Reconciliation

Fleshing out some Big Ideas

At the end of April a number of Big Ideas were put in front of the community to get the juices flowing. No decision was made, but a very simple process of stickers and markers was used to test basic enthusiasm. There was sufficient positive interest in all the ideas to be worth some further development and discussion. If you’d like to be involved in developing any of these ideas, reach out to the person whose name is on it or contact knunn@holytrinity.to and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.

Read More »Fleshing out some Big Ideas

Sour Grapes

By James Harbeck

Sermon, Holy Trinity, October 1, 2017

Readings: Ezekiel 18:1–4, 25–32; Psalm 25:1–10; Philippians 2:1–13; Matthew 21: 23–32

I’m going to tell a little story today. I don’t know whether I’d call it a parable. It’s not quite a literal history. But it’s close enough.

There was, once, a place that was very nice. Lush. Great for growing grapes and things like that. There was a family living there, and they were pretty happy with it. We’ll call them the Ones. Nothing’s perfect, but, you know, the Ones had food, family, all the things that people do with their time when nothing and no one is forcing them to do something else. Life was good enough.

And then another family showed up from another place. We’ll call them the Twos. They liked where the Ones were living. They wanted to live there. They didn’t say, “Hey, do you mind if we fit in here somehow?” or “What can we give you in exchange for some of what you have so we can live here?” They said, “Hi. We’re the Twos. These are guns. Look what they can do: [BANG BANG BANG]. Get the idea? We want this land. Oh, you? You can get out and live somewhere else, or you can stay and work for us.” Some of the Ones left. Some were killed. Some decided to stay and work for the Twos, because at least they’d still be in this nice place getting the benefit of the land.Read More »Sour Grapes

Homily for June 12, 2016

Preached by Alison Kemper on June 12, 2016

The biggest concern for any organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet.

All three stories today look at the problem of who’s good enough to be in the circle of God’s love and approval. First, God gets Nathan to show David he’s being an outrageously arrogant, entitled jerk, a murderer and adulterer.Read More »Homily for June 12, 2016

#22days

The Anglican church had a century-long history of working with the government to run close to 30 residential schools for Indigenous children. Though individual participants may have had nobler intentions, the underlying colonial aim was to break Indigenous cultures, and to assimilate the children into the bottom rungs of a hierarchical society. Doing that, we destroyed families and communities, and drove students and their parents, siblings and children into dysfunction and addiction. Many were also sexually abused.

We recognized our wrongdoing and withdrew from running the schools in 1969. It took us another quarter century to apologize to former students and their families. We’ve been trying to live into that apology ever since, pushing for justice, healing and reconciliation. This is also a process of decolonizing ourselves.Read More »#22days