Christ Church Cathedral Pentecost 2
June 14, 2009 Proper 11
Mark 4:26-34 and 2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17
Today's reading from Mark offers an interesting take on the future. If I may suggest a 21st century gloss it would be - "think small". So, as a community of new creations in Christ- how should we think about what is to come from our position of being able to live only in the present?
One dimension of our smallness arises out of the fact that we are part of a minority in a society which is increasingly composed of minorities. This situation challenges us to be able to develop a sense of the common good which will both bridge and challenge our individuality. Increasingly this is both a political and a social task whose address will largely determine whether we are able to have a functional society. For our religious community both here at Christ Church and in the larger scope of the Diocese and even beyond, it needs to be seen first of all as the need to maintain and develop our identity. For we know it is only within this context that we will be able to contribute to the larger community. One aspect of thinking small is that we can no longer assume that the ultimate solution will be to become the majority and hence able to consider our identity as not distinguishable from that of society in general. This idea has often been associated with the purpose of mission. So, the massive contribution of the Christian tradition to what is Canada today can no longer be thought of as having immediately obvious significance - but must be understood as belonging politically and socially to another era. Or, we risk on the political level of falling into the same situation that has turned Israeli society into an unmanageable grouping of sectarian interests who hold in common only their missing male foreskins.
The current emotional response to the new Provincial curriculum replacing so-called religious instruction in our schools illustrates how unprepared the Christian community is to deal with its present status in society. How, indeed, do we maintain and develop our identity in a way which differentiates us from other developing and growing religious and secular communities is no easy matter. While I sympathize with the stand taken by Loyola High School in the case before our courts, I wonder would not the same reasoning be equally applicable to a Muslim or Sikh school and thus bypassing the opportunity for understanding the changes and challenges presented by a multiethnic-religion society.
One advantage we in some parts of the Christian community can bring to the pressing need for a larger social vision is our recent incorporation of what appear to be irreconcilable differences is our recent and on-going experience involving women and gays in the church. It is true that outside influences and ideas have engineered this change. Admittedly these steps have radically altered the way in which we understand and use our priceless history revealed in The Bible. At the same time we all share the fear of losing touch with the faith and values which have been indispensable but can only be maintained by the exercise of violence that destroys any possible of maintaining civil society.
As new creations in Christ we are free to explore the dimensions which our world presents. Taking out the miraculous as proof of the handiwork of God leaves Him room to work in a world whose complexity requires room for both doubt and mystery. Some of what we see have not escaped the ken of those who preceded us; poverty, disease, greed, and violence are not new comers to our society. But much is new and was unimaginable to those who provided the leadership and guidance on which we have depended. The task of providing the words and the action to meet these new demands is what life today as beings in Christ is all about.
