good news

St Paul's seeks new direction and suspends legal actionBishop of London backs away from further confrontation, recalling that the cathedral had been a 'symbol of freedom'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/01/st-pauls-seeks-new-direction

99% in Israel too

The 99% are on the move in Israel too! http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2011/10/29/tens-of-thousands-of-protesters-return-to-israels-streets-as-the-struggle-for-economic-equality-continues/

St. Paul’s and the tradition of excluding the poor

It costs close to $24.00 (Canadian) for an adult to go into St. Paul’s Cathedral and $9.00 for a child. Some years ago I took my family there on a visit to the UK and these hefty fees came as a surprise—it it would have cost today’s equivalent of $70.00 to go in. We could not afford it so we went instead to Westminster Cathedral (a Catholic institution) where there were no fees.

I wrote to St. Paul’s and complained that charging people to go into the house of God did not seem right. I pointed out that when I lived in London as a child there were no fees. In those times during the summer holidays my sister and I spend days exploring the cathedral and I knew every part of that building; every statue, every painting, every ancient regimental flag, every story told on the arches and on the dome. The building inspired me, moved me, helped me think of God, made me dream of greater things than my own existence. In my letter to St. Paul’s I explained that my sister and I were poor kids and if there had been a fee we could have never visited the cathedral and a part of my life would be missing. Had St. Paul’s thought about the way their fees exclude poor people?

St. Paul’s replied but did not answer my question. They said that free entry only existed for a short periods in their history and so they had simply returned to tradition.  I looked up the history and they were right—entrance was only free for short periods in their history—and one of those times was when I was a child. I also discovered that entrance was free hundreds of years ago when the cathedral first opened, but because rich folks did not like poor people coming in and gawking at the glory of God, St. Paul's instituted fees to keep the poor out! So there was my answer – St. Paul’s had thought about the way fees exclude the poor!

St. Paul's, therefore, appears to have a tradition of excluding the poor to appease the rich! So today’s events of St. Paul’s turning away those raising their voice about the rich exploiting the poor does not surprise me. It is a part of their tradition!

All I can say is thank goodness my faith rests on God and not on the church!

strong action

In my last post I suggested that Giles Fraser, the canon chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, was caught between a rock and a hard place in responding to the occupy encampment. I urged him to stand on the rock (ie. stand on Christian principles) in making decisions.

Of course Giles Fraser does not read my blog nor take my advice in making decisions – he makes his own decision – and the decision he made was to resign!

My heart goes out to this man and his family. Being canon chancellor of St Paul's has to be a dream job for clergy. To walk away from that for reasons of faith and justice takes integrity and commitment.

In explaining his resignation Giles Fraser said that looking out at the encampment of tents outside the cathedral he recalled that St. Paul himself was a tent maker. He said that he could not support using violence against these people.

Sometimes doing the right thing is very costly – well done Giles Fraser for bearing those costs – God bless you! I find your faith and actions inspiring and you help build my own faith in a time when it needs building. I am sure God will continue to use you mightily.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/27/giles-fraser-occupy-london-st-pauls

strong advice

As a Christian I am saddened that St. Paul’s has reversed the position that protesters are welcome outside their doors. The Revd Canon Giles Fraser has now said:

"…given the strong advice that we have received that the camp is making the cathedral and its occupants unsafe then this right has to be balanced against other rights and responsibilities too. The Christian gospel is profoundly committed to the needs of the poor and the dispossessed. Financial justice is a gospel imperative. Those who are claiming the decision to close the cathedral has been made for commercial reasons are talking complete nonsense."

I wonder where this “strong advice” came from given that the Tweets from Occupy LSX indicate that the Fire Brigade (Dept) and others see no public safety concerns.

The Revd Giles Fraser is Director of the St. Paul’s Institute, an ethics group with a focus on financial issues (http://www.stpaulsinstitute.org.uk/About-Us/Staff) with a Council of Reference (i.e. advisors) comprised of the very investment bankers and LSX leaders that the protesters are complaining about (http://www.stpaulsinstitute.org.uk/About-Us/Council-of-Reference). A Council like this could give strong advice indeed!

I am not usually critical on this blog but it was not me who said “you can’t serve mammon (money/wealth) and God.” I do not truthfully know what shapes the decisions inside St. Pauls and perhaps there are safety issues that I am not aware of, or alternatively perhaps the Revd Cannon is caught between a rock and a hard place, in which case my strong advice is to encourage decisions that stand on the rock!

fear and propitiation

Today in church, still working through the series on our fears, Pastor Lane took us back to Genesis 20 and the Ten Commandments. The thing that got my attention was people being scared of God. They said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die” (Genesis 20:19).

Because of this fear people wanted Moses to mediate—to be a go-between—between them and God. Lane commented that it was a curious choice because they knew Moses had a little bit of a temper—they knew that when he was younger he had killed an Egyptian and had to flee Egypt—they knew Moses was far from perfect. So why did the people want to give a flawed person the power to mediate between them and God? I think because they understood that Moses’ flaws made him human and they wanted someone who could relate to their flaws and frailty to stand before the perfect all powerful God for them. Maybe they thought that if they did not keep God’s laws perfectly that Moses, because of his flaws, would understand them and would say a few words on their behalf.

The possibility of this meaning interests me because recently I have been thinking through the implications of Jesus’ humanity. I always knew Moses life (like so many OT characters) pointed to Jesus who is the ultimate mediator between women, men and God. Today’s sermon emphasised this meaning. Jesus was not imperfect like Moses, but He was fully human and that means He understands humanness not only from the outside in as God, but also from the inside out as a person. If we only think of Jesus as God there is a tendency to think of Him arriving from some kind of heavenly Krypton and walking the earth as some kind of spiritual Superman who was impervious to fear, doubt, and sin. But He must have been fully pervious otherwise what was the point of Satan tempting Him, and what was the purpose of His agonizing prayers in Gethsemane? I think the power of His defeat of sin was His being potentially fallible but never failing; a human who felt the same fears and temptations as us but a person who never gave in; a person who could have failed (like us) but achieved perfection so that He could do what none of us could.

So what does all this mean? I think John explains it when he said "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:1, 2). The word “propitiation” means something that makes peace, it satisfies, it appeases. I think that this is what the children of Israel hoped imperfect Moses might do for them after that historic moment when God gave them the law; and I know this is what perfect Jesus does for us after that later historic moment when He fulfilled the law.

So a great message Lane—a message that strikes at the heart of our fears.

occupy toronto

Something is wrong with our world—actually a lot of things are—but have you ever noticed how the top 1% benefit from all the things that are wrong while the rest of us pay for it! Even when the 1% mess up they get rewarded while we pay. Some people are saying that they have had enough of this, I am one of them, so yesterday I helped “Occupy Toronto.”

The demonstration was peaceful and culminated in St. James Park where the protestors sang for peace and social change and at the same times the bells of St. James Cathedral (next to the park) rang out across the city!

The protesters are now making a tent city there and according to the Globe and Mail, Dean Douglas Stoute of St. James Cathedral said that the “protesters are welcome in the park and on church property.” Meanwhile in London England protesters are also gathering in a park next to St. Paul’s Cathedral, but according to The Guardian, the government ordered the police to remove them saying it was disrespectful form protesters to camp next to a Cathedral! Fortunately the Rev Dr. Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St. Paul’s, told the police to behave and move on themselves! Apparently the St. Paul’s sermon today was about “God and money” and some of the protesters joined the congregation. Good for these Church leaders - perhaps this will be followed up by congregations joining the protesters calling for social justice and change - I know I will be continuing to go to "Occupy Toronto" and show support!

Below is a video I shot yesterday.

PS I know the dancing is wild - and it is not because they are Pentecostal - and it is totally not their fault! I think it is because of the influence of the smoke the lady sitting in the front row is puffing at them! (seen more clearly toward the end of the clip).

penance or self pity

Today in church the hard benches and short leg space were getting to me. If I brought a cushion it would not hurt as much, but that is hardly appropriate. If I was catholic I could think of it as flagellantism (flogging oneself) and consider the pain penance, but I am not catholic and even if I were it is hardly appropriate to consider listening to a sermon as penance (although if you had my aching bones you might think otherwise).

After the service I went to the new lounge where coffee is served. A homeless man, who I noticed in the service, was drinking coffee alone (and spilling much of it—he was either unwell or hung-over).

I wondered why he was alone. Did we as a church not learn anything from "J", the homeless man I wrote about so many times before (e.g. here), the man who God sent to teach us lessons about inclusion? So I sat with the man, I asked his name and we talked. It was really hard to hear what he was saying because whatever was afflicting him made his speech slur, but at least I kept his company for a while.

Driving home I reflected on this incident and then realized I had forgotten the man’s name. I was disappointed with myself – names are important - the thing that moved me to made this my home church was that someone remembered my name and called me by it on my second visit. Because I forgot this man's name I can’t return that gesture – this man needs to be remembered as a person with a name rather than “homeless man.” Clearly I have not learnt the lesson of "J" either! Ouch the pain of that realization hurt more than the seats – ah the self pity of realizing my weaknesses – but isn't self pity just as biblically unsound as using flagellantism as penance? So what am I to do? I think I will sit on a cushion and pray about this for a while - the issue of self pity and being penitent have to be different - the former is all about the self while the latter is about giving up the self. Hmm, this church stuff isn't easy.

Jack's Goodbye

Sad news today of Jack Layton passing away. Two days ago he wrote a letter saying goodbye - I have posted excerpts below. We will miss you Jack.

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination. Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue....

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer....

Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

Jack Layton
August 20, 2011
Toronto, Ontario

Thoughts about riots from a child of the 60s

I have no idea what is going on in the London riots. I listen to those from the right blame bad parents, bad youngsters and soft police, and those from the left blame bad housing, bad jobs and brutal police. I am sure that some of these usual suspects play a role, but there is more going on here than this.

In England the riots are seen as local youth causing trouble on their own “street corner.” Today, however, we live in a globalized world and what is occurring in England has to be seen in an international context. The riots pictures above are not from the UK, but are riots currently occurring in Israel (A fact that is being underreported). And as we know there have also been riots in Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Yemen, Lybia, Chile and Mozambique, and there is political unrest in India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

I suspect that all of these riots are somehow connected. I am not saying that the exact same thing sparked the Tunisian, Israeli, and English etc rioters into action because the issues are very different in all of these places. I am not even sure if the rioters in one place are motivated by the exact same thing. Indeed, gone are the days when revolts were led by a single leader and focused on a single theme; today’s multitasking generation is more diverse and is motivated by a multiplicity of competing, intersecting and sometimes conflicting interests rather than a single cause.

Even though I say there is no single cause, because there is a global pattern here, there has to be a thread that connects it. I may not yet understand the thread, but I have an inkling. Back in the day, in the 1960s when I was a child, we had hippies, the Beatles, free love, Woodstock, and we protested against war. More importantly we had a hope about the future and we were determined that when we came of age we were going to be different from previous generations of leaders. We used to sing that there was “something about my generation,” that are going to “make the world a better place,” and we wanted to “give peace a chance.” Unfortunately we did not! And so we have to ask ourselves what kind of a world we have left this new generation.

I am not saying any of this to excuse the rioters (I think they all need to go to jail), but to simply blame it on “bad young” people is naive in the extreme. After all my generation helped make this new generation what they are, and we helped make the world that they are frustrated with what it is. So if any of us in my generation think that we are innocent in creating the problems that lie behind these riots, well then cast the first stone... ummm well okay bad analogy in this context, but you get what I mean!