“Finding Sanctuary” – Jess does some summing up of our “Roots of Resilience” theme with this talk about the ways in which we can be a “safe haven” or sanctuary for each other.
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Here is a link to the 3rd Quarter Financial Report. This report compares our actual income and expenses up to September 30, 2024 and compares it with the budget passed at our last AGM. Some of you will recall that last year’s 3rd quarter report was a bit grim. This year, while our donations are lower than budgeted, our expenses are also lower, and so we’re currently showing a very small deficit – a much better picture than the deficit we were showing at this point last year. Our fourth quarter is typically our strongest quarter, and so now is the time to please invest in the opportunities that this community has to serve the town and each other as we wrap up the year. An optimistic year end will enable us to plan with creativity for how we serve the community and town in 2025.
If you have any questions about finances at SCC, please talk with Walter, Jess or Rosie anytime.
We’re also working on reducing our bank fees, and one important way of doing this is to encourage people to switch from direct deposit of donations to a scheduled e-transfer that most banks will do for free. Please connect with Rosie if you would like help in how to do this. Here are some different options for giving.
Remember: the easiest ways to give is to e-transfer to givetoscc@gmail.com.
We recall and celebrate 32 years together with the help of three pairs of storytellers and a couple of poems.
Rachael grapples with how to respond to hard things in the Bible and in life, and shares some learnings from her recent trip to Ireland.
[Here’s a different kind of blog post based on the creativity of Andre Lefebvre, who shares a musical interpretation with this introduction]:
“I see in Revelation a sort of “blueprint” of the decadence of mankind at certain points in History. Déjà vus of self-destruction, the self-inflicted consequences of building on the sand, not God hammering earth but coming through with an unveiling of Who he is and is doing in the spirit world. A message of hope that this is not all there will ever be.”
[After Alex Henderson gave a thoughtful introduction to the importance of resilient Christian communities at a “Second Breakfast,” I invited him to share his thoughts as a blog post for those who weren’t there. WT].
In my view, Christian resilience is not a heavy, enduring, self-sacrificial stance, but a patient and purposeful stance. It involves the audacity to hope for good things in the face of hardships. In scripture, we are promised times when we will have to endure unjust suffering, loss, pain, and hardship – this stuff cannot be explained nor said to be a result of any kind of a deserved consequence. Pain and hardship are inherent in the natural world, which can sometimes be utterly awful/cruel or amazingly good/beautiful. Like the rest of nature, the humans around us can be fickle. But resilience is possible despite that fact, and I think a Jesus-centered community’s resilience is built on an especially powerful 2-sided kind of hope: 1) a hope that if we humans treat each other and nature rightly (which can happen if Jesus changes people’s perceptions of everything), then we will be better positioned to weather the random crap that this world will throw at us, and we will later experience more of the goodness inherent within God’s green world; and 2) a hope that if plan #1 does not pan out due to fickle reasons, we can hope for goodness from God during our suffering, even up to and beyond the point of death.
In Psalm 85:10,12-13 the Psalmist says that God’s righteousness and our faithfulness are intimately intertwined, and this results in us having an experience of peace and goodness in the world: “…righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.”
In Proverbs 9:1-6, 12 the writer of Proverbs says that secure well-being is built upon wisdom and insight: “Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, ‘Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, ‘Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.’…If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer…”
In James 5:10-11, James says that goodness is realized through patience and perseverance through suffering: “Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
A big reason for being a ‘church-going’ Christian in the 21st century, in my opinion, includes the idea that the world is losing resilient communities.
Resilient Communities in the 21st Century.
A big reason for being a ‘church-going’ Christian in the 21st century, in my opinion, includes the idea that the world is losing resilient communities. Resilience in communities is possible with collective, sturdy, God-imbued values, like insight, wisdom and compassion and treating each other and the world with care. Communities that are full of fighting and selfish ambition maintain a kind of strength through domineering others and exploiting weaknesses around them. But these kinds of communities are not resilient when real trouble strikes – the people in these communities scatter to the wind. Many people lack a community entirely.
The world can be a scary place at times. The ‘humanity + technology’ power we see right now is revealing to many people that we can’t just modernize our way towards a bright future of collective resilience on earth. Maybe if we try Mars…? Technology without wisdom just amplifies human folly – example: the Manhattan Project. We see how with technology we have sowed unsustainable carbon emissions, and we are all reaping climate change. We have tech billionaire overlords with devoted consumeristic cults made up of sad, isolated humans worshipping their symbols and images in flickering blue screens in the dark.
Communities that value selfish ambition, exploitation, hatred of outsiders, vanity, or pride are not resilient to deal with human suffering, they amplify our suffering. Awful communities can obscure the goodness inherent within God’s green world. But since churches have been culpable of being some of the worst kinds of communities in this regard, so why should we continue to invest in them? Because “on paper” (by that I don’t just mean the scriptures) churches should be able to do this.
In history, Christian communities have had an uncanny knack for surviving in the face of persecution, wars, and pestilence. In the past and today, resilient Christian communities served like lifeboats to needy people around them, especially in cases or times when society fails. How were these Christian communities sustained under such intense pressure without being rooted in a deep, powerful and mystical resiliency that comes from ‘going all-in’ on Jesus Christ? It’s possible, and so I think we should strive to build a community built upon Rock and not on sand as the storm surges really begin to kick up.
– by Alex Henderson
This morning, Renate used Ephesians 4 to explore the wise use of expressive, yet gracious, language. You can see her power point, and/or listen below.
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Once upon the time, there was a young man named Jesus who cared deeply about people and wanted to improve the way they lived their real lives in his community. So people told him, you should run for an election! We’d vote for you!
But Jesus said, “I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’d rather just tell stories to people and love them and show them that there is a better way to live and be whole.”
But people insisted: “But you’d have so much more power if you were a politician! You could change things!”
Jesus sighed. “I don’t like the idea of changing things with that kind of power. I think I have as much authority as there is love in my heart, truth in my stories and integrity in my actions.”
“Oh, bless your heart,” they said, “but that won’t get us anywhere. You’d be no better than a poet.”
Some of these people were mainstream politicians, and they said, “Come, meet some of our corporate lobbyists – I mean friends – and they can support your campaign.”
But Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor and woe to the rich. And I don’t have a campaign.” These friends didn’t find that very helpful.
Cross misused at Spanish fascist memorial
Other people were populists, and they said, “Look at these crowds! They’re angry and want change! Tell them – and the other corporate lobbyists – what they want to hear. It doesn’t even have to be true! And we’ll be a huge voice together.”
But Jesus said, “I don’t think these crowds are really committed to the kind of love and challenge that I’m trying to encourage. Following me is hard on the ego – kind of like dying. I don’t want anything to do with an angry mob.”
Instead, Jesus kept telling stories and healing the sick, and he lived so much in solidarity with the poor that when he saw injustice, he did things like flip over the tables of exploitation. But he also kept telling people not to make such a big deal about who he was – and that everyone could do the kinds of things he was doing, if not better! He even said they shouldn’t even call him good!
But people were getting upset by it all anyway. So much so that the people in power decided he was their enemy, even if he wasn’t running for office. They threw him in jail, then mocked him and killed him – just to make sure that nothing big got started.
“Wow, what a lousy politician,” people said when they saw him dead – just hanging useless on a tree.
But then a funny thing happened. The women and men who had really been following Jesus were discouraged at first, but soon they started saying that Jesus was still with them! And with some real enthusiasm, they were saying it was true that they could live with the kind of love and trust that Jesus had. That the Spirit of Jesus (which was the Spirit of God!) lived in everyone and made that possible. This started getting people’s attention again.
Then the people in power said, “Ah geez. You got to be kidding us. They’re just going to be a pain in the butt.” So, they started persecuting and killing the followers too. But it was like playing “Whack-a-mole”; the more they tried to eliminate them, the more they kept spreading – somehow without any campaigns or angry mobs. And without any help from corporate lobbyists. It seemed impossible!
This kept going, more or less, for a couple of centuries until an Emperor finally gave up. “Forget it,” he said, “Let’s stop killing them because it’s just a waste of money. In fact,” he said brightening, “Let’s brand our Empire with their logo! It seems like it’s trending!” It was like he didn’t even remember that the cross was a symbol of suffering and dying at the hands of Empire.
Jesus would have rolled over in his grave, if he’d still been there.
Sadly, the Emperor’s re-branding did more to wipe out the following of Jesus than all the persecution did. In a generation or two, people seemed to forget what a lousy politician Jesus had been, and they used his name to back up their own power, while conveniently forgetting that his love had been especially for the poor and hurting.
On the other hand. just like Empire kept getting mixed up in faith, the radical love of Jesus kept showing up in the stories and symbols that they were using, even when they were being used for the opposite purposes. From time to time, little communities of life and love would spring up and start spreading a healing message again.
Some people said it was getting confusing because Jesus and his symbols were so often being used by different groups for opposite purposes. But others said, it might not be that hard to tell them apart because true followers of Jesus were the ones actually trying to follow Jesus – by loving and serving others the way he did, even though he was a lousy politician.
Here is a link to our latest financial statement and budget; this shows how we’re doing as of the end of 2023 and includes our 2024 annual budget, recently passed at our AGM. Things looked rough mid-year, but thanks to your generosity, we nearly broke even! Please invest in the opportunities that this community has to serve the town and each other as we head into 2024.
If you have any questions about finances at SCC, please talk with Walter, Jess or Rosie anytime.
Please connect with Rosie if you would like to set up a regular e-transfer autodeposit. Here are some different options for giving.
One of the easiest ways to give is to e-transfer to givetoscc@gmail.com.
When I was preparing the second week of my workshop on “Loving Enemies in a Time of Polarization,” I was struck by a sense that I should pick up my copy of Thomas Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (1968), my favourite among many favourites of Merton’s. It’s probably not overstating to say that this is one of the handful of books that has transformed my life, confirming a contemplative direction integrated with peacemaking.
I browsed through the countless dogeared pages that marked passages I never wanted to lose. Before long, 
I knew why I had needed to pick up this book. Of course, in a few pages, he was saying things more profound than my notes. When I summarized my workshops in earlier posts, I took this section out because I decided that I would just let Merton stand alone. So, without further ado, here are some of Merton’s thoughts on why we need our adversaries (all of the many emphases are mine and I’ve chosen not to update all the unfortunate male pronouns):
The basic falsehood is the lie that we are totally dedicated to truth, and that we can remain dedicated to truth in a manner that is at the same time honest and exclusive: that we have the monopoly of all truth, just as our adversary of the moment has the monopoly of all error. We then convince ourselves that we cannot preserve our purity of vision and our inner sincerity if we enter into dialogue with the enemy, for he will corrupt us with his error. We believe, finally, that truth cannot be preserved except by the destruction of the enemy – for, since we have identified him with error, to destroy him is to destroy error. The adversary, of course, has exactly the same thoughts about us and exactly the same basic policy by which he defends the “truth.” He has identified us with dishonesty, insincerity, and untruth. He believes that, if we are destroyed, nothing will be left but truth…
The one who can best point out our error, and help us to see it, is the adversary whom we wish to destroy. This is perhaps why we wish to destroy him. So, too, we can help him to see his error, and that is why he wants to destroy us. In the long run, no one can show another the error that is within him, unless the other is convinced that his critic first sees and loves the good that is within him. So while we are perfectly willing to tell our adversary he is wrong, we will never be able to do so effectively until we can ourselves appreciate where he is right. And we can never accept his judgment on our errors until he gives evidence that he really appreciates our own peculiar truth. Love, love only, love of our deluded fellow man as he actually is, in his delusion and in his sin: this alone can open the door to truth….
We are all convinced that we desire the truth above all. Nothing strange about this. It is natural to man, an intelligent being, to desire the truth. (I still dare to speak of man as “an intelligent being”!) But actually, what we desire is not “the truth” so much as “to be in the right.” To seek the pure truth for its own sake may be natural to us, but we are not able to act always in this respect according to our nature. What we seek is not the pure truth, but the partial truth that justifies our prejudices, our limitations, our selfishness. This is not “the truth.” It is only an argument strong enough to prove us “right.” And usually our desire to be right is correlative to our conviction that somebody else (perhaps everybody else) is wrong.
Why do we want to prove them wrong? Because we need them to be wrong. For if they are wrong, and we are right, then our untruth becomes truth: our selfishness becomes justice and virtue: our cruelty and lust cannot be fairly condemned. We can rest secure in the fiction we have determined to embrace as “truth.” What we desire is not the truth, but rather that our lie should be proved “right,” and our iniquity be vindicated as “just….”
No wonder we hate. No wonder we are violent. No wonder we exhaust ourselves in preparing for war! And in doing so, of course, we offer the enemy another reason to believe that he is right, that he must arm, that he must get ready to destroy us. Our own lie provides the foundation of truth on which he erects his own lie, and the two lies together react to produce hatred, murder, disaster.
― Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
To Merton and to readers, I apologize for ending this lengthy passage on a pessimistic note, fitting as it may be for our day.
So, perhaps I’ll just repeat some of the hope from the middle:
In the long run, no one can show another the error that is within him, unless the other is convinced that his critic first sees and loves the good that is within him. So while we are perfectly willing to tell our adversary he is wrong, we will never be able to do so effectively until we can ourselves appreciate where he is right.
If you missed the posts in this series, you can begin the first one here.