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John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,

even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  

If you have ever attended a United Church book study, educational event or some type of small gathering, you have probably been inflicted with the inevitable, “check-in question.” It was the bane of my existence as a lay person, especially when I was in discernment and was required to attend many Conference and Presbytery gatherings. As a person in a leadership position as a minister, I see the value of the “check-in”, but now that I often have to be the person to think of the question for a gathering, I find them even more trying. How many questions are there that will give us insights into a person’s personality, and theology, help build community and, at the same time, be engaging to the group? Aaaaaaaaaah!

One of my favorites that I have used over the years, that often gives insights into the inner life of people is, “Tell us something about yourself that we don’t already know and might even find surprising?”  I once discovered a mining engineer who was also a cake decorator. Who would have guessed?

Well, something, that many of you don’t know about Carol and me is that we are to become very proud grandparents, this August, of an interracial grandbaby.  We are so happy, that we can barely contain ourselves.  We know that this baby will be truly blessed with loving parents, two sets of ecstatic grandparents, and numerous caring aunts, uncles, cousins and assorted other relatives.

What causes us some sadness, in the midst of our joy, are of images we see on the television of people of Asian ethnicity who are being spit on, pushed, assaulted, harassed and subjected to verbal abuse.  Why? For some reason, some people in North America want to blame the COVID-19 Pandemic on Asians because the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China.

This of course makes as much sense as when the Nazis blamed their economic woes on the Jewish population, Muslims were subjected to abuse because a small group of extremists flew into the World Trade Centre, or when Trump decided that the reason Americans didn’t have jobs was because of illegal Mexicans!  I could go on and on --- so don’t get me started on how I really feel about racists. 

Racism is an underlying current in our culture and whenever racists can find an excuse, no matter how ungrounded or stupid it might be, it comes bubbling up to the surface, much like scum on the surface of a pond.

For more information click on the link: CBC

And it would break my heart to know that someone could say something unkind, or actually hurt our grandchild, because of their Asian ethnicity. Life’s journey is tough enough without being judged by your appearance . . . and I know that most of you agree with me!

If you listened to my message on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, I advocated for us to not just talk about the Resurrection but to BE the Resurrection.  One small way we can do that is to stand up to racists wherever and whenever we encounter them.  I know it might make a cocktail party a little tense or a family gathering a little uncomfortable but, when we hear people making racist comments, we need to challenge them and let them know it is not acceptable, in 2021, to make such comments about anyone, for any reason – even if it is our favorite, though slightly inappropriate, uncle or the charming neighbour from down the street.

It is not enough to simply disagree in silence. We need to speak out, to challenge, and to put a stop to it.  Racist comments wouldn’t just hurt my grandchild, they would hurt me and devalue all humanity. So stand-up, be proud and BE the Resurrection. Jesus expects nothing less of us. 

Amen.