Canada Day
30 June 2013
Saint Faith’s Anglican
Church
Vancouver BC
During the
1830’s and 1840’s the area we now know as ‘Germany’ did not exist. There were kingdoms such as Prussia and
Bavaria and large areas ruled by aristocratic families such as Baden-Württemberg. Some of these little fiefdoms were no larger
than the Diocese of New Westminster.
Politically
these states were predominantly conservative and aristocratic. If the state had a legislature, its
membership was usually reserved for the politically dominant members of
society. But it was during the 1830’s
and 1840’s that a spirit of reform and revolution blew through these
German-speaking states. Many Germans
were inspired by the American and French revolutions, while others found their
inspiration in the constitutional monarchy taking shape in Great Britain during
the reign of Victoria.
In most of
these small states, however, the forces opposing such changes were stronger
than the reformers. Thousands of
reformers were either imprisoned, exiled or killed. Many found their way to North America,
especially the larger cities of the United States.
One of these
reformers was the writer and publisher Carl Schürz. He fled Germany after the violent suppression
of the reform movement and finally settled in Wisconsin where he became active
in the Republican Party. In those days,
the Republican Party was, for the most part, a liberal party seeking either to
restrict slavery to the southern states or to abolish it altogether.
As a foreign
immigrant and a known liberal among liberals, Carl Schürz was frequently
attacked by his opponents as being ‘un-patriotic’. He was, after all, a foreigner and there were
and are plenty of Americans, even plenty of Canadians today, who do not trust
anyone they consider to be ‘foreign’.
Once, when his patriotism was challenged by an opponent, Schürz famously
responded, “My country right or wrong.
When right, to be kept right.
When wrong, to be put right.’
With these
words Schürz expressed what I believe to be the essence of how Christians are
to relate to the countries in which they live.
We are, after all, members of a movement that began two thousand years
ago and counts among its member people of every race and nation, men and women,
‘cradle’ Christians and ‘new’ Christians.
Our fundamental identity is as members of the body of Christ who are
committed to the words of the prophet Micah:
to do justice, to love steadfastly and to walk humbly with God.
On Canada Day
it’s interesting to remember that when the first Christian communities were
asked to describe their assemblies for worship and teaching, they chose a
political rather than a religious term to describe these assemblies. They said that the Christian assembly, the
Christian people, was an ekklésia, a word that in ancient Greek meant a
political assembly of citizens who gathered to make decisions for the common
good of the community.
It’s also interesting
to remember that when the first Christian communities were asked to describe
what their worship and teaching was, they chose another secular rather than
religious term to describe what they were doing. Christian worship and teaching was leitourgia,
an ancient Greek word meaning a public work voluntarily undertaken for the
common good.
When we put
these two words together, we have a striking portrait of what it means to be a
Christian living in any state. We are a
public assembly of people who are committed to the common good of the entire
community. When we gather, our worship
and teaching are a public work that we voluntarily undertake for the common
good. We are gathered here today, first
and foremost, to work for the common good; not our personal gain, not our
personal agendas, but for the common good of all the people among whom we live
and work, whether they are Christians or not.
When we are sent forth from this place, the eucharist we have shared is
food to strengthen us as we work for the well-being of our neighbours. The teaching that we have shared, whether
from the Scriptures, the prayer, the hymns or the sermon, are meant to help us
use our time, talents and treasure to build up our communities, our
neighbourhoods and our countries.
This means
that, from time to time, our governments might find us annoying. Why is that?
Governments such as ours, democratically elected, even if by only a
minority of the total electorate, are always tempted to play to their own
supporters. It is a natural temptation
to which we are all prone, but this is a problem when one is elected to serve,
whether in municipal, regional, provincial or national government. Once in government, one’s obligation is to
work for the common good and the common good sometimes challenges one’s
political base.
It is the
church’s task, so long as it exists, to speak to the powerful about the needs
and concerns of the whole community, especially those who are vulnerable,
voiceless and easily dismissed. We are
called to hold before the powerful the prophetic call to do justice, to love
steadfastly and to walk humbly before God.
We hold before our leaders the principles by which we expect them to
lead, even when those principles may require those leaders to replace political
platforms with bridges that lead to hope and equity.
As Canadians we
have much for which we give thanks to God, to our ancestors and to those who
work tirelessly, day after day, for the common good. As Christians our duty is gather Sunday after
Sunday, year after year, in our public assemblies to remember what makes the
common good and to be strengthened to work for that common good, even when it
is costly to ourselves, even when it means challenges our leaders and risk
being thought of as ‘un-patriotic’ or impractical.
What is the
‘true patriot love’ of which we sing today?
It is a love of justice, a love that is steadfast, a humility that knows
we are the stewards of God’s bounty not its possessors. It is a love that dares to keep our country
right when it is right, a love that dares to put our country right when it is
wrong. It is a love that fulfills the
motto of the Order of Canada, a motto taken from the Christian scriptures: ‘Desiderantes meliorem patriam.’ --- ‘They
seek a better country.’ (Hebrews 11.16).
For that better
country, we stand on guard. For that
better country, we shall work. For that
better country, we shall always hope. Amen.
1 comment:
Richard, thank you i found this most helpful even though we are keeping Ss Peter & Paul!
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