Sunday Sermon - 29 June
As you know, last Saturday we hosted a Truth and Reconciliation workshop called Mapping the Ground We Stand On. The purpose of this exercise was to understand that, despite what our education and old history books tells us, there were people in communities living, thriving, worshipping, across this great land we call Canada or to them, North Turtle Island. We learned that there were hundreds of thousands of occupants that lived here for thousands of years. We learned that there were over 630 First Nations that existed from sea, to sea, to sea and some possibly existed as far back as 14,000 years ago. For many of us we were surprised to learn how many First Nations and indigenous peoples existed on North Turtle Island.
My early education taught me that the ‘natives’ on these lands were considered uneducated, uncivilized, violent savages that needed to be either ‘civilized’ or destroyed. The land was not considered theirs and in accordance with The Doctrine of Discovery, which emanated from Christian Papal Bulls, Europeans justified settler colonialism by allowing their explorers to claim non-Christian lands for their monarch. In other words, this land, despite having established communities and peoples living on it for thousands of years, was theirs for the taking.
During the workshop we had the opportunity to tell our own settler stories. First, our indigenous and Metis friends who were present told us of the Nation that they come from and where their people came from. Then we, the European settlers, told our stories, where we or our parents or grandparents and ancestors came from. As we did, we took our place on the Map.
For me, I told the story of my great-grandfather who emigrated here from Sicily in 1904. He came through Ellis Island, and eventually ended up in Toronto. As I said this, I went and took my place on the Map and as I did, I walked across the map stepping on the names of the nations that were laid at their place on the map before me - Cree, Naskapi, Seneca, Algonquin, Onondaga. When I stopped walking, stepping on these nations, I was standing on the name of the Wendat people. My response to this symbolic experience was visceral. I stepped on first peoples to get to the place I am today. I felt it deeply - but I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling. It wasn’t guilt, per se, but it was uncomfortable. I definitely felt ‘discomfort’ and I definitely felt sad and pained at the history that I was not taught and the torment that these first peoples had to endure.
Now, here we are today on the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, two great apostles - forefathers and pioneers of the Christian Church. Today is also the day that we celebrate the beginning of a new season in our historic old museum church, Christ Church - our ‘mother church.’ If you’ve never been inside the museum church I cannot urge you strongly enough to please visit it. Take your time in that space - it is the church that birthed this place. Christ Church smells of settlers' stories, it creaks of the ghosts that worked this land and created this village. It beckons us to learn, to know about our past - to embrace and celebrate our history.
I love that little, powerful, church but I have to admit, I was a little conflicted this morning, after the emotional learning experience of last week’s Mapping exercise. How do I reconcile this? How do we reconcile this? How do we acknowledge the torment and oppression that was inflicted on indigenous, Metis and all the peoples of First Nations while still celebrating the vision and perseverance of settlers like Strickland and the history that brought us these old churches in this amazing little village.
I think that today, being the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul, gives us a way.
St. Peter and St. Paul were two very different men, from two very different cultures:
Peter was a Galilean Fisherman. Paul was a Pharisee from Tarsus - a Hellenic/Greek Jew.
Peter was called by Jesus when Jesus was just beginning His ministry. Paul was converted after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Peter evangelized primarily to the Jews, while Paul, primarily to the Gentiles.
Peter was impulsive, passionate and was often the first of the Apostles to speak up and express his thoughts and concerns. Paul was a theologian, thoughtful, logical and deeply reflective of his faith.
Peter only wrote a couple of letters that we are aware of, while Paul’s writings are prolific - we know of 13 letters or Epistles in Scripture attributed to Paul.
Despite their differences, they had one main thing in common. They were flawed human beings.
Peter denied Jesus three times
Paul persecuted Christians
They both failed God and they were both forgiven, restored, and reconciled with God.
In today’s Gospel Jesus questions Peter three times, this passage is actually referred to as The Restoration of Peter. Here Jesus restores Peter after Peter had fearfully denied knowing him three times when Jesus was arrested, just before His death.
We also know that Paul persecuted the early Church, violently oppressing Christians until Jesus called out to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The Spirit confronted him with a blinding light, and when his sight was restored, he saw the error of his ways and began his mission as an evangelist for Christ.
Before God as Jesus or the Holy Spirit restored these men their past was acknowledged - they were forced to acknowledge their past by Jesus, who asked good straightforward questions.
Peter’s: Do you love me?
Paul’s: Why do you persecute me?
God requires them to confront their past. There must be truth before restoration. The past isn’t erased, it is faced and only then can it be redeemed, reconciled.
Like Peter and Paul we are obligated to face our history, not deny it or “cancel it.” We need to learn it, to know it, to understand it and ultimately to accept it for what it was, what truly, truthfully, happened in our past.
Let me be clear, many early settlers committed no wrong. They came here with dreams and hope to build a new life in a new land, running away from whatever strife they were experiencing to the exciting hope of the new world.
And we, we didn’t personally commit historic wrongs. But like the settlers before us, we and our forebears benefitted from them and so yes, we do have a responsibility to seek truth, confess and repair relationships. Just like our church’s founding fathers did with Jesus. They named their errors, they owned their mistakes, they sought forgiveness and they were forgiven. Then they made an impactful, positive difference in the world.
Just like them, today Jesus calls us to “Feed my sheep.” This means listening to, standing with and caring for our Indigenous neighbours. Before we can do that, we must know our own story, our own history, where we came from and how and why we are here. The history that we learn about here in this museum church is part of that story, and it is so, so, very important.
Our church is built on the mission of two flawed yet forgiven men. And our church is a place where:
Truth is spoken
Wrong is named
Forgiveness is sought and offered
Restoration is pursued through just action
As people of God - and as settlers - we don’t ask for cheap, easy, forgiveness. We participate in the hard work of knowing truth by learning our past not just intellectually, but deeply - emotionally - by doing things like being in these historic settlers’ churches today and owning its good and hard history. And once we know truth, we can then seek apology, ask for forgiveness and begin the restoration of relationships and embrace solidarity and love for one another.
This quest for restoration, for reconciliation, does not come from a place of guilt alone, but out of love… out of love for those we have historically hurt and for God who shows us that we, broken and flawed people, can be healed, restored and reconciled. And then, like Peter and Paul, we can go into the world from a position of loving strength to do the good work that God calls us to do.
Amen.