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By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters February 9, 2024

 

 

 

 

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

February 11 Worship Service Video

 

 

Join us for Worship Sunday at 10:00 AM followed by fellowship and refreshments in the HeBrews Café

 

 

  • Join us Sunday, February 11 for our annual Mardi Gras Sunday featuring Dixieland music with the Winnipeg Brass Ensemble. “O When the Saints…”

 

  • Tickets are now available for our first fundraiser for this year’s roof project. A concert with “The Very Groovy Things” is the place to be on Saturday, February 17 at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $25 and available from the church office or before and after service on Sunday.

 

  • Upcoming Senior’s Fellowship events include a games afternoon on Wednesday, February 21 at 1:30 and a Bowling and Pizza Supper on Saturday, March 16 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at Coronation Lanes. Tickets ($30) for the bowling event are on sale after church on Sundays and, as we like to say, it is open for seniors of any age!!

 

  • We were saddened to learn of the death last week of Evelyn Hind. Her service will be in the sanctuary on Saturday, February 10 at 11:00 AM. Please remember the family and friends of Evelyn in your prayers.

 

  • For news and events please have a look at Life & Work on our website: Life and Work

 

 

Dear Friends

Welcome to worship for Sunday, February 11, 2024.

People who sit around a table with me at bible study will know that one of my favorite answers to a question is “yes and no”. Some may say that this is simply a delay tactic, buying myself more time in order to process the question. To that accusation I say, yes and no!

Questions posed at bible study are often meant to further conversation. We are always trying to look at a text from a variety of angles in order to discern wisdom for interpretation. The lens through which we look at those texts is sometimes called the ‘double rule of love’, a description of Augustine’s understanding that authentic biblical interpretation needs to demonstrate both the love of God and love of neighbour. Saying yes and no is a way for keeping the conversation going.

Yes and no also fits with the teaching of American Franciscan scholar Richard Rohr who believes faith and spiritual development leads us in the direction of both/and thinking. He calls it natural to the first half of life to be an either/or thinker but that with age and wisdom comes the ability to see nuance in an issue and the capacity to hold two opposing things in our mind at the same time as we search for resolution.

I should be quick to say the Rohr doesn’t believe we graduate into both/and thinking and never look back. Rather we always remain capable of both wisdom and foolishness all our lives but one hopes, over time, that wisdom is more prevalent.

Does Jesus always see both sides of an issue? The answer I believe is yes and no. On one hand Jesus seems to see and think the best of everyone. The sinner is welcomed, the lost sheep is pursued, and even Pilate is worthy of dialogue. And yet there are places in scripture where a side is taken. Peter is rebuked for failing to understand messiahship, disciples are corrected for their ambition, the tables of the temple do get turned over.

It’s not easy to know when to stay in the middle. Or should I say the depths where wisdom prevails. Not everyone, few even, are interested in nuance. There was a broad consensus that what happened in Israel on October 7 was horrific and terrorizing. That consensus began to fall away as the expected response came. What has happened in Gaza since is a humanitarian crisis of the highest order. It must end. A ceasefire must begin. The long, hard road to reconciliation must be taken. But in pictures of anti-war rallies I never see both flags flying. In letters to the editor I never see both Israel and Hamas named. It’s always one or the other. Lots of blame. Not much confession.

But what if more of us who are not Jewish nor Muslim, who do not have friends or family in that troubled part of the world, who have not been harmed save for the damage done to our common humanity, what if we tried to hold fast to the difficult middle? What if remained open to dialogue, conversation, and understanding? And above all, what if we remained committed to resisting and rejecting hatred among and between our neighbours and friends in this country? Then perhaps wisdom would begin to emerge and a path to peace would follow. Some questions cannot be answered yes and no.

Does God love Palestinians and Israelis with equal abandon? Yes. Would God have this horror continue? No.

Grace and peace,

Michael

 

 

  • Did you know you can support this ministry by e-transfer, automatic withdrawal (PAR), and gifted securities, in addition to weekly or monthly cheques? For Offering Information please visit: https://charleswoodunited.org/support/  Thank you for your generous support.

 

  • Through the United Church of Canada’s membership in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, an appeal for donations has been issued for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Middle East. For more information and to donate please visit:  Humanitarian Crisis in the Middle East Appeal

 

 

  • Read this week’s scripture lesson here: Mark 9:2-9

 

 

Michael Wilson / About Author
Michael’s involvement in the wider church has included ministry with children and youth, membership on the National Division of World Outreach, supervision of campus ministry, and the Ten Days for Global Justice National Committee. He has been blessed by the opportunity to represent the United Church of Canada in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Africa on different occasions. Michael has taught at the University of Winnipeg – Faculty of Theology and is past President of the Conference of Manitoba and North Western Ontario.
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