Speaker: Peter Fitch

Peter Fitch asks questions about the nature of joy and whether or not we can learn to welcome its visits with greater frequency. He looks at ideas in the NT and then finds additional wisdom from other sources: Jimmy Santiago Baca, Kahlil Gibran, and the Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu. Joy is something that we fight for, that we rest into, and that we gain through participation and service to others. It has a rich connection with sadness and sorrow, and also with the kind of connection with the Eternal that allows one to be fully alive in the present moment.

Today Peter Fitch went over the Values Section of our church website in order to discuss the postures that we have decided should be hallmarks of our community. Along the way, he contrasted the humility and kindness he hoped we could consistently show to each other with terrible moments in church history. Somewhere along the way, Christianity became very different than it might have been if it had followed the teachings of Jesus more closely. Peter thinks it’s important to be honest about the problems if we ever hope to find a better path.

Today Peter Fitch went over the Values Section of our church website in order to discuss the postures that we have decided should be hallmarks of our community. Along the way, he contrasted the humility and kindness he hoped we could consistently show to each other with terrible moments in church history. Somewhere along the way, Christianity became very different than it might have been if it had followed the teachings of Jesus more closely. Peter thinks it’s important to be honest about the problems if we ever hope to find a better path.

Peter Fitch asks people what insights they can glean from several Scriptures or famous quotes about living a good life. The responses are lovely. Then Peter reads from a story by Fredda Paul, residential school survivor, about happy memories associated with his childhood home. This seems to add another dimension to the idea of “reverberating joy” that emerged through the first part of the service. The Presence of God in everything lends itself to the idea that the world is on fire in a perpetual, but not destructive, way. 

Peter Fitch shares some of the fascinating symmetry that connects Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, with St. Martin of Tours, the person he was named after, and also with one of the darkest moments of the Holocaust. Somehow, it seems as though both Light and Darkness are dancing around the world-shaking events of the 16th century. Peter doesn’t know how to understand these things but he finds them fascinating and thinks they hint at a more complicated flow in history than we normally imagine.

Zoe Fitch sings three new songs that she has written and, in one of them, she makes the comment that people might go down our front street and think nothing is happening here. However, that would be a complete mistake because there is so much going on in people’s backyards. There is gardening and crafting and many forms of “making.” This fits very well with Peter’s talk for today. He brings a story from the New Testament and follows with an article about New Zealand from the BBC. Sometimes people put their trust in systems of understanding that really don’t help, like the woman who felt like an outcast for 12 years with internal bleeding. The doctors of her day couldn’t help her but touching Jesus’ outer garment did. She reached toward the place of best energy and it changed her life. Jacinda Ardern apologizes to Pacific Islanders for a past injustice, and it seems like she, too, is reaching toward the place of best energy.

Today’s teaching time was special. Peter Fitch read a story written by Fredda Paul and Leslie Wood about Fredda’s experiences as a residential school survivor in Nova Scotia. This story focused on his sense of brotherhood with Jonathan, a boy with special challenges that became his best friend. People commented later that it was very meaningful to hear the insights in the story because it was richer than hearing about these things in the news, where details may remain at a distance. Fredda’s stories helped our imaginations to engage and almost to be there. 

Here is a link to the story.

Today, for the first time in almost a year, we had a full band provide the music for the service. It was led by Lindsay McKay and it was wonderful. Unfortunately for us, the reason the band came together was to honour Lindsay as she is moving to Alberta to be closer to family. All in all, though, it was a special time, full of beauty and emotion. Peter Fitch gave a message out of John’s Gospel as he continues to look for ways to bring the best parts of Christian devotion and experience into a wider playing field that includes all people of good will. 

Peter Fitch spoke today about John 2, the story of Jesus turning water into wine. This was Father’s Day, but it was also the Sunday closest to Juneteenth, World Refugee Day, and National Indigenous Peoples Day. The mother of Jesus knew that it was time for a change. Jesus didn’t think so, but he followed her lead. The mother of Emmet Till, the 14 year old who was killed in Mississippi in 1955 for offending a white woman at a store, insisted on an open casket so that people could see what had been done to her son. It is believed that 600,000 people walked past his coffin over three days when he was returned to Chicago. Three months later, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, and soon the Civil Rights Movement was underway. Jesus took the old system and produced something better. So did Emmet Till’s mother and the other heroes of that day. Peter thinks we need new and better wine now. 

We listened to Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel to end the time today.

In this talk, Peter Fitch continues to examine the first chapter of John’s Gospel. Today he looks at Nathaniel, the person in the narrative who has the easiest time believing that Jesus is the Messiah. His name means “gift of God” and his story can be a reminder that we ourselves ought to quickly receive God’s gifts. Sometimes, for instance, we struggle to receive an attitude of contentment. His example could help us to be more open to this and to other gifts of perspective and wisdom.Music shared today: ‘Be Thou My Vision’ by Fernando Ortega, ‘I Shall Not Want” by Audrey Assad, ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ by Coldplay