour! Hardly the experience of Christian community we long for.

The hurricane also exposed cracks in our social structures that must be addressed: inequities in expectations of those lowest on the economic ladder who provide essential services to all. Racial inequities that cannot be ignored any longer. It would be easy to sink into a state of depression at the enormity of the challenges we face, the continuing risks, the slowness of progress added to the continuing depressing global news of recurrences of the virus and natural disasters.

I can hear you murmur, “Well, this is certainly not an uplifting talk! Surely we need something more.”

We do, for this is the Bishop’s Company Cabaret: a company of people in the name of Christ committed to the great commandment, “Love God and love neighbour as self,” and committed to the gospel message that is always one of hope.

Tonight I want to point to a few images of hope and promise that have helped me remember that we are resilient and to where I see Anglicans drawing on that resilience and our faith as encouragement to all of us for the long road ahead.

I live in London, Ont., a city that has a vision for keeping green spaces and walkways in the midst of all areas. Near my home is such a walkway through the woods between backyards – a gravel path and boardwalk – that at the beginning of the pandemic still crunched with snow and ice. At the beginning of the lockdown, I quickly realized I needed to walk every day. I needed to smell fresh air to be in touch with God’s creation and with the timeless rhythms of the seasons and their capacity to renew themselves every year. On these walks, I began to see surprising messages – hand-painted rocks with messages of encouragement: you are loved; stay strong; breathe. I saw Easter eggs, ladybugs and beetles – even Spiderman! Small birdhouses were hung on the trees. The neighbours I never saw were leaving messages of hope: you are not alone; we are in this together.

I saw the same signs of encouragement among friends, family, churches and staff, through emails, phone calls and Zoom gatherings. We may have lost coffee hour at church, but Zoom coffee hours popped up where people could gather, encourage and offer prayers. A friend reported regular concerts given by someone in the same building from their balcony; people gathered in the parking lot below, or on their balconies listening, clapping and cheering. Signs in windows or banging pots proclaimed support for frontline workers. There were drive-by birthday celebrations and lawn signs for graduates.

Though stopped from gathering in person, people found other ways to encourage and be present. Due to missing graduation ceremonies, an Anglican Youth Program in Vancouver delivered graduation gift bags to graduates with gifts and a mini cap! Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson in Montreal delivered the graduation certificates to Master of Divinity grads at Montreal Diocesan College by placing the certificate tubes in the crook of her crozier and handing it to them on an outdoor staircase! Huron Church Camp – knowing it would have no regular camps in the summer – made its space available to families wanting to come for a day picnic – a chance to get away from home and enjoy the outdoors! Other camps created online opportunities to engage. Confirmation classes and youth groups met online, sometimes even with the Primate!

I love to sing, and I sing in a community choir that is now cancelled for at least another year. We cannot sing in church together, either. For me, the harmony of an orchestra or choir or any combination of instruments is a symbol of the kind of community we seek to create where the gifts of each are needed in order to create the whole.

We are different and individual but part of the same body, and when all are honoured, recognized and can contribute to something greater, then each part is created for the good of all. So to see choirs and orchestras come together online and find a way to create music that is greater than each part is a sign of hope. It is not easy. You cannot play together online, as the signal delay plays havoc with coordination. Each member must listen to a track of one or more other parts and play with them while recording themselves, and then each part must be then coordinated together to produce the whole. A lot of work done by many. Whether it was the Toronto Symphony Orchestra or a high school choir or a professional chamber ensemble or someone spoofing a well-known song with new lyrics, people have brought music to life to share online, creating beauty and lifting the human spirit.

Human beings are creative and resilient and capable of more than we often imagine. We will get through this together. Despite the rampant individualism of our time (epitomized unfortunately in the refusal by some to wear a mask or social distance) we have recognized our need of one another and the need to connect virtually, across time and space and physically across a room or garden, and acknowledge we share this time together. We have also realized afresh that we are profoundly interconnected and our very lives depend on those we often acknowledge the least, both in respect and economically.

The signs of hope I have pointed to are not big. They are moments in time, ephemeral and small tokens of the capacity for human beings to see beyond the pain and struggle now and emphasize the most important values.

The other forces around us remain powerful and destructive. The virus is still strong. We do not yet have a vaccine. Those who are angry and disbelieving readily create havoc. Economic forces remain uncertain.

I expect the disciples felt the same after the death of Jesus – powerful forces ranged against them and an uncertain future. But once they had experienced the reality of the resurrection, once they had been touched by the power of the Holy Spirit, that small band of disciples found hope at every turn in the face of imprisonment, opposition, beatings, and ridicule and changed the world. The faithfulness of God is the touchstone that defeats even death itself.

When I finished university and prepared to travel to India to teach, a friend gave me a locket with a scripture verse I have never forgotten. The locket has disappeared in the mists of time but the verse remains in my heart: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” It is a part of Deuteronomy 31:8 as Joshua faced the challenge of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land: “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

I pray that the small signs of hope around us in the resilience of the human spirit in community and God’s promise to be with us whatever lies ahead, will give us strength to build the community of grace, mercy and justice God longs to see and keeps us hopeful every day.

Thank you.

The post ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee’ appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

During my years of ministry in the Diocese of Toronto, I have encountered Anglicans who have come to our doors from other parts of the world to worship as brothers and sisters in Christ. I have also heard the stories of encounters in some of our parishes that were anything but the welcome the disciples gave on Pentecost – stories of people being ignored, shunned or told they were in the wrong church. Yet when I have travelled around the world, I have been received in churches – Anglican and other – with a warm welcome and delight when I want to worship there, most recently so in Jerusalem at St. George’s Cathedral. I have also discovered that I need to learn from my sisters and brothers in Christ who see the Gospel with different eyes than I do.

We live in the most multicultural city in the world! Our diocese has congregations from every part of the globe – China, Japan, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Central America. French, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and English in all its forms are found in worship across our diocese. Many parishes have people from places all around the globe. Yet, despite our desire to be a welcoming church, our clergy and councils do not fully reflect the diversity of our churches. We have work to do.

One of the most difficult aspects of that work is to tackle racism. None of us think we are racist. Yet I know there are subtle ways in which I make assumptions about other people that are based on the colour of their skin, their accent or their behavior, before I have even been introduced to them and know them as a person. Our communities and our social systems struggle with attitudes that reinforce prejudices, and racism lives in our communities and occasionally surfaces in acts of violence or hatred.

Scripture shows us the disciples dismissing a Canaanite woman based on her origins, and Jesus is challenged to heal her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28). Later, they will be shocked that Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman at the well. The conversion of St. Paul shows God specifically calling Paul to reach out beyond his own community to take the Good News to the Gentiles. Our prejudices are often rooted in our upbringing and past history and need to be constantly challenged to ensure that we retain the openness of Jesus to anyone who joins us in worship and the ministry of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit we celebrate at Pentecost can help us break through the barriers of our prejudices, our attitudes and systemic roadblocks. The Spirit can help us find that new place of shared communication and joy in the Good News of God in Christ – if we will listen! Come, Holy Spirit, come!

***

By the time you read this article, I will have started my new ministry as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Huron. I want to share my deep thanksgiving for more than 30 years of ministry that I enjoyed in the Diocese of Toronto. Thank you to the many colleagues with whom I have shared ministry – deacons, priests and bishops. Thank you to the lay people who have taught me much about faithful ministry in daily life and living in community together in conflicts and in joys. I now look forward to learning, growing and sharing ministry in a new part of God’s vineyard in the Diocese of Huron. Please pray for me as I will pray for all of you in our shared call for the sake of God’s world.

The post None of us think we are racist appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

To the Clergy and People of the Diocese of Toronto,

We are in the midst of the Easter season, when the death and resurrection of Jesus and the new life we are offered in him are at the forefront of our personal prayers, our public liturgies and our teaching. The issues of life and death are also in the forefront of public discourse, with the violence of war and terrorist attacks killing innocents in so many places, the ecological disasters that lead to sudden death from catastrophe or the slow death of starvation, or the tragic epidemic of youth suicides that devastates too many indigenous communities. It is in these contexts that I write, with the support of the area bishops, about the upcoming changes in Canadian law regarding medically assisted death. (The terminology keeps changing.)

The Anglican Church of Canada has addressed this issue for a number of years. As a church, we have extensive pastoral experience, to add to our biblical, theological and moral traditions, to call upon. I commend to you an excellent resource, “Care in Dying,” first published in 1998, to assist our church in reflecting on the debate. It distinguishes between termination of life support, ending treatment and euthanasia (voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary). As importantly, it puts the discussion of the debate in the framework of the call to care. Caring at the end of life is not only about medical practice, technology and legal doctrine. It raises the moral, ethical and pastoral obligations placed on all of us to respond to individuals, families, professionals and communities in a variety of circumstances.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in February 2015 declared unconstitutional existing laws prohibiting physician-assisted dying. It ruled that “a competent adult person who (1) clearly consents to the termination of life and (2) has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition” has this right.

A recent joint parliamentary committee has recommended extending that even further. The scope of assisted dying moves significantly beyond those who are in the last stages of a painful natural death. This may include options to pre-determine a time of death, extending the option to the mentally ill or to minors.

As Christian pastors and leaders, we find some of these very disturbing.

The Anglican Church made a substantial submission to that committee on Feb. 3, 2016, raising a number of questions that need to be considered in developing legislation and regulations that Parliament is expected to adopt in the next few months.

As archbishop, I have spoken and written publicly about my serious concerns. Among these are the reduction of the definition of “provision of care” to a medical/technical “treatment,” the almost exclusive focus on the individual in isolation from their community, and the nearly unquestioned equation of human dignity with the capacity to author independently one’s own life (and hence death).

End-of-life matters are complex, with many nuances that are not easily resolved with simplistic solutions. Anglicans hold diverse perspectives on this, but we share a core commitment, echoed in our baptismal vows, “to uphold the dignity of every human being.” We are created in the image of God and redeemed by God’s gracious love in His Son, Jesus Christ. As Christians, we find the meaning of our life and our death in relation to Jesus’ birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection.

A new document, “Living and Dying, We are the Lord’s: Resources to Assist Pastoral and Theological Approaches to Physician Assisted Dying,” has just been written (to be released shortly) by the Faith, Worship and Ministry Task Force on Physician Assisted Dying. It is worth reading. Along with “Care in Dying,” it provides us with a very helpful pastoral resource.

Whatever the outcomes of the ongoing discussions, we must recognize the urgent and ongoing need for pastoral care to the person who is dying (or who is in significant and unrelenting physical or psychological pain), to the caregivers and family, to medical personnel and to the wider community. The church is one of the chief resources for this care, and we must be prepared to offer it to the very best of our ability.

Two of the glaring gaps in the public discussion are the inadequate provision of palliative care, along with the training of medical personnel in appropriate and effective pain management. If these are not widely available and easily accessible, the impetus for assisted death is much stronger. We urge you to advocate locally, provincially and nationally for comprehensive palliative care that, both short-term and long, will directly affect far more people than medically assisted death. In both advocacy and provision of care, we can call on our extensive practical experience in ministry with the elderly, the dying, and with those who suffer from mental illness.

These are deeply emotional issues. We urge you to deepen your understanding of this matter, to read, think and pray for wisdom, to discuss this with your families and neighbours, particularly with the medical professionals in your parishes. We encourage you also to write and speak with your local Members of Parliament to express your views as they make crucial decisions about the policies, laws and investments that will govern us all for a long time to come.

“Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” Romans 14:8-9

Yours faithfully,

The Most Rev. Colin Johnson, Archbishop of Toronto and of Moosonee

along with the Bishops Suffragan of Toronto:

The Right Rev. Philip Poole, Area Bishop of York-Credit Valley
The Right Rev. Patrick Yu, Area Bishop of York-Scarborough
The Right Rev. Linda Nicholls, Area Bishop of Trent-Durham
The Right Rev. Peter Fenty, Area Bishop of York-Simcoe

The Care in Dying document can be found on the national church’s website at www.anglican.ca/faith/focus/ethics/care-in-dying/.

The post A pastoral letter to clergy and people of the Diocese of Toronto appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Jesus was clear that the kingdom of God was not synonymous with earthly kingdoms. When asked about paying taxes, he declared, “Pay unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” Yet, we do participate in the nations of this world even as we are preparing ourselves for God’s kingdom. When in exile, the people of Israel were instructed by Jeremiah to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” We are to seek the welfare of the places where we live, to pray for them and to participate in seeking what will be good for all its citizens, for our own well-being is integrally tied to that of our communities’. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves – and remember that our neighbour is not just those who are like us. The story of the Good Samaritan subverts our assumptions about that neighbour and calls us out of our comfort zones!

We are invited to discern which candidates will govern our country in ways that nurture and support all her citizens and that participate in justice and peace in the world. We do that by bringing our values and commitments, which are formed by our faith, to that discernment. Politics and faith cannot be separate, for we weigh our decisions in the light of our understanding of human nature, of the nature of God, of God’s call to us and of a vision of community to be lived in justice and peace. Our faith does and ought to inform our choices, made for the good of all people. We are called to participate by voting, to share our voice in the discussions and debates, and to look past partisan loyalties to the needs of our country and the commitments offered by those standing for election.

As we approach this election, take time to consider your choices in light of our baptismal vows to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself; to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being; to strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation and respect, sustain and renew the life of the earth. We may well find ourselves supporting different candidates or leaders in this discernment as we adjudicate the balance needed in these challenging times. Healthy discussion and debate is critical. Which candidates will help our communities and country fulfill these commitments for the good of all God’s people?

Whichever party or people are elected, we are then called to pray for them. The responsibilities they carry are significant and need our support.

“LORD, keep this nation under your care. Bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth. Help us elect trustworthy leaders, contribute to wise decisions for the general welfare, and thus serve you faithfully in our generation to the honour of your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord” (BAS page 678).

“ALMIGHTY God, the fountain of all wisdom: Guide and direct, we humbly beseech thee, the minds of all those who are called at this time to elect fit persons to serve… Grant that in the exercise of their choice they may promote thy glory, and the welfare of this Dominion [or Province or Municipality]. And this we beg for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen” (BCP page 50).

Pray for the candidates, share in discussion and debate with an eye to our baptismal promises – and most importantly, vote on or before Oct. 19!

The post We are called to participate by voting appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Now you may think this is a logical step to take, but I suspect that despite our professed faith and worship, we often neglect it. We are so anxious to solve problems and get to the solutions that we dive straight into ideas and plans or arguments about the issues and neglect the very heart of our purpose. We fail to listen to God.

Those weekly gatherings for prayer for the Peterborough clergy were transformative. They deepened relationships within the clergy team and kept them focused on God’s call and purpose. They each will say that this was the most critical step in preparing them to enter a covenant together.

Prayer is the activity that helps reorient our perspective and attitude. Prayer invites us to see the world as God sees it, to offer ourselves to God and God’s purposes and to orient ourselves and the world to God’s ways. It is not a laundry list of things we want or want to happen, but rather an immersion of ourselves in the ways of God’s kingdom.

That takes time – time to listen to God in silence, time to listen to God through scripture, time to voice our heart’s desires, time to listen to one another. Jesus frequently took time to pray – to be with God, even and especially when there were so many other pressures and calls on him. Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has made prayer a priority commitment for his ministry. “If we want to see things changed, it starts with prayer. It starts with a new spirit of prayer, using all the traditions, ancient and modern. When it comes, it will be linked to what has gone before, but it will look different – because it is a new renewal for new times. God’s created community is perfectly designed for its time and place. It almost always comes from below. It comes from Christians seeking Christ.” He has invited the Chemin Neuf monastic community to live at Lambeth Palace as a sign of our need for daily prayer and is gathering a group of young adults to live at Lambeth Palace for a year beginning in September 2015, engaged in a life of prayer, study and service.

What role does prayer play in your own life? In the life of your parish? Often we slap on perfunctory prayers at the beginning and end of meetings as a polite reference to God. Do we stop in the middle of a meeting – in the middle of discussion – to listen for God’s voice, to separate our personal or corporate agendas so that we may hear God’s call? This is a discipline that requires practice. The Peterborough city clergy began that practice over two years ago and continue weekly.

We are unlikely to have three hours to set aside, as Martin Luther did, but a key component of our daily life as Christians is to include prayer. Our baptismal covenant asks us, “Will you continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers?” The Book of Common Prayer invites us to form a Rule of Life that includes both regular participation in worship and Holy Communion and the “practice of private prayer, Bible-reading and self-discipline” (BCP pg. 555).

We are now entering the season of Lent, a time for renewing the disciplines of our faith that may have slipped into disuse or never fully been acquired. I know that the practice of prayer – private and corporate – will be essential to the discernment we need to build the church and God’s kingdom. Will you pray?

The post Let’s listen for God’s voice appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.