Penitential Pilgrimage

I will be away on Vacation until August 30th. Should a pastoral emergency arise, please contact the church office. Our Tuesday Morning Bible Study will resume on Tuesday September 6th at 10am.

The Pope’s called his visit to our province and nation a “Penitential Pilgrimage”. You could see this in his demeanour as he silently prayed at the graves at Ermineskin and spoke to the people at Maskwacis. I couldn’t help but display my own emotions as the crowds applauded the Pope’s apology with regards to the evils of colonialism and forced assimilation. I do not feel entitled to offer my own opinion on his apology, but I am struck by the responses of various Indigenous people. Some were saying “all I ever wanted was an apology” and were grateful to receive it. Others pointed out what was missing in the Pope’s apology: apologizing for individual Christians, not for the “church”, and failing to repudiate the doctrine of discovery. One common theme has emerged: this apology is just the beginning. What happens next is what is most important. The Pope shared wise words in his address at Maskwacis; The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. The opposite of life is not death, it is indifference. Forgetfulness leads to indifference. Hearing Jesus’ warning about greed in Luke’s gospel helped me see that indifference is connected to greed, for the greedy person is indifferent to those who might suffer. As a settler who benefits from the lasting effects of colonization, I ask forgiveness for my own indifference in the past, for grace to see the depths of that sin, and eyes of faith to see that of which I might be indifferent to today. My hope is that the Church, who hates that which is evil, will not allow the sin of indifference to take hold, but to move forward in love, in walking together, and in seeking newness of life in Jesus Christ.
In Christ, Pastor Aaron