Wednesday, June 27, 2012

June 27, 2012


This year our church Board put a lot of energy into what we believe. An Awesome Faith: Inside Out and Outside In was our theme. What we think affects what we do, and what we do informs how we think.

As it is with individuals and congregations, so it is with denominations. These last few years our United Church has been examining what we believe – we have been so active in our communities, governments and family lives that surely what we believe has been well toned.

Indeed. Our founding denominations created a Statement of Faith just before the inauguration of the United Church in 1925. The writers were quite clear that it was a statement of and for that time. As the years have progressed, our articulations of faith have changed, both in vocabulary and in content. Some articles of faith remain constant too.

Our founders made sure that we would not be a church that requires subscription to a set of beliefs: we don’t shun or excommunicate people for their faith. We encourage conversation, questions, growth, experience, prayer, and the trust that comes from being honest about our doubts as well as our convictions.

From sea to sea to sea, congregational and presbytery leadership have voted clearly to add the 1940 Statement of Faith, We Are Not Alone, and A Song of Faith to our 1925 doctrine. We have the material at St. Paul’s and you are welcome to look at it. Or open united-church.ca and put Our Words of Faith or Remit 6 in the search box. Truly An Awesome Faith: Inside Out and Outside In.    


Blessings,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

Friday, June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012


Wednesday I went to City Hall. I drew a breath in Churchill Square. The fountain splashed in the sun, and smiled as I remembered being part of the crowd there last week for Pride. The Art Gallery shone beautifully in the morning sun and of course there were people milling around the Stanley Milner Library, and the open space at the doors of the Winspear. 

I had been invited to give the opening prayer at Edmonton City Council. Each meeting opens with prayer. For 35 years, councillors have begun their deliberations with a voice from our many faith communities. They begin their business in prayer. Wow.

Two items from their agenda are on my mind. The Edmonton Symphony, whose home is the Winspear, played at Carnegie Hall, home to beauty and sound; the orchestra was honoured by Council. 1100 Edmontonians accompanied them to New York. And an Edmonton Transit driver was recognized for his achievement at the 2012 International Bus Roadeo. Larry Waselenchuk placed 5th! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a bus rodeo.

We live and move and have our being here, where people hear prayers that are familiar and foreign, where music soars and where bus drivers are expert. Hurray for a community that cares.


Blessings,

  
The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

June 12, 2012


Lord, listen to your children praying.
Lord, send your Spirit in this place.
Lord, listen to your children praying.
Send us love, send us power, send us grace.

Right in this time, right here, we call on God to be with us. Smack in the middle of our everyday doing, we ask for God’s grace. Precisely in the dilemmas and discouragements of living, we ask for God’s power. Immediately, no waiting or bargaining, we ask for God’s love.

Sometimes we think of our lives as a journey. We even speak of
passing away when a friend dies. If life is a pilgrimage, then we need places of nourishment, rest and protection along the way. Medieval pilgrims in Europe wore a shell on their cloak or hat, and looked for the mark of a scallop shell to indicate safe haven.     


We find it, too. All along our journey, in all our passages, as pilgrims we find the nourishment, rest and protection our souls need for the living of our days. Believe it: right in this time, right here, in this spot along your journey, as you call on God to be with you, God is. And Sunday, we sang for you:

Lord, listen to your children praying.
Lord, send your Spirit in this place.

Blessings,



The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean