7 September
2014
Dear Violet,
As I read this letter to you, you
are with your family waiting for your baptism into the Christian family. Outside the weather is bright and warm as it
has been for most of this summer in the Lower Mainland and across the province.
Because it is such a nice day and a
Sunday, most people are busy playing or walking or riding their bikes. Some are shopping, while others are sitting
across the street at John and Maddy’s coffee shop, sipping coffee while they
read or talk with friends.
Many of these people know that Saint
Faith’s is a church and some may know that it is an Anglican church. But most of them really don’t know what is
going on hear today nor do they know what we do throughout the week for our
neighbours, far and wide.
I’m sorry that they don’t know what
we are doing, especially what we are doing today. Why am I sorry? Because today we are doing something that we
hope will make a difference in their lives and in the lives of people we do not
know or whom we have never seen. We are
baptizing you and that is something very important.
Your baptism is important because
this has been a very hot and dry summer in more ways than can be measured by a
thermometer and a rain gauge. It’s been
a hot summer when we have seen just how much more needs to be done in our world
so that all children can grow up into loving and compassionate adults and so
that old people can live in peace without fearing for their own lives and the
lives of their children and grandchildren.
Here in British Columbia our
teachers, our government and our parents are caught up in a great debate about
what is the best way for our schools to educate our children and how we should
compensate our teachers. South of the
border in the United States, events in a small town near Saint Louis, Missouri
called Ferguson have reminded us that the colour of a person’s skin still
matters when it comes to their treatment by police.
In the Ukraine we see a larger and
more powerful country, Russia, acting as a bully and using its influence to
encourage people who may have real grievances to enter into armed conflict with
their neighbours and their rightful government.
In the countries of the Middle East there are people who use religion as
a weapon against people who have different beliefs.
These are just some of the ways this
summer has been so hot. But today God is
pouring some needed rain upon our dryness, rain that comes to us in the form of
the waters of baptism. Today God acts to
provide our world with someone who will join with others to cool things
down: God is giving us you, Violet Jane,
and God is giving you to everyone whom you will meet throughout your life.
Violet, God’s world is like a
quilt. It is made up of many beautiful
pieces: animals, plants, people, land,
oceans and sky. What’s important is that
all these pieces stay together; by themselves they do not do what God created
them to be and to do.
The problem with quilts is that, as
beautiful as they are, they have to be cared for. Because they are made up of many different
pieces of cloth stitched together, they can come apart at the seams.
You see, Violet, from the very
beginning of time God has been working to help people understand that our
differences are pieces of a glorious quilt rather than reasons to hate one
another and to tear God’s creation apart.
But we still have a long way to go before everyone understands this.
So today God will give you a special
life-long job; you are going to become one of God’s quilters. God wants you to do two things: mend the seams when they begin to unravel and
add new pieces to the quilt whenever you can.
When you see friends arguing, the
seams of the quilt are unraveling. God
wants you to help your friends stop arguing and to re-discover their
friendship. When you yourself are not
happy and at odds with your family or your friends, the seams of the quilt are
unraveling. God wants you to take the
first step by asking for forgiveness and by working to renew your friendships
and family relations.
When you see people who are lonely,
God wants you to reach out and make them part of the quilt. When you see people treated badly because
they have different beliefs or come from a different culture or have a
different skin colour or however they may be different from you and your
friends, God wants you to see only beauty in them and to help them because part
of the quilt.
It’s a big job and all of us who are
here today as well as many others will work with you. God has a lot of quilters at work in our
world, some we know, some we do not. May
you always know joy in this work. May
you always know the warmth and comfort of God’s glorious quilt of
creation. May you always mend what has
become frayed and grow the quilt so that all of creation may shine with the
glory of God.
In God’s love,
(The Rev’d Dr)
Richard Geoffrey Leggett
Saint Faith’s
Anglican Church
7284 Cypress
Street
Vancouver
BC V6P 5M3
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