A Letter to Canadian Believers

 Dear brothers and sisters, 

I am writing to you from the darkness of my bedroom in the dead of night because my heart aches within me. 

I’ve had this song running through my head recently that I learned back in grade three. It goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. They will know we are Christians by our love." 

I don’t believe this is how Christians are seen anymore which deeply saddens me. When I look at the general state of  North America and the hate that is often spewed and fear that is lobbied like bombs, meant to attack, used to defend, I feel so heavy. I think Christians are known more for our hate- not only for those outside of "us” but for those within "us”. 

I think it is truly time for all of us who call ourselves believers and followers of Christ, myself included, to really look at ourselves and look at the Bible. Actually, read for ourselves verses in context, and read to discount our own hypothesis (because this is how good research is conducted) not to confirm what we’ve already decided. We need to look at Christ and see how our actions align (or don’t align). 

I hear people talk and am reminded of the Pharisees and how Jesus told them that their outsides were clean, but their insides were filthy. Are our insides clean? Are our hearts loving? Or are we getting stuck in the law and forgetting grace and mercy…oh great and wonderful mercy? 

My heart aches. I think back to stories I’ve read, of WW II in particular, and the ways so many followers of Christ sacrificed themselves for those much of society had deemed as worthless. Would we still do that today? I hope I would,I hope I raise children who would. I hope I raise children who have compassion. Who don’t dismiss another’s experience because it's not their own. Who are curious and ask questions and are willing to admit they don't know it all. Because, goodness knows, I don't know it all, especially the world through someone else's experience. 

I feel myself in despair. Not in the final ending…but for the in-between. I fear we are forgetting. Forgetting truth. Forgetting what we are called to. In Christ's ministry he healed the sick, fed the poor, made space for the isolated and ostracized. Are we doing that? Am I doing that? The song I mentioned at the beginning- it's been a challenge to me too. Do I love well? Do I love  sacrificially, mercifully and gracefully? Not always. I need to grow and I truly hope that we all grow together. 

Your sister in the faith.