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Company's Coming

7/31/2009 7:58:55 AM

I can remember as a child the flurry of activity that happened in our home when there was company coming. Extra baking was done, the house was cleaned, and we kids were warned to be on our best behaviour. Carl and I have company coming this weekend and so the grocery list is made, the clean sheets are on the bed and the ‘to do’ list is made up with everything that needs to be done before they arrive in order to provide welcoming hospitality.

Some time ago I heard an artist interviewed on the radio. The interviewer was making many complimentary comments about her work. She responded by saying that her art was something she could do naturally. She felt she was being really creative when she hosted a dinner party and brought together just the right mix of people so that the evening was a fun experience and everyone left having grown from the encounter. I really liked that idea. Hospitality has always been something important for me.

Hospitality is one of the Christian practices. Christian practices are defined as, “patterns of communal action that create openings in our lives where the grace, mercy, and presence of God may be made known to us.” There are many stories in scripture of visitors coming, often unexpectedly, to someone’s door. It was only later realized that the visitor was an angel, a messenger from God. I do think that when we offer hospitality the potential is always present that God will be made known to us in the encounter.

Have a great long weekend and “may you host angels, unaware.”

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Seeking Justice

7/31/2009 7:58:02 AM

Yesterday’s Toronto newspapers all featured on their front page headlines about the sentencing of Melissa Todorovic that 17 year-old who was instrumental in promoting the death of Stefanie Rengel. This has been a case that has been profiled since Stefanie’s murder on New Year’s Day last year. Up until now this teenage girl had only been referred to as MT but the judge determined that her crime was worthy of an adult sentence and that meant her name could be revealed.

The crime was heinous. How does one find justice for such a sad and tragic loss? Stefanie’s brother Ian spoke well as he read a statement on behalf of his family. It was a statement that revealed the family’s search for justice for their loss but also hope for Melissa’s well being. He said they hoped that Melissa would receive “all the help our system has to offer” and that his family “pray that she benefits from all the services now available to her and [that she] can grow to heal and become a balanced and rational member of society”.

I don’t know Stefanie’s family although I am acquainted with her grandparents. They attend Trinity United Church in Bowmanville and I got to know them over the nine years I served St. Paul’s United Church in Bowmanville. I know that they are fine, committed Christians who vigorously engage in what it means to keep faith; I also know that losing their granddaughter has been a challenge no one could ever imagine. My acquaintance with them has given me reason to be particularly interested in this case. As the details emerged it has caused me to reflect on the intersection of justice and faith. I only know what I read in the paper and hear on the radio but it seems to me this family has walked the difficult line between forgiveness and retribution. In their response to the verdict they gave witness that while acknowledging that their beloved Stefanie will never be returned to them they hope for healing for the one who manipulated a young man into killing her.

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Science and Faith

7/24/2009 9:35:51 AM

I am back … after some wonderful and renewing Sabbath time. I hope you are enjoying some summer “down-time” too.

This week I have been thinking a lot about travel – not everyday, ‘it’s summer let’s drive to the east coast’, but TRAVEL. Like, “Let’s go to the moon”. This week marked the 40^th anniversary of the first ‘man on the moon’ explorations. It was so exciting way back in 1969. I was 14 years old; just the right age to be captivated by the notion of space travel. Those were heady days for Americans and we Canadian neighbours tagged right along with their optimism. The sentiment was, “If we can walk on the moon what can’t we do?”

As part of the television coverage for the moon walk anniversary there was an interview with Buzz Aldrin. The journalist asked him, “I understand you took communion with you into space.” My ears perked up. Aldrin, a committed Christian had been given the communion elements by his Presbyterian minister. NASA did not want him to disclose his religious convictions at the time so there was no public coverage of the fact that there in the space module a religious act took place. Aldrin, remembering the event later wrote, “I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.'I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements."

I know that for many the link between science and religion seems tenuous. I have heard young people say they can’t have faith because of their scientific training. But here, an intelligent, learned scientist was able to integrate science and belief, fact and faith in a most profound way. Aldrin gave thanks for the creative source, for God, the one who had brought him to that significant moment. Next time I look up at a full moon I will be thinking about that too.

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