By: Annie
When we talk about serving at church or leadership, it’s often focused on what people aren’t doing. Look at all these vacancies. Why aren’t more people stepping up? If you’d only put your trust in God, you could do great things. I’m not saying there’s no value in that line of thinking, but what’s another way of looking at it? What are people doing?
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It’s Friday morning. The news has been dominated by the two soldiers’ murders giving us a much needed breather from the lackluster coverage of Toronto’s mayoral race. It’s been nice to see political adversaries displaying some comradery; the flowers members of the public have dropped off in memoriam is moving; and being a little bit more informed about what military personnel and their families go through is never a bad thing.
I find it fascinating that we unabashedly flaunt our allegiance to hockey teams but when it comes to Queen & Country, we keep our patriotism quiet and subtle until something big happens. Unless someone attacks our country or is representing us at the Winter Olympics, we seem pretty disconnected from fellow Canadians. (Maybe I only think this because I’m a Torontonian.)
I’m not here to pass judgment; after all, I subscribe to our quiet brand of patriotism. As I continue to reflect on church leadership and member-engagement, am I the same way about my own membership to ET? Or even my relationships with other ET-ers?
Now a month away, the 40th Anniversary Celebration planning is really taking off. Tri-congregational collaborations are never easy and they reveal my own prejudice towards others at ET. I make the assumption that things should be delegated to English congregants because others won’t want to help or don’t have a particular skillset or aesthetic. In thinking about the elections, I wonder what it says when I abstain from voting for unfamiliar candidates. Maybe I need to vote for them to be a part of our reconciliation and partnership as one church.